Too Many Bad Guys!

Rating: 7/10 (17 June 2007)

First the beefs:
1. The producer needs to consider that some blondes have brown eyes (was I the only one creeped out by the blue contacts on Jessica's eyes?).
2. Jessica Alba does not have the face to pull off long blonde hair. It looked like straw and fake, the first film did a better job with her makeup.
3. With a character like the Silver Surfer why oh why bring back Von Doom? His presence made the plot all too predictable and wasted a perfectly good mysterious nemesis for the team to puzzle out before the world was "eaten". A different angle on the script and the loss of a predictable character would have levitated this film from "good" to "great"!
4. As already stated, suffered from Batman syndrome or maybe a more modern phrase, Spiderman 3 syndrome, too many villains distracting from the core of the story, "who is the Silver Surfer, why is he here and how do we stop this world ending event?"
5. Considering Galactus created the silver surfer it seems a bit of a stretch that the surfer would have sufficient power to destroy his master. It would have worked better had he "convinced" Galactus to move on to another world. Could have had created some dramatic tension at the climax.
6. The whole "oh my God we are alive hug" at the end came across as forced and unbelievable. Maybe it was a pacing thing or the actors just didn't convey why they waited to embrace each other, I am not quite sure. It came across as contrived and unnatural.
7. They may wish to spend more time / money on Mr. Fantastic's stretching. It still suffers from a lack of believability, especially on the dance floor when is civilian clothes stretched with his arms and legs...
Bouquets:
1. The playful banter between the team was excellent, you really got the sense that they were family.
2. The surfer was brilliantly done! No wasted money on that sfx.
3. The obvious product placements were fun and reminiscent of Captain Amazing from Mystery Men. Lots of fun.
4.SPFX were very good for what they cost, just enough to be believable, but not so much that their costs required superfluous screen time to justify them.
5. Galactus was nicely interpreted for the screen, the comic book appearance of the character would have been too hokey, however I was disappointed that this "entity" had no semblance of an anthropomorphic qualities at it's core, like a face.
6. The performances of the heroes was excellent and felt very true to their characters, the use of Fishburnes voice as the surfer was well done and added a nice aspect to the alien nature of the character.
Overall a better film than the first one, even with its warts. Had von doom not been brought back and the team was forced to learn about the surfer through several encounters I believe the story could have been more compelling to the audience. It would also allow us to become more connected to the heroes and care about the peril they would find themselves in.
I really didn't get a strong sense that any of the team were in mortal danger or the planet, so in that respect it failed to deliver. However, I think that may have been because I was anticipating the clichéd ulterior motives and betrayal of Doom and the screen time devoted to this part of the plot, instead of learning about the surfer along with the characters in the film.
It was a good second effort, however I believe if the producers actually took an existing comic book script and adapted it or employed a writer who understands the material better, the stories will become better thus making for a more profitable film.