Rise of the mediocrity

Co-written by Daniel Garret Irwin, Danny Quinn, and Andrew N. Miller

With Fantastic Four grossing $330 million worldwide, 20th Century Fox hired director Tim Story and screenwriter Mark Frost in December 2005 to return for the sequel. Screenwriters Mark Frost and Don Payne were hired to create the screenplay. Payne has said the film is based on "The Galactus Trilogy", as well as comic issues 57–60 in which Doom steals the Surfer's power. Payne has also said the film takes inspiration from the Ultimate Marvel limited series Ultimate Extinction. As of March 2, 2007, Galactus's design was not yet done, and by April 18, until hiring Laurence Fishburne to perform the voice, the filmmakers were unsure of whether the character would speak. Doug Jones was chosen to physically portray the Surfer, but he was supposedly unaware that he was being dubbed over. Since then, both this film and Hellboy remain the only two films in which he has been dubbed in English. The film includes the Fantasti-Car, a larger role for Kerry Washington's character Alicia Masters, and in June 2006, the Silver Surfer was announced to appear in the sequel as a "villain/hero". The Silver Surfer has been created by combining the performance of actor Doug Jones, a grey-silver suit designed by Jose Fernandez and created by FX shop Spectral Motion, which has then been enhanced by a new computer-generated system designed by WETA. The sequel, whose working title was Fantastic Four 2, was officially titled Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in August 2006, with filming beginning on August 28 in Vancouver and set for a release date of June 15, 2007. Michael Chiklis' prosthetics, such as The Thing, were also redesigned to allow him to take it off in between takes and for better ventilation. In August 2006, actor Andre Braugher dropped out of an ER supporting role to be cast in Rise of the Silver Surfer. Braugher was cast as General Hager, whom director Story described as "an old acquaintance of Reed Richards and one of the major additions to the movie". Director Tim Story said the script originally contained Nick Fury, but the role eventually became that of General Hager, as having Nick Fury would have forced Fox to purchase that character's rights, as Marvel's refusal to license the character; some of Hager's lines in the film originate from Nick Fury in Ultimate Extinction. In September, Jones was confirmed to portray the Silver Surfer, in addition to Julian McMahon reprising his role as Doctor Doom. The Baxter Building was also redesigned. During filming the scene where Sue shows emotions, Story asked Alba to cry pretty as he thought it looked "too real" and "too painful", he also told them they could CGI the tears.

The teaser trailer for the film was initially exclusively attached to Night at the Museum. It was released to the general public online on December 26, 2006, on the film's official website. The theatrical trailer was scheduled to appear during the film Disturbia on April 13, 2007, but errors occurred and Tim Story announced that it would be released with Spider-Man 3 on May 4, 2007. The theatrical trailer was finally released online on April 30, 2007, on Apple Trailer's website. 20th Century Fox launched an outdoor advertising campaign at the end of February. The cast also made an appearance at the Coca-Cola 600 Nextel Cup NASCAR race in Charlotte over Memorial Day weekend. In late May 2007, 20th Century Fox struck a deal with the Franklin Mint to promote the movie by altering 40,000 U.S. quarters and releasing them into circulation. All of the altered quarters were minted in 2005 and honor the state of California as part of the 50 State Quarters program created by the U.S. Mint. The altered quarters feature the Silver Surfer on the reverse, along with a URL to the movie's official website. Once the U.S. Mint became aware of the promotion, it notified the studio and the Franklin Mint that it was breaking the law by turning government-issued currency into private advertising. The federal mint did not indicate whether a penalty would be effected. The film was released on October 2, 2007, on DVD and Blu-ray.

On its opening weekend, the film was the highest-grossing movie at the U.S. box office, reaching approximately $58 million, $2 million more than its predecessor. By its second weekend, the film suffered a 66% drop, and a 54% drop in its third weekend. The film grossed $301.9 million worldwide, including a $131.9 million gross in the United States and Canada. The budget was $120–130 million. As with its predecessor, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was given a mixed response from critics. Some complained that the ideas were recycled, the humor was juvenile, and the story was too simplistic. Many fans were outraged, however, to see the fan-favorite villain Galactus be portrayed as a cloud, and that sparked a backlash rivaling that of the 1998 Godzilla. The film underperformed at the box office, making $301 million worldwide against a $130 million budget. Fox considered this a financial letdown, putting their planned trilogy on ice.

