Well folks, we're nearing the end. And speaking of end, we're at the end of this era of the Fantastic Four on film.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a comic book movie, the sequel to the 2005 film, and the third movie based on the team. This also takes inspiration from the classic storyline The Galactus Trilogy and Ultimate Extinction. Constantin Film, Marvel Entertainment, 1492 Pictures, Ingenious Films Partners, Dune Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox worked on production. The last of which also did distribution. The story was written by Don Payne, Mark Frost, and John Turman with Tim Story returning to direct.
The story is, a mysterious object has entered the Earth's atmosphere and soon revealed to be a man called the Silver Surfer. After an intense fight they capture him and learn that he works for a planet eater named Galactus, and he's coming towards Earth. Now, the Four must stop the planet eater all while reluctantly working together with their enemy, Doctor Doom.
- Negatives
I've got nothing.
- Mix
First up is the villains. Now the Silver Surfer, he's fine. His got a pretty good storyline. That being him going from enemy to ally. Something very similar to what was done with him in the original Galactus Trilogy by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby. So his story was handled well. Then you have Doctor Doom. I didn't hate him in this, but he didn't have the same kind of the threatening vibe he had in the first despite Julian McMahon's best efforts. Then there's Galactus. Now I've read a lot of people being disappointed by he's design, about how he's just a giant "cloud". I think a lot of people didn't read the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy like I did. Having said that, I was still disappointed because there wasn't much there. What I mean is I get they wanted the story to focus on the Four & Silver Surfer, but they could've at least showed Galactus slowly approaching Earth. But we don't see much for the longest time.
Then there's character development. Reed and Sue's story wasn't too bad, them just wanting to get married and possibly start a new/normal life is actually a pretty good story. But there were a lot of times when things felt like a repeat of the first. Johnny also has a well handled story of how he needs to mature and I liked that. The Thing on the other hand isn't giving anything. He was just the muscle and that was it.
- Positives
One thing that improved from the first were the special effects. There were some moments that were off, but there was still improvement. Despite the negative reception to Galactus' design, the CGI was quite good. The scale of it was truly felt massive. But the best effect is the Silver Surfer. It was a perfect blend of CGI and practical. The effects of the Surfer really shined when in motion. The movements were sleek as well as dynamic.
Then there was the pacing. While the first movie's pacing wasn't too bad there was times when things were rushed. Here the brisk one hour and thirty-two minute runtime was used properly.
The last thing I'll credit is, once again, the cast of Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis. Their chemistry once again is spot on in both humorous and more dramatic moments. But I also want to give praise to Laurence Fishburne giving his voice to Silver Surfer while Doug Jones gave a great physical performance to the character. Along with the effects & writing, these two did a spectacular job bringing depth to the Surfer.
While there are still problems, Rise of the Silver Surfers still has some entertainment to it.
My final rating is, Okay.
That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, May 31st, for my review of Karate Kid: Legends. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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