I actually looked forward to seeing FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (I'll refer to it as FANTASTIC FOUR 2 here), solely because the teaser that featured a (relatively) thrilling chase scene between the Human Torch (Chris Evans) and Silver Surfer (Doug Jones, but voiced by Laurence Fishburne)
The first FANTASTIC FOUR film was a guilty pleasure. It was quite a bad film, but because it didn't take itself so seriously, being more light-hearted and campy, having a number of humourous moments that make it more like a fun bad movie than a bad bad movie. In my mini-review of the film three years ago, I just said that I was entertained because I had (VERY) low expectations, but pointed out that the movie version of Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) was one of the most idiotic Marvel villains ever.
Dr. Doom actually returns in the second film, but thankfully, the filmmakers have probably read my silly whining, and decided to show him without his mask. And the dastardly villain tries to harness the powers of the powerful Silver Surfer from outer space, who is the herald for the planet-eating Galactus!!!!!!! Meanwhile, Reed Richards AKA Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd, whose CG moments are still VERY wince-inducing... look at the bachelor party dancing scene) and Sue Storm AKA Invisible Woman (yummilicious Jessica Alba) try to get married. Johnny Storm AKA The Human Torch remains the coolest character in the film, and Ben Grimm AKA The Thing (Michael Chiklis) is relegated to nothing more than a sidekick character (though his moments with Johnny Storm are still pretty good... and cliched).
FANTASTIC FOUR 2 is better than FANTASTIC FOUR...
... but it's still pretty bad.
It's cheerfully dumb and unpretentious, it has funny moments that work more for the pre-teens than hardcore comic book geeks, it's vastly inferior to the much-reviled SPIDER-MAN 3, but other than that, there's really not much I can say about the film. Among all characters, Johnny Storm has... some kind of a character arc, while the other three are just underdeveloped.
The highlight of the film might just be the iconic Silver Surfer, who is badass because he sounds like Laurence Fishburne, and looks like, according to my mom, like a silver Oscar statue (yes I watched this with my family), and the coolest effects are reserved for Silver Surfer as he lay waste upon numerous international landmarks. However, the final battle with Dr. Doom in this film is definitely a gazillion times better than the one in the first film. But Galactus' final appearance... *sigh*
So no, I'm not repulsed by the film like I was with MING MING, but I'm not going to recommend this to anyone. You aren't missing anything if you don't watch this.
(even someone like my little sister does not look forward to a Fantastic Four 3...)
Haven't been a good year for summer Hollywood blockbusters (Spidey 3 and Pirates 3 were just okay, even with my low expectations, Shrek 3 was forgettable, Surf's Up is all right but light), I can't believe I'm gradually placing all my hopes in a Michael Bay film now. But come on, it's TRANSFORMERS.
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