Not a significant Rise of quality

Rating: 6/10 (17 July 2007)

First things first: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is better than its predecessor, 2005's Fantastic Four. However, that doesn't mean it's a great film. Rise of the Silver Surfer has more interest and mystery to it, indeed, but it still falls short of comic book adaptation greatness by a long shot. An over-reliance on sitcom style humor, a lack of satisfying action, and a weak villain don't serve the film well, making Rise of the Silver Surfer an underwhelming experience.
As the film opens, Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) and Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) are about to be married when strange occurrences across the globe are brought to the attention of the Fantastic Four. Water is frozen over when it isn't winter, it snows in the desert, and large craters begin appearing throughout the world. Reed tracks the radiation present at the events and eventually narrows it to a being that is flying throughout the world, composed of silver and riding a surf-board like object. He is dubbed the Silver Surfer, and after having been chased by the Human Torch ne Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), the Surfer is discovered to be more powerful than bargained for.
Also interested in the Silver Surfer is a healed Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), who has reappeared and offers to help for hidden nefarious purposes. The Fantastic Four and Doom join forces to attempt to thwart the Surfer and stop the destruction throughout the planet, but the Surfer appears to only be a taste of the danger that looms on the horizon.
The story of the Silver Surfer is one of the iconic comic book plot lines, cherished by millions, and while Rise of the Silver Surfer does a better job of producing a somewhat entertaining film than Fantastic Four, this probably isn't what comic book fans are looking for. The film's principal problem is it's rather shallow, silly humor that gets in the way of the story having much in the way of any impact. The Fantastic Four aren't really developed much, and fail to resonate with the audience, so their petty squabbling proves tiresome and counterproductive to building any interest in the goings on that occur. When one key emotional scene arrives, you don't feel anything for the characters because you just don't care about them.
Rise of the Silver Surfer is hampered by the return of its weak villain, Victor Von Doom, in the guise of Julian McMahon. While he has a bit more menace this time around, he is still not tremendously threatening or interesting, and has relatively limited screen time. Screenwriters Don Payne and Mark Frost also make the poor decision to create one of the stupidest characters in a film in recent memory, Army General Hager, portrayed by Andre Braugher. This character is so inept and silly that you can't help but shake your head in several scenes. Braugher, a terrific actor, deserves much better.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer does do some things right though. The visual effects that realize the Silver Surfer are exceptional, proving to be fairly eye-popping at times. And while the Silver Surfer isn't given much of any development, he does have a sense of mystery and threat to him that works at times, and in a key scene manages to earn a degree of pathos.
That being said, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer proves to be just a slight notch above what came before, and not the home run many in the comic book community might have been hopelessly dreaming of (this reviewer included). It isn't a disaster, Superman IV and Return of Swamp Thing don't have to worry about being dethroned as the worst comic book movies ever, but it could have been much more.