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FANTASTIC FOUR: RISF OF THE SILVER SURFER
(PG) As significant a Marvel Comics property
as Spider-Man, The X-Men or The Hulk, The
Fantastic Four—Mr. Fantastic/ Reed Richards
(loan Gruffudd), The Invisible Woman/ Sue Storm
(Jessica Alba), The Thing/ Ben Grimm (Michael
Chiklis), and The Human Torch/ Johnny Storm
(Chris Evans)—are deserving of better big-screen
treatment than they've received. First, Roger
Corman fired off an unreleased
cheapie. Next, Fox cobbled to
gether a so-so cast (all of whom
return for the sequel), a slight
director (Tim Story, who is back
as well) and a whole lot of dis
respect for Marvel's first family
for the foursome's 2005 outing.
Fantastic Four treated the quar
tet—and most wastefully, their
foe D r . Doom (the woefully un
commanding Julian McMahon),
the Marvel Universe's undeniable
ultimate supervillain—like two-
dimensional pen-and-ink sketches, as opposed to
the complete and complex characters created by
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
After a jokey opening that continues the
tonal traditions of the first film. Silver Surfer dra
matically improves upon its predecessor. Asked
by the U.S. military to create a means of tracking
and then capturing a strange, shiny space entity
causing weird weather phenomena worldwide.
The Fantastic Four must work together with a
revived Victor Von Doom, knowing good and well
the megalomaniac is up to no good, while a gi
ant space funnel approaches Earth with plans for
global decimation. That's why the Silver Surfer
(eloquently given voice by Laurence Fishburne,
given form by Doug Jones) is here. He's prepar
ing the way for his master, Galactus (unfortu
nately, he's not a giant man in purple and blue
armor like he is in the comic).
Silver Surfer fixes a great deal that was wrong
with the original (though Dr. Doom remains
peevishly inconsequential). With the drawn-out
origin out of the way, the Fantastic Four are
allowed to jump right into action. Said action
might all be put into motion by sitcom plot de
vices, but there's a lot more of it
and it's better staged than in the
2005 adventure. While grasping
the canonical love/ hate inter
play between arrogant, immature
Johnny and gruff Ben, the film
lacks much regard for its central
female, the extremely power
ful Invisible Woman, reducing
her to wedding jitters, another
naked gag and a nosebleed after
showing up her male teammates.
All complaints about Sue—or
any character besides Dr. Doom
(that's a travesty)—become invisible next to the
blindingly perfect Silver Surfer. A CGI character
as impressive as the Hulk and King Kong (a real
feat considering how chintzy the elastic Mr.
Fantastic appears), the Surfer pontificates less
on the screen than on the page—a man of ac
tions as opposed to words plays better cinemati-
. cally—but that's a minor complaint considering
how coolly the character has been envisaged (a
contagion that the movie catches). Somehow
left off the superhero A-list, The Fantastic
Four, thanks to the Silver Surfer, have at least
achieved the summit of the B- and C-listers to
which they have been so unfairly consigned.
Drew Wheeler
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