The main four cast originally signed a three-movie deal with Fox Studios, and Julian McMahon also signed for a third film. Michael Chiklis was told Ben Grimm's relationship with Alicia Masters would have had a greater focus in a third film, and Jessica Alba expressed interest in introducing Franklin Richards, while Beau Garrett wished to return as Nova. Tim Story said he was interested in directing a third and fourth film and writer Don Payne stated while he had not discussed a sequel with the studio, he was interested in working with more Fantastic Four characters saying "I’ve always loved the Inhumans, the Skrulls, the Puppet Master, and Annihilus and the Negative Zone". In May 2007, Story said he wanted Djimon Hounsou to play Black Panther. As Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer performed less at the box office than the first film, 20th Century Fox was unsure of the series' future, and no script was in development. In March 2008, Chris Evans revealed, "I'm pretty sure we won’t do another one. I’m assuming that one is a closed book." In August 2009, Fox announced plans to reboot the Fantastic Four film franchise, with Michael Green and Jeremy Slater writing, Seth Grahame-Smith polishing the film's script, and Akiva Goldsman and Matthew Vaughn producing. After the release of 2012's Chronicle, Josh Trank was linked to the reboot, and in mid-July 2012, he was officially announced to be director. Filming started in mid-September 2013. As it is produced by Fox, the film is independent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fant4shit was released on August 7, 2015. The film experienced a worse critical reception than the original films and failed at the box office, leading to the cancellation of a sequel planned for a 2017 release.

As for my experience with Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, well, it's interesting, to say the least. Growing up, I wasn't big into superhero films, and despite having seen the first X-Men film as well as the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film and loving them both, comic book movies weren't really on my radar as a kid. Of course, that changed over time, but Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was always a superhero film that passed me by. That was until this year when I finally decided to give it a watch, and while I did enjoy quite a few things in it, the movie just felt like it was lacking in some areas.

The movie opens with a mysterious, meteor-like object entering Earth's atmosphere, tracing cosmic energy, causing fluxes in weather and power outages, and creating mysterious craters. The government approaches Reed Richards to track the movements of the object. Reed and Susan Storm prepare for their wedding amidst a media circus. As the wedding begins, Reed's systems detect the phenomenon approaching New York City. Johnny Storm pursues the object, finding that it is the Silver Surfer, a silver humanoid on a flying surfboard. He confronts the Surfer but is overpowered. Later, when Susan tries to check on Johnny, their powers switch; when they touch again, their powers revert. Reed's examination of Johnny reveals that exposure to the Surfer has set Johnny's molecular structure in passive flux, allowing him to switch powers with his teammates through physical contact. Tracing the cosmic energy of the Surfer, Reed discovers that a series of planets the Surfer visited previously had all been destroyed. Reed determines that the next crater will appear in London, and the team travels there. They arrive too late to stop the crater, and the Thames drains into it. This also damages the London Eye, but the team manages to save it from collapsing. The military has the Four reluctantly work with Victor Von Doom, having been freed from his statue-like state by the Surfer's energy passing over Latveria, and his body healed during an encounter with the Surfer in the Russell Glacier. Deducing that the Surfer's board is the source of his power, Reed develops a pulse generator that will separate him from it. In the Black Forest, Susan is confronted by the Surfer, who reveals that he isn't the one trying to destroy Earth. The military opens fire on him, which distracts him and allows the Fantastic Four to use the pulse, separating the Surfer from his board. Now, it's up to The Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer to work together and stop the cloud from wreaking havoc on the Earth.

The year was 2007, two years after the first live-action Fantastic Four movie hit the theaters. And 2007 was around the time when superhero sequels ended up sort of being pretty looked down upon. Spider-Man 3 came out the same year, and X-Men: The Last Stand came out the year before. While I certainly found things to enjoy and even love in both of them, they were certainly not without their faults. Throw in the fact that the following year, 2008, had two of the best superhero movies of all time that redefined not just superhero movies but cinema in general in the forms of Iron Man and The Dark Knight, and poor Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer sort of just petered out as an underperforming disappointment that caused Fox to stop making Fantastic Four movies for nearly a decade before they splurged out that hideous shitstorm that is 2015's Fant4shit. And Rise of the Silver Surfer is certainly a better movie than the 2015 movie, but what isn't? Hell, even Batman and Robin is better than Fant4shit.

