Ride, surfer, ride!!

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Summary:
The Fantastic Four are back, and this time more trouble causes a snag in Reed and Susan's marriage plans. A mysterious alien that flies on a silver surfboard is posing a threat to the planet's very existence. Meanwhile, Mr. Von Doom has recovered from his previous injuries and is seeking a revenge and gain of power by any means necessary.

Review:
This followup to the not-so-amazing first installment is... actually an improvement! I won't go on to proclaim it as one of the best of the comic book movies ever made, but it's definately a so-so popcorn flick that will deliver on the most basic of entertainment needs.

If you've seen the first one, then expect to reach a sequel of about the same caliber. If one has this mentality when going into it, I'm sure that F4: RotSS will give you what you went in to see. Once again, the special effects lag a little behind when it comes to the convincing me that Reed Richards really IS stretching his limbs, other than his CGI counterparts. However, Thing looks just as great and is as much fun as in the first; Johnny looks great in his flaming, flambouyant flying ventures; Sue Storm once again gets naked due to a messed up powers sequence (and too bad it's not totally visible!); and the Silver Surfer glides like floating mercury, with a well portrayed voice by Larry Fishburne.
Rise has a healthy mixture of villians to help keep the movie flowing nicely, as well as not detract from one villian to the next. Dr. Doom comes to full bloom, while the Silver Surfer does his ambiguous best to keep his mission and motives on the downlow. Galactus is actually done pretty well here for the purpose of the movie. I was hoping he wouldn't look exactly like Juggernaut in X-Men 3. Bleh!
Early in the movie, the Surfer touches Johnny, causing him to switch powers with the other of the Four whenever he comes into contact with them. Some amusement, hassle and interesting use of power-swapping keeps things fresh. Moreover, the action set pieces aren't as non-sequitorial as the first time around. I never really thought the first action scene with the guy that wants to jump off the bridge, leading to crashing cars and toppling fire trucks flowed too nicely. That was one of the most senseless and illogical action scenes just for the sake of the team learning their powers I've seen in a movie in quite some time. When it came time for the Four to take action against the loss of lives for this second spin, I could accept the logic more than before.

I went into F4: RotSS with a bit of apprehension, since the first wasn't a bad movie, but it really didn't tickle my balls as much as I had hoped. I'm happy to say that I got just a teensy weensy bit more fun out of this one, and that's always a great thing to have in a sequel! It's brainless, with pretty colors and neat action scenes, provides some giggles throughout while never putting me into a state of boredom. On top of that, I really enjoyed watching these guys work together again. They are a pretty good cast, and they fit their parts well - even better on their second outing! Yay!
Should there be a part three? I say, "BRING IT ON, BITCH!"

GRADE: C+

TRIVIA:
Joe Satriani's album Surfing with the Alien depicts the Silver Surfer on the cover. The title song is his ode to the Silver Surfer (no lyrics), complete with a guitar tone depicted specifically for the tone of the Silver Surfer. He used this tone again in his other Surfer reference songs, including "Back To Shalla-Bal" in the album Flying in a Blue Dream, and "The Power Cosmic 2000" parts 1 & 2 from Engines of Creation.

Reviewed: 6/18/07

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer