The following is an in-depth story analysis. If you haven't seen this movie, you might want to before reading this review
Victor von Doom: Let's all go for a spin!
When I reviewed Fantastic Four, I made the argument that that it's basically a superhero sitcom with a big special effects budget. At times, it was very entertaining, but it didn't tell much of a story. There are things that I like about Rise of the Silver Surfer, and as always, I'll do my best to judge this by the merits of the film itself, but that'll be hard with this one because there's a lot of what was changed from the original coming of Galactus story and Silver Surfer's origins are precisely the things that make this story overly simplistic, and lacking in sense. So, let me emphasis now that anything I feel the need to bring up in reference to the source material is something, I think, is a problem because it doesn't work in the story as its presented, not just that it's a problem because it deviates to what came before, i.e. Galactus is a giant cloud.
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I think Rise of the Silver Surfer immediately feels like a better movie because there's more to its plot than the previous installment, which could be simply summed up as: people get powers, and people deal with powers. My problem with this movie is that it's too close to the formula of the first film, rather than really exploring the themes, ideas and characterizations that should come from a cosmic being coming to eat the planet; Silver Surfer's arrival is very much in the background until the third act, and is exploited a little more than a backdrop for more comedy scenes.
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Silver Surfer's arrival interrupts Sue and Reed's wedding; Johnny's encounter with the Surfer gives him a bizarre condition that makes him transfer powers with each of the four everytime he touches one of them, which is played up as a running gag rather than a real dilemma. So, the plot here can pretty much be summed up as: Silver Surfer shows up and reeks havoc, whilst the Fantastic Four deal with family problems. It really feels like, to me, the Fantastic Four's domestic issues are the A story, while Silver Surfer is the B story; Silver Surfer serving as herald for a planet-eating entity because that entity promised to spare his world and his wife, is infinitely more interesting than Sue's constant irritation with Reed for putting saving the world over their personal lives. Wow, he's trying to stop the end of the world instead of focusing on their wedding. Where are his priorities? I do give Rise of the Silver Surfer a lot of credit for trying to use the best FF source material; The Coming of Galactus is one of, if not, the most famous of the Fantastic Four stories, and has a lot of excellent screen potential. However, the mistake seems to have been that it's assumed that this material was too heavy for a general, kid friendly audience, so rather than allowing it to be in the forefront, it's treated as that big global catastrophe that gives us an excuse for coming back and doing more fun and silly things with these silly characters.
The first movie gave each character a definitive arc. Some of them are overly simplistic, and I felt that Reed and Sue's was too much of a typical romantic comedy arc, but at least they still started at one place and ended up in a different place by the end. They each had opportunities for change. The character arcs in this movie are, in some cases, all over the place, and in other places, completely nonexistent. I'd like to examine each of them, one by one.
Ben Grimm: I just wanted to give him a hug.
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We'll get Ben out of the way first because he doesn't get a character arc. The movie treats him as one of the four who has made complete peace with this situation, and has nothing left to learn. He's used for muscle, and he's used for jokes. He breaks through walls and punches things. He gets angry at Johnny for making fun of him, just like in the first film, like in the scene toward the beginning, when Johnny makes a crack about Alicia waking up one day, being crushed by a rock-slide. He then turns things around for Johnny when he touches him after he got his power transfer condition and makes him look like the Thing for a while. By the way, I don't remember if these gags were funnier in the first viewing, but this time around, I found most of the jokes to be mildly amusing at best, and annoyingly juvenile at worst.
The first movie is definitely funnier to me, and maybe that's just because I wanted this one to get far away from the sitcom formula.
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Last thing about Ben: he's also irritatingly used to recap what little plot is here. When the four used the Fantasticar for the first time, and everyone know how to fly it, regardless of the fact that only Reed has ever seen it, the Thing says, let me get this straight, and proceeds to tell us everything that's going on. You know, just in case we're too stupid to grasp onto this complex and heavy material. I can enjoy a mindless popcorn flick to a point, but at least give your audience the credit to expect them to follow the story.
