Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007): A Retrospect

[Spirit Zero]

The dreary sterile foursome are back...rubbery bloke, fat rock thing, the flaming flamer and woman with really obvious fake blue contacts and blonde hair. This time in a bid to actually make an interesting film they've added an actual antagonist...or have they. Oh no my mistake he actually turns out to be another good guy whom everybody thought was bad. So who is the bad guy this time?? well I guess its Doom again...oh no he's working with the Four...until the very end when we get one single battle and a large cosmic cloud, oh geez Hollywood.

Yep so we've had the obligatory origins part of the franchise that took up the entire first film, now things can step up a gear...right??!! Well no not really, this time most of the film simply revolves around the marriage plans of Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman...yes *deflated acceptance of the truth*. Yep as the two love birds are trying their best to get hitched admist the usual cartoonish childish tomfoolery of the other team members, the Silver Surfer pops up from outta nowhere.

So even though the rest of this film still generally looks as poor as the first film at least the Surfer does actually look pretty slick, no pun intended. Admittedly it shouldn't be too hard to capture the Surfer's look, how could you fudge it up?! (ahem!), but yes he does looks really nice here as does his board. That doesn't excuse some plot issues though, apparently the board is a beacon for Galactus the cosmic cloud, but why? does Galactus own the board and he loaned it to the Surfer? what connection is there between the board and Galactus? I did always think the Silver Surfer's people on his home world all had boards like it was their mode of transportation, but in this film things aren't really explained and I've no idea how accurate it is to the comics.

This leads to Galactus himself or itself. Yes in the comics we all know that Galactus is a big God-like humanoid with a nifty helmet, but in this film he's a big swirly cosmic cloud in space...he's been Bayformed. I understand the need to maybe conceal this mega characters true form to a degree (in his first movie appearance) so I can go with this myself, but I can also understand why some fans were upset with this way forward. Hollywood does this to some characters and it can be very frustrating I know, but leaving such a vast character to the last five minutes of the film doesn't help either does it. What bewildered me was the fact the Silver Surfer decides to wipe out or kill Galactus at the end...but why didn't he do just that right at the start before he was forced to destroy so many planets?! he could of done what he did (don't ask me what he did) ages ago for Pete's sake! eh? Oh and what were all those huge holes in the Earth in aid of exactly??

The actual main heroes (the Four) are completely useless and just as annoying as they were in the first film...so I won't bore you further. Where as Doom is!...just the same as the first film *groan*. Somehow he gets released from his metal prison because of cosmic rays from the Surfer? whatever...and naturally plans dastardly plans to get even. The utterly stupid thing is even when the planet is clearly on the brink of destruction by Galactus, Doom is still being a dick and refusing to cooperate trying to keep the boards power for himself. Yeah that will do you good when planet Earth gets obliterated you utter utter cock.

It all sounds exciting doesn't it, lots of action and CGI for the kids...yeah, great. Thing is just like the first film there isn't all that much action until the end again. We do finally get to see Doom have a proper battle with the Four and errr...lots of military blokes getting thrown around, one guy gets a hole blasted in him! But that's it really, the finale is just a big super powered energy explosion that makes no real sense but you just gotta accept it.

I admit this film is much more fun than the first and visually more thrilling but a lot of that is purely down to the Surfer. Without this one character the film would be just as pants as the original, and even with this one character its not exactly brilliant. The problem being most of the film is filled with rubbish and characters you don't care about, plus it all feels so very puerile still...they added more childish visual gags! They broke the wall of semi reality within this universe by having Stan Lee play himself and being recognised as the comicbook uberlord that he is. Cute moment but it takes you out of the film, it makes a mockery of the whole movie...if that's even possible. On top of all that they still go ahead and end the film focusing on that stupid flippin' wedding and the same 4 logo motif in the sky! originality anyone?

5.5/10

[Spirit Zero]

Everything Wrong With Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer - YouTube

[Infernal King]

In retrospect, I can't believe I was dragged to see both of these ultra-forgettable movies in the theatre.

[Spirit Zero]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

In retrospect, I can't believe I was dragged to see both of these ultra-forgettable movies in the theatre.

I kinda liked this one in a strange kind of way.

[Kamelot]

I thought Silver Surfer looked awesome in that movie, he looked like he truly belonged to the MCU. The chase with Human Torch was the best part and unfortunately the only decent sequence you could find in that movie. I don't really like any of the FF guys, but Silver Surfer truly deserves a much better treatment, hopefully in a real Marvel movie.

[evoxturbo]

I hate this movie. Jessica Alba looked so much better in the first film, more natural. In this film it looks like she had hideous hair extensions and haunting fake blue eye contacts. She is such a gorgeous woman and this one of the worst looks for her in film. Hell I'm even more attracted to her in Sin City 2 with all the bandages and stitches.

Also the PG rating pissed me off. It was really unnecessary to make the film more family friendly. The overall cheesiness of the film is disgusting. The first film had a more serious tone. This movie is not very good what so ever.

[khan1670]

Well yes, the movie is not very good in the end.

Honestly most people would know the Surfer's origin beforehand but...

.... if you want an explanation for this. The Surfer was originally just a
man like us living on another planet until Galactus came and was going to
destroy it.

He was able to convince Galactus to spare his homeworld by becoming his
"herald" and searching out planets for him to consume.

Galactus turned him into the Silver Surfer giving him a small fraction of Galactus' power and created his board for him. He also kind of brainwashed him so he wouldn't feel empathy for any beings on any planets he found.

As for Galactus himself, yeah it was kind of disappointing we didn't get a
giant humanoid version, but if you missed it this form was hinted at
when the Surfer confronts him at the end.

