Battle Against Mediocrity

Rating: 5/10 (14 October 2007)

Not even the world's greatest superheroes can defeat the mediocrity of FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER.
This time around, our heroes are little bit older, a little bit wiser but still coming to grips with their incredible powers. Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) is about to finally marry Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba). But then, as it inevitably does in these kinds of movies, all heck breaks loose. It seems some mysterious force -- the Silver Surfer, we soon learn -- is gradually draining the Earth of its life.
The plot is suitably comic-book-like, but RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER becomes increasingly mired in a string of CGI-reliant action scenes that are as dizzying as they are fake-looking. Whereas most films have the viewer anxiously waiting for the next injection of action, this one has us wishing director Tim Story would instead flesh out the less-flashy, human angles. In any event, some of the story doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. While many superhero films can get away with that, it hurts this effort more than it would most simply because the film hasn't much else going for it.
Perhaps the film's biggest asset -- literally and figuratively -- is Michael Chiklis as The Thing, a lovable lug made of craggy, orange rock. As he was in the 2005 original, he is a sheer delight, particularly when forced to endure the mischief of Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch (Chris Evans). Chiklis flawlessly captures a comic book character in a way few other actors ever have.
As a long-time fan of these four fantastically odd heroes, I wanted to like RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER as much as anyone. I gave it many chances to redeem itself. It did not. It's quite a disappointment.