Silver Surfer flies high enough to entertain

By Strings

I grew a comic book fan. Some of my fondest memories of childhood are the days my father would take me to the old train station in Fort Wayne and let me pick through colorful adventure books. I had read mostly the DC superhero titles like Superman and Batman and an occasional Gold Key-Magnus, Robot Fighter, things like that, and a stray Donald Duck or other Disney comic book. But, this Marvel thing was new.

The heroes were different-often flawed, invariably troubled with tremendous personal problems, like the folks in the Edge of Night, the soap my grandfather dutifully watched every weekday. One of my favorite Marvel titles was the Fantastic Four.

Transformed into super powered guardians of humanity, they should have been happy to achieve a nearly invincible status due to a fateful bath of mysterious cosmic rays. Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic, the world's most renowned scientific genius who could bend, twist and stretch his body to remarkable shapes and limits; Sue Storm aka as Invisible girl who could, well her name explains it all; her little brother, Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch, who could burst into flames, throw fireballs and fly; and Benjamin Grimm aka the Thing, an immensely powerful figure who looked like a pile of orange rocks. They made a fascinating team and were different in the annals of comic book superheros.

First, the world knew their real identities. Richards and his band of intrepid travelers lived atop the Baxter Building in New York. They were public. And, they had their troubles. Sue and Reed were in love, but the egghead's single-minded dedication to solving the scientific problems of the universe left Sue wondering at times if her heart was really in the right place. And, she was worried about her little brother Johnny, ironically, a real hot head who regularly flew off the handle in the midst of a crisis, deciding to show off his singular skills, often causing peril for the entire team. Then there was Ben Grimm, given great physical strength by the space flight accident, which created the team, but robbed of his humanity in the process. And, of course, Richards was plagued by feelings of guilt because it was his experimental space flight that had gone awry and caused this little drama in the first place. The different personalities led to lots of bickering and internal confrontation. It's no wonder they were one of Marvel's most popular comics. They had it all-action, love, teen angst and tons of personal drama.

So, it's no surprise that Hollywood has turned the comic into another motion picture franchise on the heels of the successes of two other Marvel products-Spiderman and the X-Men-franchises that each have produced three highly profitable films.

This second in the Fantastic Four world, "Rise of the Silver Surfer," introduces another time-honored Marvel innovation-the complex villain. The Silver Surfer is one of the most unique and complicated bad guys ever seen in the comics. Voiced here by Laurence Fishburne and played physically by a combination of actor Doug Jones and an array of dazzling digital effects, fans should applaud this latest entrance into the film arena of comic book tales.

Okay, sorry if I've lost those of you who didn't read many comics in the '60s and '70s. It would take me more time and space than I have at the moment to get you up to speed on all this. Fortunately, if you're the slightest bit interested, "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (starring Jessica Alba as Invisible Girl, Michael Chiklis as the Thing, Chris Evans as the Human Torch and Ioan Gruffud as Mr. Fantastic with Andre Braugher, Kerry Washington and the voice of Laurence Fishburne) doesn't do a bad job of satisfying the fanboys who know more about this story than the law should allow normal folks to know and those who casually walk into the video store looking for a good adventure story that's exciting, cerebral and fun.

Admittedly, I haven't seen the first Fantastic Four film which critics ho-hummed. At the time, I was getting a bit paranoid about the glut of comic book fare in the movie market. You know how overdoing it always ruins a good thing. I'm a big scifi fan so, I've been through this before. But after seeing the excellent "Batman Begins" from rival DC a few months ago, I thought, what the heck. Plus the trailers of the Silver Surfer I saw online looked so very cool. I wasn't disappointed.

If you're reading this, there's a chance you might want to see the film if you already haven't. (There are a lot of us who wait to watch movies after the go to DVD rather than trying to get some enjoyment out of watching them in crowded theatres full of rude kids and constantly chattering bored adults.) So, I won't tell you too much. But, briefly, here's the story:

Sue and Reed finally are going to get married, but of course, as in any good Marvel-based superhero drama, a crisis always arises to prevent their final happiness. This time, it's an unidentified object hurtling toward the earth. Ordinarily, this would be no big problem given that objects fall to earth every day-meteors, space junk, falling stars like O.J. Simpson, Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears. But, government scientists have tracked the path of this object and found that eight days after it visits a planet, everything on that planet dies. Better put in a call to the world's most brilliant scientist, Reed Richards and his team of super powered, well, misfits. (The government needs them, but doesn't necessarily like or trust the FF.)

Eventually, they find that the object incredibly is a humanoid, traveling the spaceways on a surfboard-yep, you read that right-without benefit of a spacesuit or any other protection. Of course, there's a confrontation with our heroes and, true to good comic book form, the home team loses in this first encounter. (There's a particularly brilliant special effects driven scene featuring an airborne battle between the Surfer and the Human Torch.) Eventually, this mysterious Silver Surfer reveals plans for the destruction of earth. There are, however, a number of twists and all is not as it seems with this villain. "The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is typical comic book fare, sufficiently melodramatic in places, humorous and action packed, nicely adapted for the screen and a general audiences. I can say it held the interest of a few of my friends from another country at whose home I watched the film for review- given that the screener wouldn't play on my computer. Despite some sparse criticism that the film is too slow in places, Tim Story (a young brother by the way who grew up on comic books like me and my oldest and dearest friend Seitu who became a professional comic book artist) has done a good job of making this work on the big screen.

Yeah, yeah, some fanboys are going to complain that this that or the other has changed, particularly the concept of Galactus and the canonical fate of the Silver Surfer in this first encounter. But, they have to realize, to be successful and to ensure the possibility of another big screen installment, a movie has to appeal to a broad audience. Plus, the Fantastic Four comic always had its share of moments when Mr. Fantastic was off thinking, creating and then explaining, so the expository footage here is true to form for the comic book. I'll will admit, hearing Michael Chiklis yell "It's clobbering time!" or Chris Evans shout "Flame on!" doesn't' come across quite as well on the screen as it did in the old dialogue balloons. And some might think the acting is a bit hammy. But, what the heck? This a comic book up there on the screen-whadya expect?

All in all the film does enough to satisfy those of us who are old comic book fans and folks just looking for a good, light action film that takes you to a fantasy world where men can fly and women can hold up buildings with invisible force fields.

The special edition of the Fox Home Entertainment DVD release of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" contains a second disc which includes a documentary on the making of the film, a featurette on the comic book origins of the Silver Surfer and, of course, details on special effects and the like. If you're looking for fun movie entertainment, check it out. It's great fun.

This is part of the October 10, 2007 online edition of Frost Illustrated.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.