Full Fantastic Four 2 Review

I will say this about "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," a movie which has been flooded with horrible reviews already... If ever you meet one of these reviewers who thought the movie was bad, you should roll up a newspaper and hit them across the nose. That way they will know that lying is bad, just like peeing on the carpet and chewing on shoes.

This was EXACTLY what a Fantastic Four movie should be.

And you may think me a hypocrite, after I buried "Spider-man 3" for being too coincidental, campy and self-aware, but all of those things work perfectly in the Fantastic Four Universe.

This movie had its flaws. We'll get to that. But it also had the two things that made the Fantastic Four the success that it is -- it was a story about family with plenty of heart, and it was FUN!

The Fantastic Four is all about forgetting the real world and just opening your imagination. Reed Richards lives in a world where anything is possible if you believe you can build it -- a flying car, a dimensional portal, anything. I had no problem suspending disbelief in this movie, unlike other superhero flicks.

I had very very VERY LOW expectations going in. I enjoyed the first movie but I didn't love it. This one looked to me like it was going to be a step down, and the 92 minute running time did not inspire confidence.

But the first scene featuring the family immediately brought a smile to my face. Literally. Director Tim Story wastes no time in establishing who the characters are and their place in the world, showing them to be celebrities, role models and family members. Johnny signs autographs. Ben poses for pictures with children. Reed and Sue talk wedding, with Reed clearly pre-occupied with science. We see Reed using his powers in everyday life, extending his arms to store his bags on the plane, and we see Johnny playfully taunting Ben, who is flying coach. It was all spot-on.

And, with all but one exception, Tim Story continued to nail each and every characterization for the duration of the film. This was especially surprising to me, because in the first movie I felt Reed was way too much of a Wuss and Jessica Alba's Sue Storm was horribly horrible. Just Horrible.

Yet, in this movie the pair is right out of the comic. Sure, Alba may look like Elizabeth Berkely in "Showgirls," with a ratty blond wig and creepy blue contacts -- but her acting was Sue Storm in every way. She was the strongest member of the team when she needed to be, but feminine and vulnerable at other times. Meanwhile, Reed steals the show with his leadership, especially when dealing with the military.

And Johnny and Ben? Well they are basically the same two characters from the first film, which was brilliant, in my book. Ben takes more of a backseat in this one, but still has moments of true heroics.

The strong characterization made the spectacular special-effects scenes, which were absent from Movie #1, even better in my book. Most movies lately think effects can be the meat of a film, when relationships, like Johnny's with Sue in this movie or Sue's with Surfer or Ben's with Johnny (all brilliantly done) are what really should be the meat.

As the story goes, the Silver Surfer shows up (looking CGI-riffic!), slowly preparing Earth to be consumed by Galactus, and the Military and Fantastic Four all aim to stop him. Dr. Doom shows up too, throwing a monkey wrench out there in a predictable way, but overall it's a simple story.

And I liked the simplicity of the story. For as epic and event as the end of the world is, I still felt like this was simply an adventure in the lives of the Fantastic Four. So many sequels try too hard to play the "We need to top the last one with every bell and whistle" game. This sequel, I felt like they could make several more on this level without needing to constantly one-up themselves.

Anyway, I don't want to give away too much of the story, so I'm not going to say anything else about it.

The one true downside to this movie, just like the first film, was Dr. Doom. For Tim Story, this is Strike Two. I just feel like Vic Von Doom is a whiny little power-hungry schmuck in these movies. He has no ego, no pride, no insane self-confidence. The Dr. Doom I know would never admit he needed Reed's help, as he does here. And sure, he is looking to take advantage of the situation the entire time -- but the comic-book Dr. Doom would figure out how to get what he wanted all on his own, or die trying. The saving grace for Doom is, sadly, that he's not as much a central character this time around.

Lastly, Galactus. I'm 100% OK with Galactus being a storm cloud, more like the "Ultimate Universe" Galactus we saw in the "Ultimate Extinction" mini-series, rather than a 30-foot tall purple clad man. Honestly, how the hell do you make a man as tall as a building look anything but goofy? I am fine with the notion that Galactus is an alien with powers and a single brain, and his body simply looks like a cloud.

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of info here, but all that really needs to be said is, THIS MOVIE IS FUN! And why isn't that a good enough reason in itself to go to the movies?

If you don't take this flick too seriously, every age group can love it.


So, to close out the review, some random thoughts! (There are spoilers in this part!)

1) Johnny's "Alicia dying under a rockslide" line may have been the best line of both movies... And Reed's "Quarterback" speech is likewise the best speech

2) Since when is Norrin Radd a Teletubbie?

3) Props to Tim Story for making Galactus' reflection off of Jupiter look like Jack Kirby's Galactus! The fanboy in me was pleased

4) Forget product placement -- how shameful is it of Fox that they HAD to have a Jessica Alba nude scene?

5) I felt like the Fantastic Car was on screen for about as long as the Batwing in the first "Batman"

6) The greatest foe of a man in a metal suit is not Reed Richards, its deep water... Oh, and Dr. Doom looked too much like Skeletor from the "Masters of the Universe" live action movie

7) Alicia can tell if Johnny is silently in the room or not, but she can't hear a Helicopter propeller zooming toward her head... but hell yeah Ben!

8) It bothered me a bit that the transformation back and forth from the Thing's powers was so instantaneous

9) Stan Lee as himself! Just like the old days, writing himself and Kirby into the comic! CLASSIC!

10) I loved seeing Johnny with everyone's powers at once, but now we know we'll never see Super Skrull on the silver screen

11) Isn't it kinda bad that the Earth now has 8 or 9 giant holes leading directly to the planet's core?

12) If the Surfer always knew he could sacrifice himself to kill Galactus, then why didn't he do it initially to save his planet???

13) Oh, and I always separate my car into three pieces for no good reason other than to write a giant "4" in the sky, as I'm rushing off to save Venice...

14) The after-credits scene of Surfer alive in space was fine and all, but I would have killed for a scene of an indignant Doom, marching out of the water onto a shore, and bellowing 'RICHARDS!' .. certainly would have gotten me pumped for the next movie...

15) The third movie should feature Doom as king of Latveria... think about it...