Still, I do really enjoy this movie despite not seeing it in the cinema back in 2007. It's a mindless summer blockbuster much like the first Fantastic Four film, and it's a pretty decent introduction to the Silver Surfer, one of the few cosmic Marvel characters to make it to the big screen before the MCU dipped its toes into the likes of Thanos and The Guardians of The Galaxy. Honestly, it's not that bad. It has a pretty decent build-up, with the Silver Surfer, an enigmatic and, honestly, well-portrayed character. The CGI for the Surfer and his effect stands up reasonably well alien on a surfboard that zips around and causes strange global weather changes and creates gigantic sinkholes in different parts of the Earth. Meanwhile, the titular Fantastic Four are having to deal with a marriage. And while it's kind of eye-rolling for the plot to be "ohh, the woman wants the marriage to go on and gets upset when the man puts superheroing above their emotional marriage", it's actually not portrayed as terribly as I would have thought. The marriage angst lasts for a couple of conversations, and Sue's more upset about Reed lying to her than the actual principle of putting superheroing above marriage, and she jumps into action as fast as her compatriots. The interaction with our diet stand-in for Nick Fury, General Hager, is even a neat storyline for what's otherwise a one-note government flunky. Hager's got a neat ex-rivals dynamic with Reed Richards that ends up in that nice "Shut up, you need our help, show my friends some respect" speech in the jungle. For the first half of the movie, the mystery is built up when all the film becomes is a generic superhero story, but it's executed relatively well. The initial surprise fight against the Silver Surfer in the city, the later trap with the random sci-fi gobbledygook, the realization that the military might be torturing the poor Silver Surfer, and the fact that the Surfer isn't the threat but a herald to a planet-devouring monster called Galactus. Slimming of the film to a mere 92 minutes, you’d think there would be no wasted time on screen. You’d be wrong. Story and Don Payne and Mark Frost, his writers, could still have tightened things up, or, better yet, added a bit more depth to the story of the super-powered team fighting off a threat from outer space. Maybe some of that time could have been used to build a deeper connection between the characters or possibly to explain Doctor Doom’s return from his destruction in the last film.

