The Fantastic Four are real superheroes. Their popularity stems from nothing more than their cool powers; unlike anti-heroes like Spiderman, Batman and the X-Men who are more relatable due to their human battles with inner personal demons: X-Men are the outcasts; Bruce Wayne has a dark and depressing past; Peter Parker has to walk the tightrope between loving the people around him and not letting them get hurt by his secret identity. But the Fantastic Four are just four super friends; they don’t have secret identities, so it’s hard to see them as human beings.
That’s why it’s difficult to translate this series into a movie. Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) wishing for a meaningful relationship, and Sue Storm’s (Jessica Alba) frustration with not being able to have a “normal” wedding and lead a “normal” life just don’t fit well with the vibe of the rest of the movie.
All in Good Fun
Rise of the Silver Surfer is meant to be more fun and lighthearted – like when Storm asks Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) how he and his girlfriend manage to have sex; or when a reporter asks one of Storm’s girlfriends what it takes to date the Human Torch and she replies, “Fireproof lingerie.” Perhaps best of all is when Storm starts swapping powers with everybody as a result of a confrontation with the Silver Surfer – a development that leads to a nude Invisible Girl after she torches her clothes. These are all meaningless, but fun tangents that help carry the movie along.
More Silver Surfer, Please
Unfortunately, jokes can’t compensate for a plot-less film. For the majority of the movie, the foursome is simply playing cat and mouse with the Silver Surfer (embodied by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishbourne) as he flies around the world scouting the planet for Galactus, his master who feeds on planets. This results in very little time for the supposed star of the movie. Perhaps this was done on purpose to allow for a spin-off of his own, but the fact that the Surfer single-handedly saves the day sort of begs for a little more background to the character.
The Surfer looked slick, yes, but eye candy was all he brought to the movie. While the comic book story has him turn against his master after he learns about the beauty of humanity through interacting with Grimm’s blind girlfriend, Alicia Masters, director Tim Story thought a resemblance between Sue Storm and Surfer’s wife was enough to convince him.
Where Is A Good Villain When You Need One?
The move to make Galactus a huge cloud storm was the only smart move the creators made, because if the effects used to make Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffodd) stretch are any indication, a larger-than-life alien would have looked terrible.
Oh yeah and Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) returns for some reason. Mentioning this at the end of the article reflects how useless he was to the film. Doom was the villain in the first film, where he plots vengeance against the Fantastic Four after their failed space mission bankrupts him. Not only is Doom useless in the sequel, but he’s not intimidating or scary at all – though I’m not sure whether that was the fault of the writers, director, actor, or all three.
A long 92 minutes to say the least.
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