The Silver Surfer comes to earth astride his grand surf board,
heralding the arrival of Galactus, a dark force of biblical proportions (which sort of looks like Star Trek: TMP's V'ger
cloud having a really bad day). The Surfer’s
arrival on earth brings assorted anomalies, including the water in a bay
solidifying right under the hull of a Japanese fishing vessel, and a fresh
blanket of snow in Egypt. Along with this, fresh craters appear all over the
earth’s surface, and they’re also tied in with the mysterious Surfer’s
appearance. But the Fantastic Four, those saviors of humanity, can’t be
bothered. You see, they have far bigger fish to fry: namely the wedding of Reed
Richards and Sue Storm, which is somehow more important than the ominous signs
all over the world which point to the end of days.
But Reed Richards, working on the sly, still constructs a special gadget for the
U.S. military that will monitor these strange events even while he’s getting
married--but he’d better hope that Sue doesn’t find out! And so, the filmmakers
behind Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer have created what’s possibly
the first superhero sitcom. One of Marvel Comics’ greatest superhero teams has
been reduced to performing stupid antics that make them little more than a super powered
Honeymooners. The original comic book, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, was more
lighter in tone than other Marvel superhero titles, yet the comics’ version of
the FF still had gravitas when it was appropriate. And the impending destruction
of the earth by the mighty Galactus, in whose service the Silver Surfer is
enslaved, is pretty heavy stuff.
Unfortunately, director Tim Story has not strayed from the overly cute and
comedic tone that bogged down the first film, and it does a great disservice to
the characters and concept this time out, as well. Free from telling a clunky
origin story, Story could have cut loose as Sam Raimi did with the amazing
Spider-Man 2, and delivered a superior sequel that
is a vastly entertaining film in its own right. But, instead, we simply get more of the same
inane stuff: annoying product placements and over-the-top comedy that hampers our
heroes by turning them into a bunch of inept idiots who are at the beck and call
of the military. And, much like the first FF, the final battle with Galactus is
very anticlimactic and a real disappointment (Galactus himself is nothing like
how he appeared in the comics).
Director Story simply didn't bother to raise
the bar for himself this time, and the film suffers badly because this lack of
vision. On the plus side (what little there is), the Thing looks much better. Not only
does his make up move more naturally, but he even looks more like his comic book
inspiration. If only the filmmakers were themselves more inspired to capture the
true spirit of the FF comics, instead of giving us another giggly ode to
pop-culture that, at a sparse 92 minutes in length, still feels way too long to
have to sit through. For those who think a serious treatment of the Fantastic
Four wouldn’t be feasible, look no further than Brad Bird’s marvelous
The Incredibles, which manages to be very funny and ultra cool at the same time.
It’s the ultimate superhero movie that the Fantastic Four sequel should have been.
--SF
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