The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Review by Jason Gaston

Given how much I hated and completely despised the first Fantastic Four movie (not counting the legendary attempt Roger Corman made) I take it as no small shock that I have just sat through and enjoyed - yes, enjoyed - the sequel offering, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. While not exactly on the same level as, say, Batman Begins or Spider-Man 1 or 2, Rise of the Silver Surfer is a fun and upbeat movie and, in spite or or because it it's own gallant and unapologetic goofiness, it's earned a place in my stone cold heart.

Could it be that we're not saddled with some boring origin story? Perhaps it's because the actors are more comfortable with their roles? Maybe it's because the silliness of the story is embraced in a big-old bear hug. Whatever it is, it works. I'm not sure why it does, but it does.

The Fantastic Four is preparing to celebrate the wedding of the elastic Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman who has the ability to become transparent, generate force fields, but lacks the ability to act in any way, shape, or form. The future marital bliss (and I'm sure wild wedding night if you know what I mean) are interrupted by the arrival of a silver alien on a surf board. Because these characters are very imaginative, they call him The Silver Surfer.

It seems that this Silver Surfer thingie is going around and causing disruptions on the Earth... things like solidifying oceans and causing it to snow in Egypt. He's also carving holes in the Earth and no one knows why... not even the writers of the movie! All of this is to prepare the world for consumption by Galactus... who is, sadly, just a big cloud of dust.

Also, the Human Torch gets messed up and switches powers with the other members of the Fantastic Four when he touches them.

Rise of the Silver Surfer isn't all awesomeness and asskicking, but in a world of dour superheroes and angst, it was fun to see someone put joy into the genre even if the results were mixed.

Yeah, there is disappointment - the primary one being the dust-cloud Galactus - but I found myself enjoying this superhero tour de force despite myself.

It wasn't a great movie, but it was a good one... certainly ten steps better than the stupid first effort. Hopefully, by the time The Fantastic Four come back and they face off against the Marvel Zombies or Black Panther or whoever, the next movie will be a great movie.

...but probably not.