That brings me to my biggest problem with the film: the incredibly idiotic decisions the characters make and how stupid the characters are. Some of the bad decisions here include very poor motivations for Doctor Doom's character. They make no sense at all and clearly drag the film's pacing down even more. Also, the Fantastic Four themselves swap powers by merely touching each other. To be fair, Sue was pretty freaked out, and understandably so, but it’s mostly just used for comic relief and isn't really funny. That goes against their character arcs and feels like a bad comedy pilot. This is more of a character assassination than a sequel to Fantastic Four. Also, the sitcom-like elements rear their ugly heads once more, with the would-be humor being more juvenile than Michael Bay on his off day. Not to mention that the pacing is off. That's because the side characters are generic and one-note, on top of the aforementioned bad decisions, and by making Galactus a non-threat, it renders the film anti-climactic and bereft of momentum. At one point, the Fantastic Four switch powers in the movie. There are some dangerous ramifications for that, especially with Johnny Storm. The fact that Marvel's first family is dysfunctional should make for great character growth. Instead, they act like a threat to themselves and the people around them, and the film treats this scenario for laughs. It's very distasteful and a disservice to the characters. I don't see kids being excited over a group of heroes who casually prove dangerous to each other and other people. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe did this with Avengers: Age of Ultron, the titular heroes all got reprimanded in the following film, Captain America: Civil War. Actions have consequences. Let me say this once more: Rise Of The Silver Surfer is a PG-rated film, and the characters are casually being a threat to each other. It's unbelievable and not funny, and the less said about Reed Richards' telekinesis to manipulate his board, the better. Not to mention, the military forces, who are supposed to be allied with the Fantastic Four, are portrayed without credibility or logic. For example, in one scene, they ask Doctor Doom for help. Why? Why would they ask the villain with the intent to rule the world for help? They're asking to be killed at that point! This decision jeopardizes the Fantastic Four as a whole, and it's something I can't get behind at all. Another thing that’s incredibly dumb is how the military thinks it’s a good idea to let Victor Von Doom, who’s blatantly evil, study the surfer’s board. Say what you want about the military in Michael Bay's films, but they're miles ahead of the guys in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer! Doom’s role in this film just feels so forced here as Doom adds nothing to the story. You could remove him from the film, and it wouldn’t make any difference whatsoever. Bay at least understands how competent the military is; Story doesn't. Still, all of these idiotic decisions are nothing compared to Sue Strom bitching about her wedding being canceled. What bugs me about Sue being upset that her wedding is constantly being interrupted is how melodramatic it is, and not in a good way. Specifically, because it feels like a plotline out of a sitcom, and it makes Sue out to be selfish, especially when the fate of the world hangs in the balance, but even that is nowhere as stupid as Noran Raad's decision to help The Fantastic Four save the Earth after Sue Strom reminds him of his wife. Now, I get what Story and the writers are addressing here: the idea of choice and the sacrifices that come with that. That's a great message that fits perfectly with the movie, but my issue here is that The Silver Surfer is so woefully underdeveloped, and his backstory is so weak and rushed that any attempts at pathos just fall flat because there's nothing to care about here. It’s a waste of Doug Jones’s immeasurable talents as a performer and as an actor. It’s something that could’ve worked if they had better understood Silver Surfer as a character. Again, I love the idea of a character who has ostensibly made a Faustian deal to save the ones he loves, only to end up complicit in numerous acts of intergalactic genocide, but the movie seems completely unwilling or uninterested in grappling with this issue. I can kind of understand why, especially since the movie doesn’t take itself very seriously at all, but it’s frustrating because Norrin ends up being mostly a blank slate as a result. It’s why his decision to risk his life to save the world feels so hollow. I’d say the reason why the plot doesn’t come together is that there’s no time to actually develop the characters and show their struggles apart from Johnny.

For all of the comic book die-hards out there, Galactus is one of the definitive villains in Marvel lore. Once a mortal man, he becomes a cosmic entity, consuming planets just to survive. Operating without remorse, Galactus is an evil force of God-like proportions. Sadly, he wasn't done justice in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The film treats him as a complete non-entity, and his appearance has been reduced to that of a storm cloud. It's insulting beyond belief, and it makes the mishandling of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine look minor by comparison. The backlash was rightfully enormous, on par with the 1998 Godzilla. I feel that Matt Shakman will do the character justice in the upcoming Fantastic Four: The First Steps. I think it's safe to say that Fox co-chair Tom Rothman had a hand in some of the decision-making. Galactus being a cloud was perhaps done to avoid comparisons to Michael Bay's live-action Transformers, which became one of the biggest hits of the summer of 2007. Even with that argument, the mishandling of Galactus is unacceptable. Also, the film runs at less than two hours in order to fit more showings, perhaps another Rothman mandate. Any attempts at achieving higher levels of superhero storytelling are lost. If anything, this shows that Rothman, a penny pincher, is not fully in touch with Marvel-branded movies and much preferred Oscar contenders. Now, in light of that, one might conclude that Tom Rothman is some sort of studio boogeyman, but I do not see him that way. I see him as a man who knows about prestige filmmaking and favors Oscar-winners rather than genre films, and while he is a micromanaging jackass, I feel there are worse people in Hollywood. Rothman's micro-managing ways may have bore some similarity to that of the infamous Jon Peters. Both men care a little too much about the studio's bottom line. But their demeanor is where they differ. Peters, a former hairdresser, used his romance with Barbra Streisand to break into film production. Despite his success, Peters was infamously well-known in Hollywood as a straight-up bully and would often resort to violence to get his way. He wasn't afraid to spend a small fortune to make his dreams come to life. Rothman, an English and literature major who cut his teeth on art-house films, is well-liked by a lot of studio executives and businessmen alike. He's notoriously thrifty but otherwise well-read. Unlike Peters, Rothman will drop everything to get Steven Spielberg on his studio lot, Minority Report is a fine example of Rothman's devotion to Spielberg. Also, Rothman maintained his relationships with Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Ang Lee, Luc Besson, and Sir Kenneth Branagh, among others. He keeps his clients close. Compare that to Peters, who has a habit of scaring away directors from films, and the difference between Rothman and Peters is as clear as night and day.

