With my movie money almost expired (don't even get me started on that ripoff), I took the evening to finally see the Fantastic Four sequel. Good news: it is a marked improvement over the bloated, tedious, and annoying first film. Bad news: it still has a long way to go before being considered a good series of films based on the popular comic book.
The most notable improvement comes from the fact that the core Four are much more comfortable in their roles and actually seem like they belong (Alba's hotness in the film makes you almost forget that she's supposed to be an astronaut). Another positive of the film is the Silver Surfer, which appears to be a good representation of the character fans have come to know. Galactus does not receive the same treatment, but because I never read the comic books, I'm not as disappointed as some will be.
The film introduces plenty of interesting ideas: the desire to find someone to love, the desire to lead a normal life, dealing with the return of Doom, serving your country vs. serving yourself yet when you make a film that's only 92 mins. long it's kind of hard to properly address any of them. The film just allows you to fill in the holes, if you're so inclined.
The primary fault of this film and the original is that it basically refuses to allow you to be engaged. At no time do you ever get caught up with what's going on on the screen. You always know you're watching a film. Given that the comic book has such a rich tapestry of characters and story, you would think it wouldn't be difficult to create films which would allows viewers to escape reality and enter into their fantastic world. Instead, the film seems content to be light, popcorn fare that is just looking to make a quick buck. In better hands, this franchise had the potential to be discussed in the same breath as the Spiderman, Batman, and X-Men series.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer certainly is enjoyable in a "shut off your mind for 90 minutes" sort of way. I'll recommend it because regardless of what you thought of the first film, you'll definitely enjoy this one more. But be forewarned: this film severely lacks the "Wow" factor. Grade: B-
1 comment:
I hope you're not going to tell me Galactus in the film is actually a fat guy wanting to eat all of our hot dogs! Where's Captain Pork when you need him, the illegitimate child of Captain Caveman and Cousin It, trained to protect the average citizen's right to suffer from trichinosis? Oh, the humanity!
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