FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
When Your Occupation Is Saving The World, Weddings Go On Holiday
The Popcorn Reel Movie Review: "Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer"
By Omar P.L. Moore/June 15, 2007
The Fab Four in Shanghai: It's been a hard day's night
for the Fantasticos, played by (from left): Chris Evans (as Johnny Storm), Ioan
Gruffudd (as Reed Richards), Jessica Alba (as Susan Storm) and Michael Chiklis
(as Ben Grimm aka The Thing.) (Photo: Dival Pera/20th Century Fox)
Tim Story's "Rise Of The Silver Surfer", the riveting sequel to
the original "Fantastic Four" film of 2005, has three things going for it:
humor, dynamic action and good visual effects. It doesn't try to do too
much, and rarely chooses to do too little. Which is great news for those
who complained about the first film's inefficiency.
The new film showcases a new nemesis, a tried-and-true comic book hero in his
own right -- the Silver Surfer -- who sleekly and even seductively wreaks havoc
around the world, altering climates, forcing power outages and leaving people
ice cold. An old villain, Victor Van Doom (Julian McMahon, last seen in
the putrid "Premonition") returns and when he does it appears neither he nor the
Fantasticos have learned their lesson from the first film. Captain
Fantastic himself, Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), is asked by U.S. Army General
Hager (Andre Braugher) to build a giant cosmic radiation detector to alert the
world when danger arrives. Since Dr. Richards is just about the only
scientist on earth who can do this, he does what he is told by his country's
commanding military officer -- even when his very imminent wedding, a
media-worshipping altar ride with Miss Invisible, the one and only Susan Storm
(the arresting Jessica Alba) -- is awaiting -- or is in progress.
"Rise Of The Silver Surfer" proves that you can keep a good wedding down -- at
least to a point.
The film's humor is generated mainly by Johnny Storm (Chris
Evans), the hot-blooded fire flame whose brashness and vainglorious ways have
not diminished. Ben Grimm, aka The Thing (Michael Chiklis) throws around
comedic barbs too, with hilarious effect at times, especially in scenes where
the heroes' inherent superpowers take a vacation, or better yet, swap
inhabitants. Saving the world never grows old, and whether our Four
Friends are in London, Greenland, Siberia, Egypt, Los Angeles or New York, the
challenge always exhilarates them. The yearning to live regular lives,
however, never seems far away. (You'd like at least, to see them take a
real vacation on a beach in Barbados, or in Ibiza, or the Bahamas, or on
Maldives Island, or on an African safari. They deserve at least
that much.)
Laurence Fishburne is the voice of the Silver Surfer, a metallic alloy figure
whose visual affectation strongly resembles the look Robert Patrick's T-1000
character had in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991). Judgment Day comes
more than once in "Rise". Fishburne gives the Surfer a solemnity that is
weighted and almost mournful, yet on occasion feels oddly out of touch with the
film's brightness and upbeat tempo. While the screenplay isn't as
fantastic as the film is overall, like "Hostel Part II", this film sets out to
do what it does, and largely succeeds. It is not a great film, but it also
is very far from a disaster. With one or two obligatory throwaway (read:
corny) lines that you get in action films, "Rise" survives, and rises above.
The Silver Surfer in Tim Story's "Rise Of The Silver Surfer",
the sequel to the 2005 "Fantastic Four", opened today in the U.S. and Canada.
(Photo: WETA)
In one urgent scene of dialogue, the film subtly raises the
dangers of convicting people by rushing to judgment before knowing the full
story, and raises implications about retaliation and motivation, which some will
conveniently think is meant as a statement on the way America has handled itself
vis-a-vis its "enemies" in the "post-9/11" world. Maybe so, maybe not, but
"Rise" is about action and comedy first, with politics trailing in the
background. Kerry Washington is back as Alicia Masters, the girlfriend of
Ben Grimm. Washington, who is a better actor than she is given credit for
(and than some of the roles she chooses or takes) is charming and alluring here,
but looks on the verge of having a fainting spell. There's a scene or two
in which Alicia looks a tad uncomfortable, even a little awkward, as she speaks.
Is it her romance with a rock figure that makes her uncomfortable? Is it
her desire to be part of the foursome?
Director Tim Story ("Barbershop", "Taxi" and the first "Fantastic Four") keeps
the energy level up, up, up (and away!) Mr. Story is adept at packing the
screen with nuanced heroes, flawed figures, isolated desires, and the frailties
of humans, one scene at a time. And although continuity may be a challenge
in "Rise" (edited by Peter S. Eliot, William Hoy and Michael McCusker), most of
the audience is probably too busy having fun to notice. Don Payne and Mark
Frost wrote the film's screenplay and Mr. Frost and John Turman devised the
story based on Marvel Comics characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
And finally, when a change in the story occurs mid-way
through, a great wealth of sympathy is held and the audience then braces itself
for a suspenseful conclusion. When an action film, especially a superhero
film gives you something to sink your teeth into for just over an hour and a
half, it can't be a bad thing at all.
"Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer" opened today in the U.S.
and Canada and is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for
sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo. The film's
duration is one hour and 32 minutes.
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