Given the $130 million production budget, Rise of the Silver Surfer has a lot of special effects. The film, like its predecessor, uses a variety of methods: pyrotechnics, CGI, old-school makeup, and prosthetics. Ben Grimm, once again, is a highlight, as his look has always been sublime. When Johnny Storm is on fire, the CGI on Rise of The Silver Surfer is vastly improved, as is Reed Richards’ stretching limbs. Even Sue Storm’s invisibility makes for great special effects. Also, the Silver Surfer himself looks incredibly fluid and realistic. It especially helps when there is a physical actor performing the character. This allows the animators to use that as a blueprint for the final result. The Fantasicar is also cool to see, and it looks great. The action, however, feels featherweight due to the lack of emotional heft despite there being more action scenes in this film than there were in the first Fantastic Four film. Whereas the first Fantastic Four tried its best to balance Marvel heroics and humor, the sequel is shockingly imbalanced. The film seems to favor exposition, comedy, and special effects over heart, which means it’s hard to get invested in the characters. This is why the action, while well shot and fun to watch, feels too technical. The action scenes here mean nothing to me as I'm struggling to even care about what is going on, and thus, we are forced to watch more scenes like this crop up later on in the film. While the action scenes are quite inventive, that can't save the story. In an action film, story and character should always be the first priority and if the viewer doesn't connect with the story you're telling or doesn't care about the characters onscreen then throwing all the action set pieces is not going to make the viewer care about what is going on, just look at the Transformer sequels or The Resident Evil films. Many of the action scenes here feel like empty video game scenes and lack any kind of stakes or emotional payoff, something that a film like Raiders of The Lost Ark or Die Hard uses to great effect. Sure, the scenes might look visually impressive, but if the viewer doesn't care about what is happening here, then the scene has failed. For a movie to work on all fronts, all the necessary elements must be present and must be able to work together in order to give the audience something to marvel at as well as feel invested in, something Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer doesn't have. Definitely not something I’d call fantastic in any way, but hey, at least Rise of The Silver Surfer had better action scenes than Fant4shit.

Tim Story’s direction is all over the place here. He’s got inspired casting decisions and is good with camaraderie, but his inexperience with special effects is still noticeable. While he’s got a dedicated second unit handling all this stuff, those scenes feel too technical, as I’ve mentioned. It almost feels like there are two directors in the same film! And since the film is less than two hours in length, there’s still not a lot of room to breathe. Once again, he misses out on the higher realms of superhero cinema, and this is especially obvious in a world where we’ve got real gems such as Spider-Man 2. On that film, Sam Raimi streamlined the plot, played up the best elements of the character and source material, and listened to criticism from the previous film. That film is a genuine masterpiece of the superhero genre. It’s a shame Tim Story didn’t pull a Raimi here. Now, is that to say that I think Tim Story is a bad director? No, not at all. He just doesn't have the directing flair that directors like Donner, Burton, Raimi, The Russo Brothers, and Gunn have.

The Fantastic Four themselves are at the heart of their namesake film. Reed Richards has this genius-level intellect but is clueless as to understanding Susan Storm or their marriage. Ben Grimm feels notable anguish after being transformed into an orange monster in the first film, but in the sequel, he's fully embraced who he is. If Ben Grimm was the bittersweet focal point of the first Fantastic Four film, the sequel focuses on Johnny Storm, the team’s hedonistic hotshot. He matures from a loose cannon who dates supermodels to a teammate who risks his life to help save others. Sue Storm has her moment of sacrifice, too, as she puts her life on the line to protect the enigmatic Silver Surfer from certain death. As for Sue herself, she’s the most empathetic and responsible of the lot. All four of them bicker, argue, and disagree sometimes like real people do. But at the end of the day, they work as a team, they care for each other, and they feel like a real family this time around. Director Tim Story captures that down to a T and it's a joy to watch.

