Certainly an improvement over the first film

Rating: 6/10 (18 June 2007)

In 2005 "Twentieth Century Fox" released "Fantastic Four" to mixed to poor reviews. This reviewer, himself, also was quite disappointed. Now, in the summer of 2007, the sequel is up but is it an improvement over the first film? Well, the good news for you readers is that it is an improvement over the first film but by how much.
Sometime after the first film, the fantastic four believe that life is back to normal. Reed Richards and Sue Storm plan to get married and the four are celebrities. Suddenly their plans are interrupted when the great Galactus plans to destroy planet Earth, by sending his henchman, the Silver Surfer, to the planet. The four have another problem to deal with too; their old enemy, Doctor Von Doom, is still alive and wants his revenge. With their own enemy back and their world in danger, can the fantastic four save the day?
All of the fun aspects of the first film are in the sequel. The relationship between Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) still brings good comic relief. There is a bit more humor in this one as well. The special effects and action scenes are a lot better this time around. They really did not try to do anything more then just make it a quick 92 minute summer comic book movie. Keep your eyes out for the Stan Lee cameo too.
The things the first one was lacking are improved in this one. This reviewer already talked about the better special effects and action scenes, as well as the humor and the Stan Lee cameo. Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon) is back and was given a more menacing, less cheesy role. He is not at the point of where he should be but it was a lot better then the first film. Ioan Gruffudd did a much better job portraying Reed Richards, though he still suffers because of the bad chemistry between the love interest Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) and him.
The real highlight is the Silver Surfer (aka Norrin Radd). The look and design of his is amazing. From the combination of Doug Jones in a motion capture suit, similar to Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and Lawrence Fishburne's voice, the Silver Surfer was everything you would have wanted. While this reviewer will admit that Lawrence Fishburne's voice sounded out of place in the beginning but by the time the film gets rolling you love the voice work. Some may complain that the Silver Surfer looked too much like the T-1000 from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," but the surfer looked exactly like he did from the comic book so there is no problem. The best scenes in the movie somehow involved the Silver Surfer. WETA really did do a great job bringing him to life.
Now that the positives were discussed it is time for the negatives. Jessica Alba, whose only talent is her looks, is still a lousy actress. It is a weird to think that her character actually had more chemistry between her brother and her then with her own love interest. Another negative, and positive, was the humor. There is more humor but many of the jokes felt too forced, some of them worked and some of them did not. In addition, it took a little while, thirty minutes approximately, for things to get going and actually start picking up. Luckily once the action hit it never slowed down. For those major comic book fans, they do a huge butcher job to the Silver Surfer/ Galactus storyline. It bothered this reviewer a little but not as much as it could for the hardcore fans that grew up with it.
In conclusion, if you are sick of those big epic movies that are over two and a half hours, like "Spider-Man 3" or "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," you might want to check this one out. It is not the greatest movie you will see this summer but it is still a fun time and a big improvement over the first. Is it worth over $9 at the cinema? Well it depends on what you are looking for, but this reviewer got his $9 worth. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is recommended!