Expectations are a funny thing. They can really affect how you react to a movie - or TV show, or book, or comic - no matter how much you may try to guard against it. Based on everything I'd heard about the second Fantastic Four movie, I really expected to hate it. And yet, when I finally got to see it, I found that I actually sort of, kind of liked it.
Not that it's a great motion picture, or even a very good one. It's just not really a bad viewing experience, which means that it exceeded my expectations. It's maybe a little better than the original - which isn't saying all that much - and rewards fans of the Marvel Comics title better than its predecessor did. Since I'm one of them, I guess that counts for something.
Among the best parts of Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer are any scene with the aforementioned herald of Galactus, as the script writers got the character right for a change. His change of heart wasn't given the room it deserved, seeming as it did to turn entirely on a coincidental resemblance between his lost love and the super-sexy Susan Storm. But I think you can still get at least a taste of what Norrin Radd's all about, from his portrayal here.
I also liked the power-switching subplot, as it allowed for both some laughs, and a little bit of character-building. Notable in that last category was the difficulty each of the team members except Reed had in adjusting to finding themselves with an unfamiliar super ability. As the big brain of the outfit, Mr Fantastic should be able to figure that sort of thing out quickly, and he did. Also cool, for the comic fan, was how they temporarily turned Johnny Storm into a big screen version of the Super-Skrull - he who has all four of the FF's powers - making for one of my favourite scenes, by far.
At first the schtick around the wedding - which keeps getting delayed because of crises - bothered me, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. In the comic series, the lovebirds had some of the same issues, with the wedding event itself being crashed by dozens of costumed villains (establishing a tradition, within the genre, for how superhero weddings are supposed to play out). I have to give the movie-makers credit for acknowledging that, within the limitations of this new form (it's not like there are dozens of super-villains who even could've shown up!)
Comic fans will recognize that the main plotline this time out was essentially an amalgamation of two of the earliest Silver Surfer appearances, from Fantastic Four #s 48 - 50 and #s 55 - 57. Those two arcs tell of the Surfer's debut, arriving to prepare the planet for Galactus' lunch, and then later, Dr Doom's successful attempt to steal the silver one's powers for himself. While nearly every detail of each story was changed in the movie, the broad strokes were retained. I'm a little disappointed that more of the terror implicit in each of those classic yarns wasn't captured on film, but I suppose that's part of the cost of going for a light-hearted tone.
On the negative side, it really is too campy for my tastes. Yes, the original material has some of that, too, but somehow it seems less obtrusive on the printed page. On the screen, at times it's hard to understand just what any of the four would actually see in each other, not the least of which relates to Reed and Sue - and I'm sure you can guess which attraction I'm referring to! As with the first movie, it feels like we're just supposed to accept that they're all best buddies, despite the bickering, but it continues to irk me that virtually no time is spent actually demonstrating any true bonding.
Alicia, Ben Grimm's blind-and-hot girlfriend, was horribly under-utilized once again. In this instance, that fact was more reprehensible, though, considering the pivotal role the character played in Norrin Radd's introduction in Fantastic Four #s 48 - 50. There, it was the blind sculptress' compassion for her strange visitor that first lit a spark in the Surfer's heart, and thus his eventual betrayal of his master made more sense, was less self-directed (acknowledging mankind's potential for good versus simply being reminded of his own love interest) and provided some delicious irony by having a non-powered, supporting character turn the tide of the battle where super-strength and the rest had come up short. I can't see any particular reason why that aspect of the drama couldn't have been used here, especially considering the silly alternative we got.
With so many superhero movies coming out these days, it's inevitable that certain traps would start showing up in them. One of the first I noticed was the "superhero has his secret identity discovered by love interest or arch enemy." We saw that one in each of the Spider-Man movies, most of the Batman ones, and even several Superman versions. And now we're getting a wave of "main character dies only to be brought back to life," which started way back in Superman II - said rebirth coming courtesy of Kal El turning time backwards or some such nonsense - and has more recently been *ahem* reborn with Jean Grey in X-Men 3 and now Susan Storm near the end of this film. It's not something I'm at all fond of, since it removes any drama around future deaths ("Ah well, it won't last!")
There were plenty of other annoyances in Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, and yet I was still left with a faintly positive response to it. I guess I'm just the forgiving type when it comes to comic movies, although you wouldn't know it by my reaction to the horrid League of Extraordinary Gentlemen debacle. It probably also helped that I got to see the film courtesy of a loaner from Boneman, for which he once again earns my thanks!
Rating: ** 1/2
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