Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer

2005. A year of great comic book movies, generally. Batman Begins, for example. But it was also the year that the disease struck America…The disease known as…Fantastic Four! Despite being an overwrought mess of a movie, it managed to make $160 million domestically! Be there any justice in this world?

Yep, the profits were huge, so 2 years later, guess what we get? A sequel! Now, if Hollywood was going by the book, considering the first was terrible, logic dictates that this will s-u-c-k. Well, I tried as hard as I could to hate it. Instead, despite not quite giving it two thumbs up, it gets a very high split. In other words, a 6/10.

A quick debriefing of the characters and their superpowers:
- Reed Richards (a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic): Can stretch any part of his body to great length.
- Sue Storm (a.k.a. Invisible Woman): Can turn any part of her body completely invisible.
- Johnny Storm (a.k.a. Human Torch): Can engulf any part of his body in flames without effect, and can use that power to fly.
- Ben Grimm (a.k.a. The Thing): Cannot alter his physical state: in other words: is a big, strong, hulk-like monster good guy.
- Victor Von Doom (a.k.a. Dr. Doom): The bad guy from the last movie…Now he has Terminator-like powers, and instantly heals after any injury. He’s practically unstoppable.

OK…After several delays, Reed and Sue attempt to get married for the fourth time. But after several bizarre weather obscenities occur, they are linked to a mysterious figure recently discovered on Earth…His name is the Silver Surfer. He’s a shiny, silvery alien who races around Earth on a surfboard…It turns out every planet the Silver Surfer visits, eight days later it explodes.

Can the Fantastic 4 save Earth from the Silver Surfer, a corrupt general, AND Dr. Doom?

The Silver Surfer is a marvel of computer technology, a truly memorable character. He looks incredibly life-like, even if Laurence Fishburne’s voiceover doesn’t suit the character. Now, the action sequences don’t disappoint, and Chris Evans brings a real spice to his character, The Human Torch…But the other performances are dry. Jessica Alba is very attractive, but her blonde hairdo looks lame. So does her scientist glasses. Her character is generally wasted, but The Thing and Human Torch have great chemistry that really makes up for it…And the dialogue is improved over the first.

The characters are stereotypical, and towards the end a character does something so stupid it almost ruins the movie entirely. Well, it kinda does, at least it’s second half. Some characters are thrown away when they get interesting, and the nightclub scene is awkward and unrealistic, but the action doesn’t disappoint and it’s an astronomical improvement over the first, even if I can’t quite recommend it. C+