Susan Storm: Did you know I can create a force field inside someone's body and expand it until they explode?
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Reed and Sue's character arcs are intertwined. He is focused on his work; she wants to settle down and have a family, which strikes me as a little too easy, and maybe even a bit sexist. That's not to say that in our modern day, there aren't any women for whom that's a priority, but the movie plays it up like it's a given. It feels to me that the only reason of having children is a priority for her is because she's a woman. No other explanation is given. In the first movie when she was working for Victor, she was a career woman. She was ambitious and independent, so I found this turn slightly offensive, and while she seems somewhat superficial last movie, this time around, she seems entirely superficial. She does every stereotypical feminine thing that makes female characters unsympathetic. She gets angry at Reed and takes it back, only to turn around and throw it back at his face again. She's manipulative, and it's presented as comedy. We're supposed to laugh at Reed for being completely oblivious, while his air-headed fiancée is conniving and controlling.
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Maybe I'm reading too much into this; all of this is just here to be funny after all, so I shouldn't take any implications too seriously, but consider this scene. Johnny throws Reed a bachelor party in which he dances with two fully clothed women. He uses his stretchy powers to do some inventive moves, but he never touches the women in an inappropriate way, never kisses them; nothing. Sue walks in on the party and immediately gets angry. As they talk to the general, Sue gives Reed the cold shoulder, but later, she pretends to change her mind, then says, I'm glad you had fun, turns around and says, besides, it was nothing compared to what I did in my bachelorette party. Sometimes movies seem to pretend that all beautiful women are this way, and that men just have to put up with it; men should let themselves be teased by them because they should just feel lucky a girl who looks like Jessica Alba would even have them. There's a scene where Reed stands up to the general, and on one hand, it's nice to see him gain some confidence and asserting himself, but when he's giving the general a list of accomplishments that should entitle him the general's respect, one of the items he lists is, I'm engaged to the hottest girl on the planet. The scene is then further ruined after the speech when Sue says, I'm so hot for you right now. Is that the sole reason he's marrying her? You're telling me that's the only reason one of the finest minds of the planet can come up with for wanting to marry someone? I'm supposed to buy that Reed Richards is this shallow? And if they're both that shallow, why am I supposed to care about them?
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So, Sue wants to break up the Fantastic Four to settle down and have a family, and even though he's constantly working, even though it doesn't dawn on him he's getting married until an hour before the ceremony, Reed decides that marrying and settling down is a priority over saving the world. I have no problem with this, provided he makes this decision on his own, but the way Sue is portrayed, it's really hard for me not to think that she's just conned or guilt tripped him into making this decision. The bottom line is, you can't sacrifice good characterization for good comedy. This isn't a straight farce; we're not watching Scary Movie or Superhero Movie; that means that I still want to care about the characters.
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Even Silver Surfer seems unintentionally superficial. What could've turned to a tender friendship between him and Sue is just another plot contrivance that does nothing to serve the characters. Even though he's preparing Earth for Galactus, he saves Sue. She asks him why. He tells her that she reminds him of his wife, who's being spared by Galactus as long as Silver Surfer remains his herald. At the end, Silver Surfer decides to spare the earth and destroy Galactus to do it. He's never been persuaded to do this before, despite helping Galactus eat several worlds. Surely he's taking a huge risk; one that, if he fails, could mean the destruction of his planet. Why does he do it? Because Susan Storm inspired him. Because she reminds him of his wife. I want to know what is about Sue that reminds him of his wife, and I want it to be more than just, she kind of looks like her. Wouldn't it be nice to have some sort of flashback of the Surfer in his home world? We could've seen a little of his wife, and maybe got some very profound parallel between her and Sue; something concrete that reminds Surfer his love for her life. Perhaps a hobby they both share, or a philosophy, or a world view.
Johnny Storm: I could catch him, but he's too strong for me.
