Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer [Blu-ray]

       Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is another entertaining romp for the Marvel-superhero franchise. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), is treading on thin ice when his fiancï¿?ﾩe, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), thinks he's more interested in a series of cosmic phenomena occurring around the earth than in the preparations for their upcoming wedding. Sorry, ladies, but Reed is right. The disturbances are caused by a surge of cosmic power from a mysterious being called the Silver Surfer (an all-CGI creation, modeled by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), who not only zooms around the skies on his board, but also has enough power to fight the FF, sometimes by turning their own power against them, not only mixing up Sue and Reed, but also Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm, the Thing (Michael Chiklis). But that's not the worst of it. The Surfer is only an opening act, a herald looking for planets that his master, Galactus, can consume for his sustenance. With its initial installment, Fantastic Four established itself as the superhero franchise that didn't take itself too seriously, and that continues here. There are numerous moments of laugh-out-loud humor, and the most angst they suffer is whether Sue and Reed will ever be able to live a normal family life. (That, and whether they'll ever really get married, of course.) If Fantastic Four were a normal superhero franchise, the ending would be a knock-down drag-out war with Galactus, featuring the FF in a colossal battle for the planet Earth and the lives of everyone on it. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer… just doesn't do that, and we don't quite get the payoff we expected. Effects are dazzling, but the Surfer looks too metallic, more like a skyriding T-1000 robot.

Comment:
    "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is the second Fantastic Four movie, and first hit the big screens in 2007. Two years have passed since the Fantastic Four - Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm - gained their powers. Following a trip into space and a blast of cosmic rays, Reed became able to bend and stretch like rubber, Susan had the ability to become invisible while Johnny could transform into a human of living fire. However, where Reed, Sue and Johnny could switch their powers on and off, Ben couldn't : he was permanently stuck as a creature made of living rock. Despite the superhuman strength, it was something he wasn't - initially - terribly pleased about...although now, he's a little more comfortable with things. Reed and Sue's wedding is now approaching and - with the team's fame - it's going to be a big media event. However, it's not about to pass off smoothly; thanks to a mysterious visitor from space, very strange things are happening to the Earth's climate - snow in Egypt, frozen seas in Japan, even power outages in western USA. There are even mysterious craters appearing at certain points around the Earth and- thanks to the film's opening sequence - you know the Earth's in an awful lot of danger. It isn't long before the team get called in by the military. A certain General Hager stops by the Baxter Building looking for Reed - although he isn't too happy about sharing any classified information with a civilian scientist. (He particularly dislikes Reed - the pair have something of a history). Unfortunately, he arrives while the boys at enjoying Reed's stag-night...so Sue takes the General and his goons along. (Naturally, events only confirm the General's bad opinion, and land Reed in quite some bother with Sue). The General's looking for some help with explaining the meteorological anomalies and the strange craters. In an effort to impress Sue, Reed officially passes on the assignment - claiming that he wants to focus solely on his forthcoming wedding. Naturally, he works on the project in secret and finishes things up just before the wedding. Naturally, things go drastically wrong. The mysterious visitor from space - the Silver Surfer - arrives in New York just before the wedding and knocks out power all over the city. Johnny goes after him, and is the first person to get a really good look at the Surfer...without realising the extent of the Surfer's powers. Johnny very much comes of second-best, and the encounter also leaves Johnny's powers on the blink - when he touches one of his colleagues, their powers (briefly) switch. (It's something that Ben has a bit of fun with, and gives us another chance to see a scantily-clad Jessica Alba). Even worse, the Surfer's arrival has Dr Doom come back to life...and it isn't long before he starts adding to the planet's woes. "Rise of the Silver Surfer" is a great deal better than the first Fantastic Four movie, and some of the effects are excellent. The fact that there's a half-decent storyline - unlike the first movie - helps a great deal, and Johnny Storm isn't quite the nuisance he was first time around. There are a few flaws - Reed Richards still has the worst superpower ever dreamt up and there was the occasional bout of cheesy dialogue. However, Stan Lee's cameo was the only irritating thing about the movie - as with the first movie, there was just no need for him to be there. A largely fun way to pass a free couple of hours.Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman want to get married, but their wedding plans are ruined when the Silver Surfer arrives. The only way to stop the Silver Surfer from ruining everything is to separate him from his surf-board, which they do. However, that is not enough, as the Silver Surfer's master still wants to destroy Earth for its own survival. The Silver Surfer is persuaded from being bad to being good, and is re-united with his surf-board so that his master's intentions fail. The movie is shiny and bright like the Spider-Man movies, as opposed to being dark like the Batman movies. I prefer the former type of movies, so I liked Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer too.