Review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) by Jonh. — 14 Jun 2007

JUST got back from the midnight showing. Now, I'm biased because the FF are my favorite superheroes, period. But even I have to admit the first one was pretty hum drum. I went into this with a mixture of dread and hope.

I have to say, I really, really liked it. To me, this was a proper Fantastic Four movie. About 20 times better than Spider-man 3 for sure. The Silver Surfer, the Fantasticar, Doctor Doom... everything felt so right.

It's not nearly as brainless as some critics make it out be. There's genuine warmth between the characters, and there is some growth. In the FF's world, there's no cloud of death hanging over them ala Spider-man that drives their sense of responsibility.

Their scientists who go on fun adventures, enjoying their powers and trying not to kill eachother when their familial bonds get to be too much. Their not being hunted and spurned by a world who hates them ala X-men.

There's not a lot of pathos, so maybe that makes them seem shallow. But it's not that simple. There are a lot of inter-relationship issues that stem from being a family. It's this, set against the backdrop of all these crazy adventures, that makes the team what they are.

The first movie felt sort of forced in places, and didn't have nearly the scale an FF movie should. This movie was much better. I'd like to see more exploring, more strange worlds, etc in a future movie, but this was a step in the right direction.

It had more of a global feel. Also, Julian McMahon totally redeemed himself as Doom. He was really cool. If anything, I want to see more adventures of this team now. It was very short. A perfectly paced 90 minutes (which was refreshing after the over-long, sometimes boring Spider-man.

) Oh, and the thing that most people are in a tizzy about? Didn't bother me a bit.