Review 214: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer isn't quite the train-wreck it's predecessor was but it's still nothing Fantastic. 

The wedding of Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) and Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffud) is crashed by a mysterious alien known only as the Silver Surfer (Doug Jones & Laurence Fishburne) who seeks to wreck havoc as he heralds the impending destruction of Earth. With time running out, the Fantastic Four reluctantly team up with the military and Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon) in a super-powered effort to save the planet.

Firstly, Rise of the Silver Surfer might seem like a much better film than its predecessor to the causal viewer because it has more of a plot/story than the first film. Unfortunately, the film sticks too closely to the sitcom formula of the first film.
Rather than explore the ideas, themes, characterisations and stakes presented by a cosmic being coming to “eat” the Earth, Silver Surfer’s presence is very much in the background until the third act and is exploited as a backdrop for comedy highjinks with these silly characters e.g. Johnny’s encounter with the Surfer gives him a condition that causes him to switch powers with any of his teammates ever time he touches one of them which is played up as a running gag as opposed to a real dilemma.

The plot of this film could very much be summed up as: Silver Surfer wrecks havock whilst the Fantastic Four deal with family problems.

It definitely seems like the Fantastic Four family issues are the A story and the Silver Surfer is the B story when really it should be quite the other way around.

A lot of what's changed from the comic storylines that inspired this film (The Coming of Galactus and the Silver Surfer's Origin) just make the story overly simplistic and lacking in coherence.
A BIG mistake on the writers part seems to be assuming that the material was too heavy for a general audience. So rather than taking a gamble and allowing it to be in the forefront, it's treated very much as a global catastrophe that gives the filmmakers an excuse to more stupid things with these boring characters. Not helping matters is the startling stupidity of ther characters over the course of the film that just makes the whole affair seem rediculous.
These stupidity levels reach breaking point when the military decides to willingly work with Doctor Doom in order to capture the Surfer. Why the military would willing put theirs and the Fantastic Four's trust in the hands of a man who has repeatedly betrayed them, I'll never know. Hauger states that he regrets trusting Reed but he's putting his trust in the hands of a man whose far worse so...

It would seem to some that the film would have benefited better if it didn’t feature the Fantastic Four and instead focussed on four random scientists who were recruited by the government to help them combat the Silver Surfer. Admittedly, the use of the Fantastic Four in the title would be false advertising but the end product would be a lot more entertaining than this film.

Returning director Tim Story's direction is dull witted, impersonal keeping things at juvenile level, the cinematography is bland and cheap and doesn't lend itself to the scope that a film like this requires and deserves. The production design more or less workmanlike, the costumes are flimsy (Doctor Doom's costume in particular looks like an evil Power Rangers outfit). The score by John Ottman is passable, the action scenes are fine, unremarkable dumb fluff, the special effects are

During the climax we’re treated to an incredible lazy yet somehow entertaining fight sequence. Johnny is able to absorb the other’s powers due to his condition and takes on Doom singe handily. Ok, its admittedly dumb but its spectacularly dumb.

He's used for either one of two things: Muscle and jokes. He busts through walls and punches things There isn't that much more to Ben's arc other than him getting angry at Johnny making fun of him. 

Odley enough the character who gets the most compelling arc in this film is Chris Evans' Johnny Storm/Human Torch. Johnny is very much a character who loves life, he loves to joke, he loves to have a good time but ultimately there has to come a point where he has to reflect and question things.

That arc is well set up in this film, but it ultimately doesn't go anywhere disappointingly.

His arc is very much a continuation of what was "established" in the first film and goes to a very logical place.

He looks at Reed and Sue and Ben and Alicia and realises that is he keeps living a carefree life that he's always going to be alone.

A point that is well illustrated where he repeatedly hits in on a girl in the military Frankie Reye (Beau Garrett) who is clearly not interested in him and spells all his flaws i.e. him being narcissistic and irresponsible.

He begins to realise that he might actually want to settle down with someone one day and Evans handles those dramatic bits rather well. 

Pitty that like Reed and Sue, he's set back to the status quo by the end of the film. This seems to symbolises his state of denial and that he's gone back on all the soul searching he did over the course of the film. He considered growing and maturing as a person and becoming a more responsible human being but nah the fans wouldn't want that, he better go back to being immature again so he can't learn anything. If we think about it too much all we as an audience can take away from this is that Johnny was just fine the way he was. 

While I didn't really care for him as a character in the first film, Doctor Doom at the very least served a purpose in that film as the antagonist. His appearance in this film is virtually superfluous.
His "restoration" is entirely contrived and comes across as an excuse to bring Julian McMahon back (Which was something everybody wanted).

His sole purpose in this film is to do the typical trope of making the military act like complete dumb dumbs. If you've seen any bad sci fi action film where the military willingly trust the obvious villain and treat the heroes like complete a*holes for no discernible reason. You can more or less guess how that turns out.

Doctor Doom's endgame is to gain control of the Surfer's board. Why? What interest does he have in the board? How would he benefit from getting his hands on it? None of these questions are asked and we never find out. I guess just having the name "Doom" was enough of motivation from the writers perspective and if they clearly don't care, then whey should we?

For the most part, Andre Braugher is given the thankless task of playing the stereotypical General who hates the Fantastic Four for no discernible reason other than he's old rival of Reed's

Thanks to the combined efforts of both Doug Jones & Laurence Fishburne, the Silver Surfer is a Fantastic creation to behold. Hinting at the more cosmic side of the Marvel Comics universe this film should have embraced. What the Silver Surfer ultimately boils down is a misguided attempt at a tragic anti-villain, he clearly hates what he has to do
Jones' body language and the way he moves on the board is excellent, his facial expressions are superbly and appropriately contemplative and Fishburne's deep tones lend themselves well to the commanding, mysterious presence required to play this character. 

2/5.

The Anonymous Critic.