Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer

Be warned, there will be spoilers in this posting. If you haven't seen FF2 yet, don't read on! (Unless you don't plan on seeing it, or don't care if you read spoilers, in which case enjoy!).

So Naomi and I went to see the new Fantastic Four movie at the weekend, and I have to say that I really rather enjoyed it. Considering that the first FF film was fairly poor, how have they managed to make a second film which is not only better than the first, but also better than the latest Spiderman movie?

Here's what I think.

Firstly, and possibly most surprisingly, its down to the actors. I think all four have really got to grips with their characters more than in the previous film. They understand the characters better, and that is shown in their performances. (One gripe - as Naomi pointed out to me, for a lot of this film Jessica Alba's character should probably be renamed The Permatan Woman rather than The Invisible Woman - not a pretty sight, and certainly not a good look for the otherwise beautiful Jessica).

Secondly, the characters are written well, compared to the first film. Mr Fantastic isn't quite so nerdy, Human Torch has his flamboyant nature toned down, Sue Storm is a lot less whiney, and Ben Grimm is less moody and more fun.

Finally, the story (overall) is reasonably good. The plot moves forward at a reasonable pace, and the character interaction with the villains of the piece are suitable, if a little forced.

All that said, there are several fairly sizeable plot holes, and some general gripes I have.

Most importantly is how Galactus is defeated. Why didn't Silver Surfer do that to him as soon as he became Galactus' herald? It would have saved his own world and he wouldn't have had to help Galactus destroy countless other worlds. My only thinking behind it was that Galactus wasn't destroyed (which would make more sense), but perhaps Surfer managed to just transport him to another part of the universe. In which case, he'll be back, and he'll be pissed!

The whole power transfer thing was done fairly well, although its a bit of a tired and dated concept. That said, it made NO sense that Johnny could take on the powers of all other three at the same time to fight Dr Doom. Surely the powers would just transfer around the group? And even if it did make sense, Johnny doesn't have the intellect to realise it would work - Reed would be the only one likely to come up with that idea.

My other big criticism was the use of Doctor Doom. The basic premise was fairly sound, with the military calling him in to work with Reed to stop the Surfer. However the biggest problem was the reason for his fighting the Fantastic Four after taking control of the surf board. His intellect is supposed to be equal to Reed's, and having been told that the board was drawing a power that would destroy the world, I don't think he'd have been quite as eager to keep the board (his main motivation, after all, is ruling the world/country/whatever, and he can't do that if Earth is destroyed).

That all said, it was a fairly enjoyable 92 minutes, and while I wouldn't necessarily go and see it again, if I was forced to sit through any one of the films I have seen this year so far, I think this one would probably be my choice.
(That probably won't last long, considering other films coming out this year, but its certainly given Spidey a kick in the pants!)