Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans

The Fantastic Four, the first family of superheroes, the merging of comic books and soap opera. Followers of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell point out the mythological origins, that the team represents the classical Greek elements in blue uniforms. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, the team leader and scientific genius, who represents water with his ability to stretch himself to different lengths and morph his body into all kind of shapes. Sue Storm, Reed’s wife, Invisible Woman, is like the air in that she can become invisible at will and can form unseen protective force fields and shoot a similar offensive blast from her hands. Johnny Storm, Sue’s younger bother, The Human Torch, can become literal flame, fire, as he flies through the air. Ben Grimm, The Thing, Reed’s best friend, is the earth, an orange rock-like creature covered in craggy plates possessing super strength and endurance. Pop culture devotees would claim that their success lies in Stan Lee’s genius of making them a dysfunctional family. Reed and Sue are the parents, Ben, the kind-hearted and self-loathing, self-pitying uncle, who bickers with the teenage Johnny, who is a hot head and is constantly rebelling against authority. They squabble, fight, hold grudges, act petty, but love each other. Others claim that their success was due to the fact that they were more like real human beings in the way they talk and their attitudes, than their almost god-like counter-parts in the DC Universe. They have feet of clay unlike Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. It might have been because they captured the zeitgeist of the 1960s with Jack Kirby’s dynamic, kinetic art style against the more button down, cold, uniform look of DC. Whatever it was, the Fantastic Four saved a struggling comic book company and began the Marvel revolution. For such cool characters, the last time around they sure made a lame assed movie.

There have been several great comic book movies the last few years – V for Vendetta, 300, the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises, Batman Begins, Sin City, and American Splendor. Fantastic Four was not one of them. For fans that had been waiting for over a decade, it was lukewarm, darn right cheesy in places. Victor Van Doom (Julian McMahon - Charmed, Nip/Tuck), who in many ways, was the villain George Lucas ripped off to base his character of Darth Vader on, was a wimpy, pretty boy with superpowers he never possessed in the comic book. (As a side note, Lucas should be down on his knees and thank whatever God he worships that Kirby never sued him because even a casual observer can see the comic book artist’s influence all over the franchise.) McMahon’s Doom was so lambasted in the previous film by critics and fanboys to the point that Toyfare magazine suggested that the comic book character sue the moviemakers for defamation of character. The disapproval reached the level that director Tim Story (Barbershop) stated, "He will be back in full DOOM, not like we had him in the first film." With the exception of Michael Chiklis (“The Shield,” “The Commish”) as Ben Grimm, the rest of the cast seemed miscast for their roles. Audiences discovered Jessica Alba (“Dark Angel,” Honey) could not act and Chris Evans (Cellular, Not Another Teen Movie) was annoying as Johnny Storm. Then there was pretty boy Ioan Gruffudd (King Arthur, the Hornblower franchise) who was less than fantastic as Mr. Fantastic. It was the worst casting since the Chinese version of Porgy & Bess. Still, it made over $330 million worldwide and snapped the American box office out of a 19 weeks slump. That means sequel time. But if Hollywood has learned anything from Charlie’s Angels and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, it is that audiences usually don’t show up for a sequel to a film that sucks. It is particularly true when it comes to comic book movies, where in order to be a success, you need to get the hardcore geeks, the ones who have Brian Michael Bendis as one of their top friends on Myspace, buzzing. (For those of you with lives, Bendis is this generation’s Stan Lee, the main creator at Marvel Comics.) Enter the Silver Surfer, Lee’s favorite Marvel character.

In the 1960s and early 70s, Stan Lee was so busy with his editorial chores that he never had time to write out a full script for his artists to follow. Instead he would throw out some general ideas for a plot and let his artists create the various panels and pages. When they were done, he would add the dialogue. If you had artists as talented as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, and John Buscema such a process works marvelously. Lee had given Kirby an idea for the Fantastic Four to battle an apocalyptic villain called Galactus in 1966. Jack turned in his artwork and Stan started looking through the pages. The editor came to a page with a naked silver alien riding a silver surfboard through space. Looking up from his desk, Stan asked Jack who this character was. Jack replied that every king has a herald, someone who goes before them to announce that the king was coming. This alien was Galactus’ herald. It was love at first sight for Lee. The Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd was about to become a major player in the Marvel Universe. Why such a strange creature? Because Kirby was "tired of drawing spaceships!"

The last movie ended with Doom’s body being sent back to his European nation of Latveria and you know that he is not going to be happy when he thaws out. The sequel opens up with the two biggest events in the history of the Fantastic Four, Reed and Sue’s wedding and the introduction of the Silver Surfer. (I will be willing to bet that the third film in the franchise will feature Sue giving birth to her son Franklin.) Reed and Sue’s wedding is interrupted by the appearance of Norrin Radd (Doug Jones – Abe Sapian in Hellboy). Who is he? Radd was a young astronomer from the planet of Zenn-La. In order to save his planet from being devoured by an almost god-like entity named Galactus, Radd agrees to roam the cosmos looking for new planets for the god-like devourer to consume. What are his powers? He possesses a power known as the Power Cosmic (the force) which allows him to channel energy through his body and expel it in the form of beams with violent results. He can transmute elements which allow him to travel through things and even time travel. Nearly indestructible, with no need to sleep or eat, he also has super human strength and agility. He has everything but that which it means to be human (like Data from “Star Trek”). Why has he come to earth? Our planet has everything that Galactus looks for. Is this Silver Surfer a bad guy or a good guy put in an impossible situation? Where the Surfer goes, Galactus is sure to follow. More importantly, will this movie get enough buzz to get a Silver Surfer movie franchise?

Shockingly, given the first movie, this film follows the original Stan Lee comic adventures pretty closely. This effort is a lot better than the first. Even in the little touches like the Surfer’s interaction with the blind Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington – Little Man, “Boston Legal”), the Doom back story, and the man in the iron mask’s trying to steal the Surfer’s powers stay true to the Stan Lee ethos. Is it X-Men, Spider-Man, or Batman Begins level? No. Four of the five stars are still annoying but less so this go around. In many ways it can be compared to the recent Star Wars trilogy. Like Attack of the Clones, it is light years ahead of its predecessor, but weaknesses and the limitations of the actors can still be seen. It is a B/B+ film. Let’s hope the next film is on level with Revenge of the Sith and audiences give this franchise a second chance because I want the Silver Surfer to have a first chance.

Verdict: A Much Better Film Than the Last Go Around.