Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

I guess one good thing about not being a comic book fanatic, is that you can enjoy the movie version without nitpicking every little detail that was overlooked, inconsistencies in the story, blah blah blah. Usually, I’m the black sheep among other movie buffs I know when it comes to comic based films. While they can't seem to enjoy a film because of the frustration of it not living up to the comics, I can enjoy it without constantly comparing it to the stories.

With the Fantastic Four, I’ve always been familiar with the characters growing up, but didn’t know much about them other than what they looked like. So when I saw the original F4 when it came out in ’05, I actually (gasp!) enjoyed it! I know some people that would accuse me of lunacy for saying that. But yeah, I thought I got my money’s worth. The only issue I had was how fast the F4 finished off Dr. Doom. It seemed that just as the climax was reached in the film, they finished it too quickly. But hey, it was pretty good for an intro to the F4 characters on the big screen.

If you saw part one, you know that Dr. Doom wasn’t technically dead, so a sequel was inevitable. What threw me for a surprise was that another comic legend Silver Surfer would be included in the sequel. Personally, I thought they couldn’t have chosen a better character to fit in here. Rather than have a formulaic approach when making this film, where they could have had another round of F4 vs. Dr. Doom, they bring in Silver Surfer, which adds a twist to the plot. What makes this a little more intense than the original is that there’s a global threat with the character Galactus, who eats planets for meals. And he's on his way to Earth. The only thing that can stop him is Silver Surfer, who just happens work for him. So the F4 find themselves in a predicament, because not only do they have to worry about the return of Dr. Doom, they now have to prevent Galactus from eating our planet. And to do that, they have to convince Silver Surfer to stop him, which will take a lot more than begging.

So, who’s the real star in this movie? Silver Surfer or F4? I guess you’d have to say they’re equally important. Because while Silver Surfer is much more stronger than the F4, without them, there would be no hope as Earth would get devoured by Galactus. This sequel is definitely an improvement on the original, and a great introduction to the Silver Surfer.