The movie has a lot of humor to it, too. Some of it is really funny, but other times, it’s groan-inducing. Some of the best moments include Stan Lee being turned away from the wedding's list of guests, and early in the film, the Four are forced to fly coach and Ben is wedged into a tiny seat. He looks out the window and sees Johnny flying beside the plane and mentions that he hopes it rains. At one point in the film, Johnny asks Ben how he and Alicia get physical, and Ben barks that's none of Johnny's business. Strom feels the need to say that he was worried that Alicia would be killed in a rockslide, and Ben chases Johnny out of the room. Johnny accidentally switching powers with Sue is one big funny moment too. First, it leads to her uncontrollably flaming on and flying upwards into the air whilst shrieking like a banshee, then it is immediately followed by her catching the attention of Reed when she flies by the main window of the Baxter Building, then after all is said and done and they switch back, Sue's clothes have been completely incinerated, leaving her naked on the floor. This leads to bystanders taking pictures of Sue, who turns invisible out of embarrassment. Sadly, that scene wasn't funny, at least to me, and just comes across as repeating a gag from the first Fantastic Four film where Sue had to strip naked. It wasn't funny there, and it's not funny here. So all and all, the humor in Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer is way funnier than the humor in the first film, but it doesn't match the high-hitting humor of the MCU.

Now, we come to the most important thing in any movie: the characters. When we last saw Reed Richards, he and his team had stopped Victor Von Doom from wreaking havoc. Now, Richards was planning to get married to Susan Storm. That is, of course, until the Silver Surfer came into their lives. Reed, along with the rest of the Fantastic Four, was called into action by General Hager to take care of the situation. Reed’s plan: capture the Silver Surfer, then get married and quit all heroics. The plan goes south, as Reed and pals fail to capture the Silver Surfer. On top of all that, Doom is back. The team’s workload has just doubled. Can Reed find a way to stop Doom and control the Surfer? Susan Storm, along with the rest of the Fantastic Four, is enjoying her newfound fame as a hero. She plans on getting married to Reed Richards, except she’s afraid of what could happen during said affair. Her worst fears are realized when the Silver Surfer arrives on Earth, postponing the wedding and causing the heroes to switch powers. She is thrust back into action by General Hager and tasked with helping her teammates capture the Silver Surfer. Could this put an end to all of Susan’s worries? Johnny Storm was just starting to settle down in time for Reed and Susan’s wedding. When the Surfer disrupted those plans, Johnny chased him down unsuccessfully. His encounter with the Surfer resulted in the Fantastic Four getting their powers swapped. Can Johnny use this quagmire to his advantage and get things back to normal? Ben Grimm was set to be the best man in the wedding between Reed and Susan. He is trying to convince the would-be couple to stop working until after the marriage. The wedding is disrupted by the Silver Surfer, forcing Grimm and pals back into action. The plan to capture the Silver Surfer fails, with Doom returning. Can Ben help the team defeat Doom and the Silver Surfer? As for the Silver Surfer himself? Born Norrin Radd, he became a servant to the evil Galactus in exchange for the safety of his homeworld. He travels across the galaxy via a surfboard that doubles as a beacon for Galactus. Upon his arrival on Earth, he accidentally triggers the return of Victor Von Doom. He also disrupts a certain wedding, causing the Fantastic Four to swap powers. He basically creates one great big galactic mess. Is it too late for him to change his ways? Or is he going to make a deal with Doom in time for Galactus’s arrival? The last time we saw Victor Von Doom, he got his ass handed to him by the Fantastic Four. And it looked like that was it for him. And then the Silver Surfer happened. Doom was indirectly bailed out of his prison by the Surfer, and he was back to his old tricks. Will he team up with the Silver Surfer?

