It's bad, but it's ok
Before I start, allow me to confess that I am not a big fan of Fantastic Four, but I will be as objective as possible.
I do have to admit that I have enjoyed the first installment of the Fantastic Four. As I wasn't a die hard fan of the comic book, it felt like any other action movie, with a simple good-versus-evil storyline. The good guy is a brilliant doctor, Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), pitching a high risk space project to a successful industrialist, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), who happens to be his university buddy. Doom agrees and ropes in his assistant Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), ace pilot Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and veteran pilot Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis). They are up in space when a freak cosmic storm hits them. Back home, they realise that they have gained superpowers. In the meantime, while the Fantastic Four team is gelling, Victor Von Doom is facing real world corporate problems such as a looming bankruptcy and a drought of financial backers. (Uh, this is actually the synopsis of the first Fantastic Four movie. – BMF)
The first movie was nice due to the special effects. Julian McMahon’s performance as Doom was not bad, though The Human Torch a.k.a. Chris Evans was rather over the top at times. I personally did not find Dr. Reed Richards’ performance as a nerd to be entertaining at all.
Rise of the Silver Surfer was actually much better than the first, especially in the beginning where you see planets being destroyed while a white light zooms through space. And Dr. Doom's return in the movie (just when we though he was finished in the first) was not too shabby either.
The downfall of the movie, in my opinion, is the ending. Especially when the Silver Surfer has a change of heart and decided to save Earth by destroying himself and his master. I found the Silver Surfer character to be rather cool as he was invincible and all powerful, totally focused on destroying planets for the singular purpose of serving his master, and had no conscience or feelings so to speak, or that was what the movie wanted you to believe at the start. Another Achilles’ heel of this movie is the sappy romantic moments between Dr. Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Rather sad, actually. I found the Human Torch entertaining when he was the Torch, and not Johnny Storm.
The suckiest moment is when they unveiled their flying Dodge thingamajig, and it later split into four pieces and drew a number four in the sky. That just killed the movie for me.
All in all, a rather average movie, suitable for those who love Jessica Alba or are die-hard fans of the Fantastic Four.
(See Spoovans' unedited review here, if you dare.) |
