Good, but...it could have been SO much better

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2007)

This movie is OK. It is also a damn shame, because the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer story lines provided for some of the greatest Comic Books ever written. This movie breezes through them with a modest amount of interest, but very little creativity.
First the good parts. The cast is still spot on, and the characters were acted well for the most part. Jonny Storm (Chris Evans) was probably the stand out character here, showing the most development. Ben Grimm (Micheal Chiklas) probably played the Thing as good as anyone could have, but he was given nothing to work with, left as a character still mildly upset with his appearance, but mostly for comic relief, which is a real waste. Iaon Grufford and Jessica Alba do a mediocre job at the whole love aspect, and Alicia Masters (Washington) does as much as she can.
The Surfer was masterfully portrayed by Doug Jones and well voiced by Lawrence Fishburn, but this is also probably the biggest problem in the movie. The Surfer was completely under/misused. He was one of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's most complex character, and very little of the Pathos evoked by Norrin Radd was felt in the movie. He was kind of a Evil until turned Good character.
Which is kind of the problem with the movie. It has all the right parts and story lines (The Surfer turning on Galactus, His correlation of Sue Storm to Shalla Ba, and Dr. Doom stealing the Surfer's board/powers) from the comics, but it just lightly glazes over all of them making them feel shallow and cheap.
As a fan, I was left feeling satisfied because I finally saw a Silver Surfer movie, but also disappointed, because this movie is just not as great as it could have been. They should have shifted the focus of this movie from pop-corn summer fluff, to a more fan oriented true to comic serious action flick.
But...what can you do, it's still enjoyable, and Silver Surfer fans are still glad that the Surfer gets some screen time (and possibly a sequel?)