Film Review: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Among the pantheon of Marvel superheroes, the Fantastic Four have perennially struggled to have their stories successfully transplanted to the big screen. There have been three such attempts, none of which have been met with critical acclaim. The closest any of these adaptations came to achieving this was the second attempt, 2005's Fantastic Four, directed by Tim Story. While the film was widely panned by critics, it managed to rake in enough box office revenue to warrant a sequel - 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, again directed by Story.

The plot kicks off with Dr. Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic (played by Ioan Gruffud), a brilliant scientist and member of the Fantastic Four team, preparing to wed fellow team member Sue Storm, aka Invisible Woman (played by Jessica Alba). However, their nuptials are put on hold when Earth starts experiencing a range of inexplicable phenomena. Reed and Sue, along with their teammates Johnny Storm, aka Human Torch (played by Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm, aka The Thing (played by Michael Chiklis), are forced to confront the Silver Surfer (played by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), an enigmatic and powerful entity sent by its master to help devour planets. Earth is next in line for destruction, and the Fantastic Four also discover that the US government, against their advice, has drafted their arch-nemesis Victor Von Doom, aka Dr. Doom (played by Julian McMahon), to assist them in their efforts.

Rise of the Silver Surfer is marginally better than its predecessor, primarily due to the script by Mark Frost not having to deal with an origin story and instead focusing on the actual plot. This also results in the film, with a running time of just over an hour and a half, being unusually brief for the standards of Hollywood's 21st-century superhero flicks.

However, this leads to the film's primary issue: it works best in the first half, when it focuses on the Fantastic Four team's personal conflicts and character development. This allows Chris Evans to deliver a solid performance as Johnny Storm, a man trying to shed his irresponsible playboy persona and be taken seriously by his teammates. In contrast, the second half, which finally introduces the Silver Surfer, is significantly less impressive. There simply isn't enough time to properly flesh out this tragic character, one of the most iconic in the entire Marvel Comic universe. Various plot twists that attempt to switch his and other moral alignments come across as unnatural and rushed.

Even more disappointing is the return of Dr. Doom, who, despite his malevolence, appears to be little more than fan service. His effect is further hampered by the lack of charisma exhibited by Julian McMahon, who was also miscast in this role, just like in the preceding film.

While passable for the standards of soulless Hollywood blockbusters, Rise of the Silver Surfer still looks disappointing when compared with more epic and rounded adaptations of other Marvel characters.

Despite having had a relatively decent box office performance, the lack of enthusiasm among critics and, even more worryingly, the vocal fanbase led the producers to abandon plans for a sequel. Instead, the Fantastic Four franchise was rebooted with the 2015 film, which, in turn, proved to be an even bigger disappointment. The fourth attempt at bringing this iconic superhero quartet to the big screen is slated for release in 2025.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9