You can see the shape of Galactus' head moving towards the Surfer in the cloud at the end. Perhaps a projection of himself and the humanoid form was deeper in the cloud. IE, the cloud was just hiding Galactus', it wasn't Galactus himself.

The Surfer didn't kill Galactus at the end, he wouldn't be able to do that.
He just transported them both elsewhere in space.

Anyway, if you listen to the commentary you'll hear the director say they wanted to save Galactus' real form for a potential Silver Surfer movie which of course never happened.

The holes were just to make it easier for Galactus to get to the planet core
to consume it.

Originally Posted by Spirit Zero

So even though the rest of this film still generally looks as poor as the first film at least the Surfer does actually look pretty slick, no pun intended. Admittedly it shouldn't be too hard to capture the Surfer's look, how could you fudge it up?! (ahem!), but yes he does looks really nice here as does his board. That doesn't excuse some plot issues though, apparently the board is a beacon for Galactus the cosmic cloud, but why? does Galactus own the board and he loaned it to the Surfer? what connection is there between the board and Galactus? I did always think the Silver Surfer's people on his home world all had boards like it was their mode of transportation, but in this film things aren't really explained and I've no idea how accurate it is to the comics.

This leads to Galactus himself or itself. Yes in the comics we all know that Galactus is a big God-like humanoid with a nifty helmet, but in this film he's a big swirly cosmic cloud in space...he's been Bayformed. I understand the need to maybe conceal this mega characters true form to a degree (in his first movie appearance) so I can go with this myself, but I can also understand why some fans were upset with this way forward. Hollywood does this to some characters and it can be very frustrating I know, but leaving such a vast character to the last five minutes of the film doesn't help either does it. What bewildered me was the fact the Silver Surfer decides to wipe out or kill Galactus at the end...but why didn't he do just that right at the start before he was forced to destroy so many planets?! he could of done what he did (don't ask me what he did) ages ago for Pete's sake! eh? Oh and what were all those huge holes in the Earth in aid of exactly??

[Randall Flagg]

I don't know I liked both movies.

[Elbie]

This movie was absolutely terrible. Can't think of anything GOOD about it.

[GUFFIES]

really i dont like this movie u_u

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Kamelot

I thought Silver Surfer looked awesome in that movie, he looked like he truly belonged to the MCU. The chase with Human Torch was the best part and unfortunately the only decent sequence you could find in that movie. I don't really like any of the FF guys, but Silver Surfer truly deserves a much better treatment, hopefully in a real Marvel movie.

FF:RoSS is a good example of the "Oops! Apology" sequel--
The one that was greenlit on the Thursday before the first movie opened, based on all the money it was "going" to make, a lucky opening weekend got it into production, and then...OOPS!

Which causes the second part, the Apology, where they fix (or at least try to, as much as the confines of the pre-apology script will let them) everything the audience publicly hated them for in the first movie:
Less humor (well, less, anyway.) The team now actually fights something from the original comic. Dr. Doom is now cured of his "turning to steel", removes his metal faceplate, and keeps it as....A MASK!

Is it good? Nnno. We still get the dopey "power switching" plot to try and play up the Friends-characters quality of the first movie, we get the London scenes to kiss up to the foreign market (back then, you kissed your action sequels up to Europe, not China), and if SS seems to have come in out of a different movie, well, he did. (They had been kicking around a solo movie for twelve years.)
It's probably one of the better reasons for Fox to admit defeat and just hand over the non-X titles back to Disney/Marvel like a good defeatist sport, but there it is, out there and immortalized on disk.

[slainery]

Originally Posted by Randall Flagg

I don't know I liked both movies.

Same, and I (personally) don't find them any worse than Captain America: TFA, Thor 1 & 2 nor Iron Man 3.

[Scorpion Soldier]

Originally Posted by Kamelot

I thought Silver Surfer looked awesome in that movie, he looked like he truly belonged to the MCU. The chase with Human Torch was the best part and unfortunately the only decent sequence you could find in that movie. I don't really like any of the FF guys, but Silver Surfer truly deserves a much better treatment, hopefully in a real Marvel movie.

Yeah it's unfortunate that Fox will propably have the rights for him and Galactus in the forseeable future. They would've been a perfect fit for the cosmic MCU Marvel is starting with Guardians of the Galaxy.

[R3P0]

Whats with all these retrospect posts on movies that opened like 5-8 years ago...

[hasslein]

I didn't like the Silver Surfer film at all, but I have to say, other than Superman (1978), I enjoyed the first film more than any other super hero film. Can someone please explain to me (briefly) why it is so loathed?

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by hasslein

I didn't like the Silver Surfer film at all, but I have to say, other than Superman (1978), I enjoyed the first film more than any other super hero film. Can someone please explain to me (briefly) why it is so loathed?

(Does anyone have a .gif of Mister Fantastic reaching for a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom?)

[SlayersCouncil]

Originally Posted by EricJ

(Does anyone have a .gif of Mister Fantastic reaching for a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom?)

I'm pretty sure that was in the first movie.

[SilentDawn]

I've always kinda liked this one. Sure, It's terribly bad and cheesy, but Silver Surfer's tragic character still gets me every time.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by SlayersCouncil

I'm pretty sure that was in the first movie.

It was, and that was the one the poster said he liked. Go figure.
He asked for a brief explanation, and I just assumed that would sum it up more than the scene were Mr. F's face goes all shmooshy if he falls asleep on his desk.

[hasslein]

Originally Posted by EricJ

(Does anyone have a .gif of Mister Fantastic reaching for a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom?)

Wow, I didn't remember that... I hate bathroom humor... All I can remember is how good Chiklis was.. was that in the extended version too?