Reviewed by Alicia Glass
Review Rating: 7 of 10
The Fantastic Foursome is back, attempting to juggle a 3rd (or is it 4th?) time at Sue and Reed’s wedding, Johnny’s relationship issues, a revived Dr. Doom, and oh yes, a strange Silver Surfer and a planet-eating villain named Galactus.
There is a goodly amount of extraneous fluff in this movie, but really, it’s adorable extraneous fluff and can therefore be excused. The actors seem to have settled better into their roles, there’s much less sense of awkwardness. The choice of Laurence Fishburne for the voice of the Silver Surfer was right on the money. And of course, the graphics used for most of the pivotal scenes (the big fight scenes, not that flying Hemi) are awesome. And of course there’s a cameo for beloved Stan Lee, who actually gets refused entrance to Sue and Reed’s wedding!
They went a bit over the top for Sue Storm’s makeup for this movie, but I guess she had to stand out a lot. Reed is still a huge loveable geek, as evidenced by his stretchy dancing at his surprise bachelor party. The switcheroo of powers after the first encounter with the Silver Surfer ensures hilarious consequences, and the use of the ultimate line from Johnny Storm, “To quote a friend of mine, ‘It’s clobberin time!’” And Julian McMahon returns in his role as Dr. Doom, a great surprise that isn’t touted at all in the previews.
One of the very few sequels I’ve seen lately that surpassed the first movie, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a fine romp for all fans, old and new.