Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer DVD Review

"Fantastic Four - Rise Of The Silver Surfer" reviews

DVD

Fantastic Four - Rise Of The Silver Surfer

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-10-05 16:08:28

Provider

DVD Review

Reed Richards and the team return to face a new foe, who finds the planet is ripe for destruction by his master, Galactus.

Finally, the day is set for Reed and Sue’s wedding. But freak occurrences across the globe indicate something is afoot and Reed secretly works on a solution for the government despite Sue’s protestations. When the wedding gets underway the mysterious Silver Surfer speeds through the skyline of New York. Johnny Storm gives chase, but he’s no match for the surfer, who takes him out of the earth’s atmosphere into space, snuffing out his flame and almost his life. The wedding’s suspended and Reed now turns his attention fully to discovering the truth behind this strange character and the stranger happenings - including a freezing China Sea, snow in the Egyptian desert and a plug hole appearing in the Thames! But the Surfer’s cosmic power has accidentally freed Dr Von Doom and the military has agreed to let him investigate the soon to be captured alien. Now, as Galactus approaches, the 4 must face their arch enemy as well as this new foe.

Tim Story returns as Director for the second Fantastic Four film and retains the family friendly action in a clean-cut story to introduce a decidedly darker character. He actually strikes a rather fine balance here, keeping the 4 heroes fresh and whiter than white, yet fleshes out their characters nicely. Then he still manages to bring darkness to the Surfer, helped in no small part by Laurence Fishburne, who supplies the voice of this well CGI-generated character.

The story’s engrossing enough, although it maybe spends too long on the team’s infighting, and a bigger budget has thankfully been found to scale up the action and it’s quality.

Better than the first film isn’t wholly a compliment and nowhere near good enough a result. But if you’re the right mood it’s a good enough family superhero film that doesn’t place too many demands on the viewer.

Extras abound with commentaries, a making of, a featurette and gallery on the Fantasticar plus more galleries. Unfortunately, they, like the film, are a tad slight and are only saved by the in-depth coverage of the original Marvel comic background to the film.