Rise of the Adequate Sequel

In 2005, Tim Story released Fantastic Four, a movie about Marvel Comic’s first dysfunctional family. Originally a comic by Stan Lee, The Fantastic Four followed the adventures of a tightly knit group of scientists who were given superpowers by cosmic radiation. Story’s interpretation was largely faithful to the comic. Unfortunately however, the movie itself was a lackluster affair: there were some truly brilliant moments, but they populated a largely uninspired, formulaic screenplay. It was…(please forgive me) less then fantastic.

The film was a success however and Tim Story has followed it up with Rise of the Silver Surfer, the second installment in the Fantastic Four franchise. This time around, Story has not just the original characters to play with, but also the film’s antagonist, the Silver Surfer, a tremendous comic book icon in his own right. Given the failings of the past film, can Story and his crew manage to deliver a stronger film this time around?

Without immediately pointing out the movie’s failings, I think it’s safe to say that Rise of the Silver Surfer is probably this summer’s first truly entertaining flick. Otherwise? It’s adequate enough.
Undoubtedly, the film’s key strength lies in its running time: a cool 90-minutes. That means while the film might not be the most intellectual of affairs, it doesn’t quite hang around long enough to pretend otherwise. And in a summer littered with over-stuffed sequels, that’s kind of nice.
The film is also benefited by the charisma of Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis and Loan Gruffudd. Evans and Chiklis in particular seem to be having a tremendous amount of fun playing these characters. They’re both very infectious and the film really soars because of them. Story’s interpretation of the Silver Surfer, voiced by Lawrence Fishburne, is largely the same as in the comics. Cold, emotionless, the movie’s Surfer is pretty much what he should be…a dangerous servant tasked with a less then enviable job.

So there you go.

That dear reader is where the virtues of the film end. Otherwise, a number of poor choices carry over from the first installment and prevent this film from rising above its ilk. Chief amongst those flaws is the direction of Tim Story and the writing of Don Payne and Mark Frost.
Let’s start with Story. Now, while the film has a nice shot flow, I couldn’t help but feel it lacked an artistic style all its own. Story just doesn’t seem to have the balls or confidence directors like Bryan Singer or Sam Rami do. His interest lies in making sure the film is understandable and the screen direction clear, but as a director, that’s about as far as he’s willing to go. And in a film bestowed with such rich origins, it’s sad to see its director endowing the material with the mechanized style of a block-picture family comedy. Maybe next time around he can take a few more chances with his camera.
As for Payne and Frost, the two do a good enough job handing in a tidy screenplay, but there are a few points that could have used a quick rewrite before production. One gripe for me lies in the film’s dialogue: The lines needed to be sharper, snappier and quicker. As it is, banter doesn’t play much better than a Saturday morning cartoon.
And then we have the collaborative efforts of Frost, Payne, Story and actor Julian McMahon to sabotage the character of Victor Von Doom.
Doom just doesn’t work.
He’s sniveling, he’s smarmy…he just isn’t a credible threat to these characters.
Far more interesting would have been Stan Lee’s original interpretation of the character (which gave George Lucas most of his inspiration for Darth Vader). What’s worse is that McMahon seems to be stuck in jackass mode thanks to his work on Nip/Tuck. It’ll be real interesting to see if this guy avoids typecasting in his later years.
Still, he doesn’t deaden the screen as wholly as Jessica Alba. Her Sue Storm is about as exciting as a trip to the box factory. To be fair, these actors play their characters as a type; Evans is a hotshot, Chiklis is a big softie and Gruffudd is socially challenged. While that isn’t incredibly deep, it is appropriate to the material. But the key is that they’re all empathetic in their own way. Alba however, seems to be stuck on grating deadweight mode. While it is a type, it’s the most loathsome of types (it makes her as likable as a trip to the dentist). I’d pin a “too pretty to know better” charge on her, but she was smart enough to pick-up what the other actors were doing that she should have known better.

All in all, Rise of the Silver Surfer manages to fly by as an entertaining flick and nothing more. In its defense, it never had to be anything more. In fact, the film could have raised itself to the punchy status of Spider-Man 2. As it is, it doesn’t quite earn the title of fantastic…no, in the hands of Story and his team, we’ve got the Adequate Four.