Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Caution: This will contain plot spoilers, so if you don't want to know anything about the ending, skip this posting.

Last night, I got to watch Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Now, the first Fantastic Four was not good. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good. They overloaded that cheese factor like there was no tomorrow. So my hopes were not high for this movie, although the trailer looked promising.

All in all, my reaction was pretty much this: eh. Nothing exciting. It was very anti-climactic, and I found myself willing the movie forward. There weren't very many action sequences, and the Surfer was "defeated" rather easily -- by seeing Sue Storm. And that was it, he "turned" good. Now, I'm familiar with the comic books. I know that the Surfer turns good. But it was so easy, so trite. Literally, all Sue had to do was be nice to him, and he switched sides. It was all very liberal-esque: be nice to people, and you can save the world without resorting to violence. They turned the Surfer from a formidable foe into a puffball soft crybaby.

Another liberal-esque plotline: Sue and Reed want to ultimately quit the Fantastic Four to raise a family in a normal life. This is portrayed as a horrible idea, and they ultimately see the error of their ways. Because, you know, a normal family with two loving parents wanting to be around their children together in a safe, loving environment is such an abnormality these days, and is something most liberals despise. They make it rather obvious, even when Reed and Sue are first discussing it, that it will never happen.

You also don't see any really impressive displays of their powers. I mean, they use them, but nothing better than what we've already seen. There's too much squabbling within the team back and forth -- Reed vs. Sue, Johnny and Ben vs. Reed and Sue... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It got old. Fast.

Galactus was in the movie for all of a minute, and they turned him into a big cloud. Seriously -- a big cloud. With tornados. Fans of the comic book will be pissed off at how he was portrayed. The movie ends with Sue and Reed's wedding, and the two of them deciding they don't want or need a normal life for when they have children. Then you cut to credits, and about a minute through, you flash into space, where the Surfer is floating "lifelessly". Dr. Doom is also back in this movie, although his role was annoying more than anything and we don't know what ultimately happens to him. There's gonna be a Fantastic Four: 3 coming out, folks.

Oh, yeah, and Dr. Doom kills Sue as she jumps in front of the Surfer to save his life, and the Surfer brings her back before he kills himself in order to defeat Galactus.

Yawn.

Predictable, predictable, predictable.

I'd give the movie a C. Better than the first one, but it isn't like the bar was set high.