Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (4 Stars)

This is a sequel to "Fantastic Four" that was made two years later in 2007. Overall it's a slightly better film, but it fared worse at the box office, probably because fans were still reeling in disappointment after the first film. Speaking for myself, I was happy with the first hour, but the final half hour let me down badly.

But first the film's most important feature: the Stan Lee cameo! It's unique in being the only cameo in which he explicitly plays himself. What I mean is, in most of the other films it's possible that he's playing himself, such as in his cameos in the Spider-Man films, but this is the only film in which his name is used. He arrives at the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm and tells the security guard his name is Stan Lee. He's refused entrance because his name isn't on the guest list. This is the same thing that happened at the wedding in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (see the last picture in the post).

I have to repeat the praise that I made in my review of the first film. The actors who play the Fantastic Four themselves are perfect. It might not be obvious from the picture above, but the Thing's appearance has been improved. He was a bit too smooth in the first film, but now he looks as if his body is made up of rocks. That's what it should look like.

This is why most of the film's first hour is excellent. It's all about the Fantastic Four. The awful scripting of their origin is out of the way, so we just see their interaction as a team, and it's exactly the same as in the comics.

I should have mentioned Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters in my last review. I hate the blackwashing in Marvel films. In every Marvel film one of the white characters is played by a black actor for no apparent reason. It looks like Marvel has a quota for black actors, and a character is picked for a racial swap at random. It was the Kingpin in "Daredevil", Electro in "Amazing Spider-Man 2" and the Human Torch in the 2015 version of "Fantastic Four". The biggest casting blunder caused by blackwashing was the choice of Idris Elba to play the Norse God Heimdall in the Thor movies. It ruins the character's credibility.

What's worse is that Kerry Washington isn't even a good actress. If she didn't tell us she's blind we wouldn't know. She doesn't know how to act like a blind person. She should learn from Ben Affleck, a much better actor.

Once more, Doctor Doom just isn't Doctor Doom. His semi-metallic body and energy blasts are wrong. He doesn't even wear a mask for most of the film. When he does it's only as a uniform. In the comics he has to wear a mask 24 hours a day because his face is deformed, so ugly that he can't even look at himself in a mirror.

However, the film's biggest mistake is the portrayal of the world-destroyer Galactus.

This is what he looks like in Fantastic Four #48. A terrifying 50 foot alien with a big G on his chest.

This is what he looks like in the film. He's just a giant cloud floating through space. The director screwed up big time.

I normally turn a blind eye to the telescoping of events in Marvel films, but this time far too much was packed into a single film. The story of the arrival of Galactus and the Silver Surfer was told in Fantastic Four #48 to #50, and it's considered by many fans to be the best story ever written in a comic. The film should have been an adaptation of this story, nothing more, nothing less. Instead of that it mixes in the story of Doctor Doom stealing the Silver Surfer's powers, which was told in Fantastic Four #58 to #60. That's an incredible story in itself, and it should have been left till the third film. Telescoping so much action into a single film which runs for less than 90 minutes takes away so much.

It's not just the action that's missing, it's the heartbreak of the Silver Surfer, as he's torn between his love for Earth and his duty to Galactus. We hardly get to know him in the film. If he'd been adequately portrayed we would have been shedding tears for him.

In the comics the Silver Surfer feels especially drawn to Alicia Masters, whereas his romantic interest in the film is Susan Storm. That also steals the poignancy of a blind woman teaching him to see Earth's beauty. But maybe it's just as well. I'm glad that Kerry Washington didn't have more screen time.

Why oh why do screenwriters and directors have to ruin such beautiful stories? To quote the words of George R. R. Martin in 2014:

"You can't go wrong if you stick with Stan Lee. That's always been my opinion on these Marvel movies. The best ones are the ones that are closest to what Stan Lee did. It's when they start to be creative, when they think they can be better than Stan Lee, mostly they can't".

Nuff said!

Success Rate:  + 0.2

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de