I've never been a terribly big fan of the Fantastic Four. I mean, the comic concept is intriguing, but I fully never could get into the characters, be it the good guys or the villains. The first movie failed to increase my expectations. Then again, most comic book adaptations hitting the big screen wastes viewers' time with exposition. You tend to wait for the sequel to actually have fun.
So you do get that with Rise of the Silver Surfer, which I saw Father's Day afternoon. The tongue-in-cheek humor and awkward dialogue remain, but at least we don't wait forever to get to the main action or scenes of bombastic CGI excess. Of course, as a guy, Jessica Alba could portray a deranged serial killer or a renowned buttoned-down physics professor and I still would drool in her presence. Doug Jones modeling (and Laurence Fishburne providing the indistinguishable voice) does kick ass as the Silver Surfer, really a misunderstood extraterrestrial. Aren't they all?
If anyone plays a better arrogant psychopath than Julian McMahon, let me know. Dude does it well here trying to obtain absolute power as he does doing chin lifts in Nip/Tuck. It's funny, though, that you can tell individuals such as Ioan Gruffudd are "phoning in" their performances. Upon promoting his critically praised abolitionist drama "Amazing Grace" some months ago, he said in one interview that essentially he puts his acting heart and soul into well-meaning films like that, but he just does Fantastic Four for the money. And a good paycheck it must be. Here's to you, Horatio Hornblower!
Also -- What maybe more aggrevating than enduring 20 minutes of movie previews is suffering through 40 minutes of TV commercials. Memo to Regal Cinema Group: Crass commercialism is a sickness in our society. We've got enough with industry-driven holidays (sentimental over Valentine's Day? how about Arbor Day? what gifts are you supposed to get with Flag Day?). We have enough product placement in modern movies and television. We don't need your endless spots before big-screen movies about what new hot show the Travel Channel is showing, why Coca-Cola is desperate to beat Pepsi and an Off mosquito spray commercial designed to look like a horror movie preview. Stop it or believe me I'll write a very angry letter! ;-P
