Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer

I though The Fantastic Four was a pretty lame superhero movie. Uncharismatic actors, uninteresting characters, weak special effects and poor jokes made it one of the weakest entries in the superhero genre. Unfortunately, Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer doesn't improve on its predecessor. It retains all the minuses of the first film while adding an overblown story that seems silly and ridiculous even for a comic book.

When the film starts, Richard Reed, the elastic man, and Sue Storm, the invisible woman, are ready to tie the knot. Their wedding is interrupted by the arrival of the Silver Surfer, al all-silver image streaking around on a surfboard. Turns out he is a messenger for Galactus, some kind of a planet that kills other planets in order to survive. Victor Doom, the Fantastic Four's nemesis in the first film, is also back and is working with them to bring down the Silver Surfer.

The Silver Surfer is visually cool and the Human Torch's first chase of him is one of the best sequences in the film. But all interest is gone once we learn about his back story and his master. The whole concept seems over-the-top and even the fact that the film is based on a comic book doesn't make it any easier to accept. The visual effects don't overwhelm us enough to make the story easier to digest either. They are uniformly average(the scene where 3 of the Fantastic Hour combine forces is one of the few that is impressive) with the climactic arrival of Galactus looking like a scene that was left on the cutting room floor during the editing of Independence Day.

The actors don't bring anything special to the characters. Jessica Alba is the only familiar face but even she looks bad(something I didn't think was possible!) in the blonde wig and blue eyeliner and contact lenses. They have little chemistry and none of them utter their jokes with any energy or conviction.

The four heroes may be fantastic but the movie certainly isn't.