Saturday, June 16, 2007

My Spoiler-Free Mini-Review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer! Whoosh!

I had a really good time at this movie, but I am of the camp that didn't hate the first one. I thought that Iaon Gruffudd stepped it up as Reed Richards, and Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis continued to be great. My only complaints were Sue Storm's eye make-up, which was ridiculously trampy, and just plain bad-looking, for the entire movie, and Dr Doom, who still sucked.

The problem with Dr Doom, besides the fact that the writers took some serious liberties with the character, is that Julian McMahon really, really phones him in. It's like, he gets to play Dr Doom in a movie, and he could care less. It's depressing. His Doom voice (or lack thereof) is so distracting. He does, however, have more costume changes than Cher on her farewell tour.

These are two fairly minor problems with a movie that, overall, was fun, cool-looking, and entertaining. It's an honest-to-God superhero movie with crazy comic book action. Plus, and this is a little spoilery, Stan Lee plays himself in the movie. It made my mind explode.

I'm happy to chat about the specifics of the movie in the safety zone of the comment thread.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

My only huge problem was the terrible product placement on the Fantasticar.

Because Dodge mastered the flying car already it seems.

Anonymous said...

I am seeing this solely to sigh over the awesomeness that is Doug Jones (the surfer). The man is so amazing for body movement alone.

FoldedSoup said...

Thanks for this. This really is a *meh.* movie for me. Much like the first one.

I may actually see it tonight based on this! Thanks again!

Art Williams said...

Any sign of Galactus?

paperghost said...

depends on your definition of what you'd expect Galactus to look like.

eheheheh etc.

also, the stars of the film being sidelined so the surfer can "fix" everything was surreal.

SallyP said...

I haven't seen it yet, but it has Ioan Gryffudd in it, so I am THERE!

*droool*

rachelle said...

I'm more of a Chris Evans lady myself.

Evan & Kristin said...

I counted two Galactus heads in the movie, but there's a chance I was imagining them. On Saturn and in the lava cloud?

Tiina said...

The Surfer was rad.

Anything having to do with weddings was fucking terrible.

Actually, Sue should have married the Silver Surfer. Talk about chemistry!

SallyP said...

Rachelle, I HAVE heard a rumor that Chris Evans appears in a towel. This seems like it would be a very good thing.

rachelle said...

This rumour is TRUE, Sally.

Actually, that's pretty much all i remember about the movie.

I counted two Galactus heads as well. Big ol' Galactus heads. Personally, I like that they did it that way. I mean, that cloud was HUGE! It was exciting.

Tiina - the wedding scenes did suck. I mean, I liked how cute Reed was being and stuff, but I was really disappointed in Sue. isn't she a scientist too? i always hate it when a woman puts her wedding before EVERYTHING. It's just so insane.

Anonymous said...

Also, Japan has no reporters at all. They don't care who's getting married, least of all the people that just saved the world in downtown Tokyo.

Franklin said...

Personally, I was a little annoyed over the fact that the Silver Surfer managed to blast Victor Von Doom through the side of a glacier, but as a consolation prize, restored his complexion to his pre-accident status. I mean, come on. Were they too lazy to leave him deformed? Isn't that sort of the point?

rachelle said...

I'm trying to just ignore Doom completely. It's better that way.

Kevin T. Johns, writing coach said...

>>isn't she a scientist too?

Of course she is a scientist!! Didn't you see the scene where she wore her sciency glasses and massuaged Reeds shoulders? What more do you want? Her actually doing science or saying something remotely intelligent? God, you people demand so much!!

Jim said...

I saw the Galactus head on Saturn...but missed it otherwise. I wasn't overly impressed with this one, even slightly less so than the first (though everyone else seems to think the opposite). Doug Jones was pretty amazing, but he and Laurence Fishburne couldn't save the film...

And the Stan Lee scene? I'm sorry, but it just made me roll my eyes. I'm Stan Lee'd out.

Jon said...

Johnny doing an impersonation of the Super Skrull was the highlight for me, and that's coming from a Surfer fanatic. This movie and Annihilation: Super-Skrull have reminded me why the character is cool.

Really enjoyed it, want to see it again but I'll probably wait for the dvd.