I wasn’t a huge fan of John Ottman’s score for the first Fantastic Four movie and criticized it for its desperate over-use of choir and for the general limpness of the main superhero theme. Two years later, I’m afraid the problems haven’t really been fixed, even though I still think the score is still decent. Ottman still has his choir belting out ululations at every opportunity, negating their emotional impact due to over-exposure, and the central Fantastic Four theme still sounds as uninspiring as it did before, even when played at full-tilt in cues like “Botched Heroics” or “Springing the Surfer”. However, one thing this film does have in its favor is a pretty impressive new theme for the Silver Surfer, which manages to be both ominous and imposing, but also contains a hint of something slightly forlorn, and something approaching sympathy. After a preliminary appearance on “Silver Surfer Theme”, it goes on to appear prominently in cues such as “Chasing the Surfer”, and the sweeping finale, “Silver Savior”. In many ways, this theme would have better served the Fantastic Four themselves, as in general, it makes for a much more satisfying musical statement. There are a couple of interesting spacey ambiances, in cues such as “Galactus Destroys”, and some of the action music is quite energetic, especially in “Pursuing Doom” and the jarringly dissonant “A Little Persuasion”, but despite generally being a better score than its predecessor, there is still something missing from Rise of the Silver Surfer which makes it feel like a missed opportunity. One cannot help but hope that someone, eventually, realizes that John Ottman just really isn’t very good at this sort of thing. In the film's favor, however, is the continuity of its most important elements, and John Ottman's music is among those who returned for continued duties. His score for the original film fueled the debate about his qualifications in the superhero genre, with many listeners commenting that Ottman's thematic constructs for grand heroes are too simplistic to be really effective. This criticism has extended through many of his superhero scores, though his original ideas alongside those of John Williams in Superman Returns were a breakthrough for Ottman. Unfortunately, his title theme for Fantastic Four was, despite Ottman's pride in its creation, trite and underachieving. The score overall was lacking in spirit and soul, seemingly going through the motions without establishing a true, lasting musical identity for the characters. This was in no part due to Ottman's lack of attention to detail; he's not a lazy composer. Each of the four main characters had a theme or motif for their supernatural abilities. There's a love theme for Reed and Sue, as well as a villain's theme for Dr. Doom. What was sadly missing from Fantastic Four, though, was that devilishly creative sense of style that Ottman often infused into his horror and suspense scores during the first ten years of his career. Whether this lack of continued intelligence in Ottman's music for Fantastic Four was due to the writing or the execution of the score in orchestration, performance, and recording remains up for debate. Unfortunately, the score for Rise of the Silver Surfer simply pours more fuel onto that fire. It's difficult to point at any single moment in a score like this and identify it as the reason why it leaves the listener somewhat bored. But the lack of inspiration is a fatal flaw for this score, as for the one before, and this time, it isn't due solely to the fact that the title theme is overly simplistic and silly. Ottman's workmanship can once again be heard in the score, focused almost entirely on the new theme for the Silver Surfer that easily highlights the effort. While also somewhat basic in its mundane chord alternations, this primary, longing theme is, at least, fleshed out with the two scores' most powerful orchestral performance thus far. The first two minutes of the theme opening the album, with a slight synthetic edge to the bass region, are the best you are going to hear on the entire product. The role of the synthesizers is not as strong as one might think; had their impact been more growling and ominous, perhaps even more gravity could have been applied to the character. The "Galactus Destroys" cue offers some extensions on that bass effect from the library of Christopher Franke. Likewise, despite the cataclysmic events on screen, Ottman is more restrained in his employment of the choir. The most intriguing choral use is the closing performance by the mixed choir for the Norrin Radd persona of the Silver Surfer. The fact that the name is misspelled on the soundtrack is perhaps representative of a sense of dissatisfaction with the remaining music on the album. The themes and motifs for the four heroes are confined mostly to the regurgitative cue "Botched Heroics," and the title theme, even though some people may not want to hear it, receives tepid treatment. The action sequences are somewhat anonymous and functional in their generation of pleasant orchestral noise, but they do not contain any congruency in development. The album for Rise of the Silver Surfer will surprise many listeners with the number of subdued cues of conversational underscore. Moments like these are when you'd expect Ottman to provide some distinct colors to his canvas, and yet, as with nearly every other element in the score, the lack of any true creativity in these portions yields boredom. The love theme is never provided with allure and could even pass by undetected unless you are specifically listening for it. So what, specifically, is the matter with Rise of the Silver Surfer? It's functional, with a few short highlights worthy of a compilation. New ideas are addressed, and old ones are reprised. A sufficient amount of noisy action is summoned when necessary. In most regards, there's nothing wrong with it. But at the same time, Ottman doesn't do much to make these Fantastic Four scores intellectually stimulating. Some might say that the film doesn't require or deserve such memorability, but that argument is negated by the fact that Ottman has proven through the years, and going back to The Usual Suspects, that he is capable of providing fiendishly clever music for any quality of project or size of budget. These two Fantastic Four scores must look great on paper. So if there is a fault in the execution of these scores, then where is it? Ottman writes enough dissonance into his works that you can't dismiss them as blatantly dumb. His use of counterpoint is effective, though not the best. His ensembles often utilize a variety of creative instrumentation, with the electronics and percussion in Rise of the Silver Surfer serving that cause. Is there a lack of memorability in the performances? The recording? The arrangements? Only Ottman and his usual collaborators could venture an informed guess on that one. An interesting aspect of Rise of the Silver Surfer is that Ottman, who is usually very loquacious about his scores, talks about the processes behind his work likely more than any other composer, which has always been a very admirable trait of his relationship to his art and his fans, has been comparatively muted about Rise of the Silver Surfer during its production. Rarely, an Ottman album does not contain a note from the composer, and even rarer that he is so mum on his official website about a major project. Sure, the score isn't bad, but compared to the scores to the Nolan Batman films, Man of Steel, or even the musical scores to the Avengers films, the score for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer doesn't hold a candle to them.

