So, the Fantastic Four are back in the theaters this week, with “Rise of the Silver Surfer”. I have to admit, this has been one of the movies that I’ve been looking forward to all summer. The question is, was it any good? Does it deserve the 36% that Rotten Tomatoes has it at right now? Well…let’s talk about that…

Before we begin talking about the movie, I want to – very briefly – bring up two very important names that you may or may not know.

Stan and Jack.

See, Stan and Jack are the reason we have comic book movies. Hell, Stan and Jack are the reason we have comic books.

Yes, comic books existed before Stan Lee and Jack Kirby began writing and drawing them…but these two men changed comic books in such a way that without their existence, I honestly believe comic books would have died off in the 1960s. I don’t think we’d have comics today, and I KNOW we wouldn’t have the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man (that Lee co-created with Steve Ditko), The Hulk, Captain America (that Kirby co-created with Joe Simon), and so many more. There would be no Marvel Comics, and there would be no Marvel movies.

What Stan and Jack did changed the entire world, and they didn’t even know it at the time. Stan got to live to see it. Unfortunately, Jack didn’t.

What they did with the Fantastic Four was make a comic book unlike anything that had ever been written before. Reed and Sue were the parents, and Johnny and Ben were the bickering brothers…but they all loved each other. They were a family above all else…and that’s what made the Fantastic Four work. No matter what, they had each other. The book was revolutionary for the way they showed us how hard it was for Ben to live (one of the few things that the first film did really well), and how all of these fantastic things we saw in it were actually happening in our reality. The Fantastic Four’s New York WAS New York. It was all real, and they made you believe it, even when a giant man with a huge helmet with horns on it and big G on his chest showed up because he wanted to eat the planet.

This film attempts to do the same thing Stan and Jack did. It makes a valiant effort to bring us the world they created.

That’s a far cry from what we saw in the first film.

For the most part, I found Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer to be fun and entertaining. There are a few things that I had to roll my eyes at (Mr. Fantastic “dancing” being one of them), and few things that I just flat out don’t like (Doom – again), but overall, I really had a good time with this movie.

First, let’s talk about Doom – he’s completely useless in this film, and shouldn’t have been involved at all. I understand they included him – they wanted to give the FF someone to fight, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to fight Galactus in a physical sense. I get that. I just don’t think they did it right.

They took the concept of Dr. Doom having the power cosmic from another Stan and Jack story, and I wish they had chosen the route of that story for the film. In that book, Dr. Doom convinces the Surfer that he’s here to help him, only to stab him in the back. That would have been a great way to do it in this movie…instead they had the Surfer basically cure him of his “metal disease” from the first film, but still allow him to keep his powers.

His costume was as good as a Dr. Doom costume is going to get in the movies, I think – but it still doesn’t really work very well. My primary suggestion would be to just keep him out of the next one all together.

Now the comedy in the film was hit and miss, but for the most part, I enjoyed it. Most everything between Johnny and Ben was good, and I have always loved their relationship in the comics. I’m glad to see it faithfully translated on the screen.

Jessica Alba is still not, and never will be, right for Sue Storm. There are a lot reasons I don’t like here in the role (this one being one of them), but the main thing I hate is that they cast a woman who doesn’t look like they want (she doesn’t have blond hair or blue eyes) and then they changed her up to fit the character…but in doing so, they make her look weird. The blond hair doesn’t really work for her, and the blue contacts are distractingly bad.

The rest of the cast I really enjoyed.

I loved every moment of the Surfer’s time on screen, and I hope this film is a success, because I very much want to see a Silver Surfer solo film.

Heck, I even liked the Dodge Fantasticar…why? Because that is totally Stan and Jack. They had the FF get licensing deals and other celebrity endorsements because they had to pay the bills at the Baxter Building. It’s the same thing. The “real” Fantastic Four would have totally gotten a car company endorsement on the Fantasticar if they’d thought about it.

The final thing I want to comment on is Galacticloud. Lots of fanboys were worried about how Galactus appears in this movie…and I can understand their apprehension, and/or dislike of the “cloud” approach but I think it was a perfect way to do it. The Surfer referred to Galactus as “him” and also “it”. “It” is the ship that Galactus was in (if you want to think of it that way), and the debris traces of atmosphere creating the cloud around that ship were what we saw…we just didn’t see Galactus in all his shiny helmeted glory because it NEVER would have worked on screen.

Or you can just think it was a big elemental space thing, and be done with it.

Either way, it works.

All in all, I was very pleased with the movie, and – while not the greatest superhero movie ever – it was enjoyable and entertaining. I look forward to seeing the next one.

Grade: B+

Want a completely different look at the film? Check out the review at Filmsy.

Related posts:

Silver Surfer Requiem #1 (Marvel) – Comic Review
Silver Surfer Requiem #2 (Marvel) – Comic Review
New Fantastic Four Spot!
Lawrence Fishburne is NOT Galactus…he’s the Silver Surfer
Dr. Doom from Fantastic Four 2 REVEALED!

Hope you like that post!

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