Ben Grimm: I could whale on him, but he'd see me from a mile away.
Reed Richards: It would take all four of us.
Johnny Storm: Or maybe one of us.
Reed Richards: We don't know what that would do to you!
Johnny Storm: Let's not make this about me.
That brings me back to Reed and Sue and the resolution of their arc. At the very end of the film, they both decide, simultaneously, not to break up the team. They say that without the team, the world would've been destroyed, and they commit to making a family work while still keeping the band together. This decision came out of nowhere, and is obviously tacked on to keep the semblance of story completion. Johnny and Ben were extremely upset when they found out Sue and Reed wanted to quit. You can't have your characters debate about something for half a movie, only to resolve it at the end as easy as flipping a switch, besides the fact that there isn't any logic to why they made this decision.
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The Surfer looks great. He looks very deep and contemplated. He obviously hates what he has to do for Galactus. He's treated as a very tragic character, and I know some fans don't care for Laurence Fishburne's voice, but I think it's fine. I think his CGI treatment is excellent. I like how he moves on the board, and the fact that I hate how little screentime he gets, is a testament to how good of a job was done putting him on screen. But he spends too much time tied up in a military bunker. There are too many head shots of him looking dramatic, and his motivations for saving Earth were vague and unexplored. He's ultimately a wasted opportunity, while at the same time, being the best thing that happened in the movie.
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First, the team didn't really save the world. Johnny used his conditions to take all their powers to stop Doctor Doom singlehandedly, and Silver Surfer defeated Galactus all by himself, so it wasn't because they worked as a team, it was because all four of their powers were readily available. There's no reason this should've taught them some kind of lesson.
Secondly, Sue so very nearly died (Who sees who sew whose new socks, sir?You see Sue sew Sue's new socks, sir). This is really important; she had a spear through the chest, and had Silver Surfer not magic touched her, she would've been a goner. When she's revived, she gets up, is suddenly good humoured and perky and conveniently decides to change her whole outlook on life. Now, I'd figure a neardeath experience would do the exact opposite of this. Wouldn't that most likely solidify your opinion that fighting crime and stopping global catastrophes isn't the kind of lifestyle you want to raise your family in? Did I miss something here?
Secondly, Sue so very nearly died (Who sees who sew whose new socks, sir?You see Sue sew Sue's new socks, sir). This is really important; she had a spear through the chest, and had Silver Surfer not magic touched her, she would've been a goner. When she's revived, she gets up, is suddenly good humoured and perky and conveniently decides to change her whole outlook on life. Now, I'd figure a neardeath experience would do the exact opposite of this. Wouldn't that most likely solidify your opinion that fighting crime and stopping global catastrophes isn't the kind of lifestyle you want to raise your family in? Did I miss something here?
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I saved Johnny for last because he has the one arc I really do like, though it ultimately doesn't go anywhere at the end. He becomes the most human and sympathetic character in the film, to me, because his character arc from the first movie is furthered here, and goes to a very logical place. He looks at Reed and Sue, and looks at Ben and Alicia, and realizes that if he keeps living the carefree, throw-caution-to-the-wind kind of life, he's always gonna be alone. This is illustrated well when he hits on a girl on the military for the first time, and she actually isn't interested in him. She spells out all his flaws for him; that he's irresponsible, and narcissistic, and he begins to realize that he might actually want to settle down with someone someday. There's a nice scene between Johnny and Ben when he tells Ben that he's afraid to be alone. Ben says, you got me, pal. That's a moment where the movie slows down and the people feel like real people, and I wish there were more of those. Sadly, Johnny, like Reed and Sue, is sent back to the status quo at the end of the movie. He apparently has gotten the military girl to change her mind about him because they attend Reed and Sue's last attempt in getting married together. When Sue throws the bouquet, Johnny sets it in fire to make sure his new girlfriend doesn't get it. Again, it's supposed to be funny, but I can't help but extrapolate the implications it sets on his character arc, because this means he's gone back to all the soul searching he did earlier in the film. This symbolizes his denial. He thought about maturing and growing as a person, but nahhhhhhh the fans wouldn't like that very much, so he can't learn anything. He better go back to being immature at the end. Look, people grow and evolve. Just because he decides to be more responsible doesn't mean he has to be a completely different person. People want their heroes to want to better themselves; it's what makes them good role models. If we think too much about it, it will seem to imply that Johnny was just fine the way he was.
