Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

 

Not that the first 'Fantastic 4' was a brilliant piece of cinema, but it was entertaining in all its goofiness. This follow-up? Not so much. And for a couple of reasons we will get into. 

Strange phenomena are happening all over the world following the arrival of something that appears to be a sentient comet of sorts, but the eyes of the world are apparently on Reed Richards and Sue Storm as their wedding day approaches.

See what one of the gripes might be right there?

In any case, the military wants Reed to construct some technical doohickey in order to track these anomalies. It turns out they are caused by an alien being who resembles a silver humanoid on something akin to a surfboard. Hence, the Silver Surfer. 

In the meantime, Doctor Doom is back with no explanation whatsoever. Doom and the Fantastic 4 have to work together with the military in order to capture the Surfer, which they succeed in doing, but of course Doom double-crosses everyone.

And in the meantime, a galactic force that devours planets is on its way...

Egad, this film has issues. Not in the least the absolutely incomprehensible decision to focus on something as stupid as a wedding for at least a third of the runtime. It only leads to unfunny hijinks and has no impact on the overall plot at all. 

This is double the shame, because they could have focused a lot more on the Surfer and interactions/action scenes. The Surfer looks excellent by the way, and both his portrayal by the incomparable Doug Jones and voicing by Laurence Fishburne make for a great character. 

This needed more Surfer, y'all.

They brought back Doom, but he doesn't amount to much, even though Julian McMahon is decent in the role and they once again nailed the look. Wasted potential, yet again. 

But don't get anyone started on how they did a massive disservice to Galactus. Holy fudgenuggets, what did they do? I can understand at least a little why they turned him into a giant cloud-like creature, because maybe most audiences wouldn't understand a giant with an oversized purple helmet, but come on: this is a comic book adaptation and comic books sometimes just are goofy. Stick with the goofiness, dang it!

Uneven performances, a shoddy story and lack of focus make this painful to sit through. Sure, it is nowhere as painful as the abject failure that was 'Fant4stic', but still. 

Yikes.