While the story and characters of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer aren't the best, the acting at least does make watching the film a more enjoyable experience than watching the acting in Fant4shit or Howard The Duck. Julian McMahon returns as Victor Von Doom, and he is predictably over the top, which is the way to go for this character. Once again. McMahon overcomes any and all script deficiencies to deliver a fun performance. Chris Evans returns to play Johnny Storm, and he is actually the MVP of the film, offering a more confident mix of gravitas, humor, and heroics. He was already quite thrilling in the previous film, but in Rise of the Silver Surfer, he's awesome. His layered performance and camaraderie with the other actors are exactly why Marvel Studios chose him to play Captain America. Ioan Gruffund returns to play Reed Richards, and while he is still fun to watch, his pulp heroism takes a backseat to the comedic elements. Gruffund does make the best of this situation with great comedic timing throughout. The same can be said for Jessica Alba, who returns as Susan Storm. Alba also plays up the comedy element. My only complaint is that some of the comedy comes at the expense of Susan's character. Her diplomatic edge has been softened for broader entertainment. Still, Alba gives it her all and has a lot of fun with the character. Michael Chiklis is back as Ben Grimm, and once again, he is phenomenal in the role. Chiklis continues to embrace the character and source material down pat and even adds his own unique flavor to the proceedings. His camaraderie with the cast continues to dazzle, and I honestly wish we got more of this iteration of the character. Last but not least, we have two actors in the role of the infamous Silver Surfer. One of them is Doug Jones, best known for working with Guillermo Del Toro on Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy films. Jones, a chameleonistic performer, gives the Surfer a level of dexterity that other actors wouldn't have been able to present. There is a real presence to him, which might have been more upfront if he wasn't dubbed over. Speaking of which, Laurence Fishburne is the other actor playing the Surfer. Whereas Jones did all the motion capture, Fishburne provided the voice of the Surfer. Fishburne's accomplishments in the acting world are well known, ranging from Apocalypse Now to The Matrix and even films like Man Of Steel. Fishburne provides the Surfer with serious gravitas, similar to what James Earl Jones did for Darth Vader in Star Wars. If only the script was up to the same level as these two men.

In closing, Rise of the Silver Surfer is an underwhelming film. It improves on the first Fantastic Four in a few ways but takes a few steps back, especially with the script and character development. The sitcom elements are ramped up when there should have been a tighter balance between Marvel heroics and humor. And the less said about Galactus, the better. With that said, the cast really gives it their all, the production values are a big step up, and some of the banter is funny. I sincerely think Matt Shakman's Fantastic Four: First Steps will give these characters the perfect adaptation they deserve. It may be fun to watch at times, but there are more deserving and worthwhile superhero films out there. Give this movie a watch, but don't expect anything special.