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Though I didn't care about his characterization last time, Doctor Doom at least had a reason to be in this movie. He proves to be completely pointless this time around. His resurrection is entirely contrived. Because the Surfer's cosmic energy is similar to the cosmic rays that gave doom and the four their powers, Silver Surfer just passing over his head is enough to revive him, even though the Surfer needed to touch the Human Torch to affect him in any way. This completely heals all his scars, but he still has his lightning powers, which begs the question to why he still feels the need to wear the mask. Doctor Doom serves to do the typical thing of making the military out to be entirely incompetent and idiotic.
Hey general, what do you think will happen to you if you're stupid enough to trust Doctor Doom after what he did in the last movie?
Oh, that's what happens.
And his motivations for why he wants Silver Surfer's board are nonexistent. Despite Reed's warning that the board's what's drawing Galactus to Earth, finds a way to bind the board and its powers to himself and uses it to......fly around menacingly. Does he want to rule the world and just hopes Galactus won't show up? Does he not care about the world and just wants revenge on the four before Earth is destroyed? I have no idea what he's doing and why he's doing it, and it seems like he's only here because it's a Fantastic Four movie, and Doctor Doom is expected. It was a good opportunity to see him in his role as ruler of Latveria here, but there's no such luck.
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Now that I've gotten all the important stuff out of the way, I want to discuss about Galactus and why it doesn't work for me. Yes, as a fan, I would've liked to have seen him in all his awesome, purple, disproportionate head glory. I don't like the reasons behind his being a giant cloud; the producers felt that Galactus looks too silly to be brought to screen, and I say that's a copout. This movie is entirely too silly as it is. The whole thing is played up for laughs. I realize the material is hokey to begin with; that's the charm as the Fantastic Four as a book. It's way out their science fiction, and it's fun because the audience realizes it's silly, while the characters involved play everything straight. But for the purposes of the film, I don't understand why Galactus couldn't at least been given a personality, and a voice. He wouldn't have had to speak very often. It's kind of awkward that Silver Surfer refers to him as a he, but we never hear Galactus himself, and I'd have liked that, because how this version goes about his business really confounds me. Why would you put the power cosmic in a single object and give it to your herald? Wouldn't you be worried that it could get separated and then someone else would have the power (which happens in the film)? And how exactly does the Surfer destroy Galactus at the end? In the comics, the Surfer is given only a small portion of the cosmic which makes him super powerful, but nothing as powerful as Galactus. Here, he seems to get just the gumption to blow up Galactus, flies up inside the giant cloud and I guess we're supposed to think that the vague, red, purplish kind of Galactus shaped thing inside is really Galactus and he's just in the cloud. This is really lazy, and I can't imagine how anyone involved thought very long and hard about it. Besides the fact that it makes Galactus look like a total moron; if the Surfer could do this, why didn't he try it before? Was he just unsure whether it would work and feared it would get his planet killed? Once again, if that's the case, I don't buy that Sue Storm would be enough to make the Surfer risk all of this. For viewers who have never been introduced to this material, I could imagine this being a more enjoyable experience. For someone who's just finding out about Silver Surfer, I could see why his backstory about his wife and his tragic existence might be enough to carry the movie. But for me, concept doesn't trump execution. If it did, having the background with Victor and Nora Freeze would be enough to save Batman & Robin.
I was surprised on this viewing to find that I didn't enjoy it as much as the first movie, and I thought for a long time that this was actually superior to the original. That's probably because a plot was attempted, but while lacking a story, the first film had a better grasp of its characters and their motivations.