Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silverin' Succotash (Spoilers? It's possible)

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Well, last things first. If you are a big Silver Surfer fan, it is likely you are really gonna hate this movie. I knew nothing about the silver surfer until I looked him up before going to see this movie.

Even those of us who knew pretty much diddle squat were still going, 'Laaaaame..." at the ending.

There was this 40-year or so old guy behind me, father of one of the kids working at the cinema, who struck up a little conversation before it started, was telling me about how he came just to see Galacticus if nothing else. His words when it ended were 'Sigh'.

The rest of it... wasn't too bad, though they tried to be too cutesy and it definitely had that 2nd Movie Over-Exaggeration Of Character Traits bit that all too many movies have.

And what in the name of Galacticus' gassy gullet did they do to Jessica Alba? Seriously, I thought they'd chosen a different actor to play the character and didn't tell us until I heard her voice. They gave her special contacts and some whacko make-up job so that she looks like some kind of alien/android thing.

The action though of course was pretty decent, though there were still spots I'm thinking, 'C'mon guys, the computer animation looked better in #1. You've had years for the technology to advance, make use of it.'

Ok, so, yeah, this is making it sound pretty bad, but I honestly can't remember the real good parts. Nothing really stuck out in that direction. Lets just say it watched like a classic comic book and leave it at that.

[bosssmiley]

Saw the trailer at the "PotC3" showing. The Silver Surfer (possibly one of the coolest and trippiest Marvel characters ever, on a par with Swamp Thing or Sandman in the DC pantheon of weirdery) looked worse than the T1000 from T2.
That's a CG effect from 2007 looking worse than one from 1990. :smallannoyed:

I swore off seeing the film right there (+ the first "F4" was the weakest superhero movie since "The Hulk").

Oh, and Galactus as
an Omega Cloud (see Jack McDevitt's "Engines of God"). Well, thar's a "Fifth Element"-ism I didn't see coming and feel a little disappointed by. :smallannoyed:

Nope. Count me out. I'll wait for the new "Die Hard". :smallcool:

[ReluctantDragon]

Saw the trailer at the "PotC3" showing. The Silver Surfer (possibly one of the coolest and trippiest Marvel characters ever, on a par with Swamp Thing or Sandman in the DC pantheon of weirdery) looked worse than the T1000 from T2.
That's a CG effect from 2007 looking worse than one from 1990. :smallannoyed:

I swore off seeing the film right there (+ the first "F4" was the weakest superhero movie since "The Hulk").

Oh, and Galactus as
an Omega Cloud (see Jack McDevitt's "Engines of God"). Well, thar's a "Fifth Element"-ism I didn't see coming and feel a little disappointed by. :smallannoyed:

Nope. Count me out. I'll wait for the new "Die Hard". :smallcool:

Its like God gave me a twin somewhere else in the world. As we were born, God dictated that "AT ONE POINT IN TIME, YOU SHALL THINK ALIKE, IT SHALL BE GOOD, AND THERE SHALL BE GREAT REJOICING

I mean, were I to post a million posts a million times a day on the exact same subject, I wouldn't be able to express myself more exactly than you have.

I mean, its amazing.

Long live McLain!

[Jerthanis]

Saw the trailer at the "PotC3" showing. The Silver Surfer (possibly one of the coolest and trippiest Marvel characters ever, on a par with Swamp Thing or Sandman in the DC pantheon of weirdery) looked worse than the T1000 from T2.
That's a CG effect from 2007 looking worse than one from 1990. :smallannoyed:


I think you should watch Terminator 2 again... the effect wasn't that great. Surfer looks at least as good as that in his worst shot, and Terminator 2 is a phenomenal movie too, everyone wins!

I think that Fantastic Four 2 isn't trying very hard, and I don't really see why it should. I love the Fantastic Four, but their personalities ARE over-exaggerated, and the movie form of them has little potential, especially after the suck-fest that was the first one. I think the joy to be extracted from comic book movies is the fact that it's full of utterly unpretentious action, and we get to see the characters that we've grown up with, who have always occupied a static medium (though it had one kinda low-production values cartoon that was kind of hard to watch) in a place where they move, and look like real people, and the effects making their utterly fantastic powers look plausable, and even sometimes possible.

... maybe I'm too forgiving of comic book movies.

[Beleriphon]

There was this 40-year or so old guy behind me, father of one of the kids working at the cinema, who struck up a little conversation before it started, was telling me about how he came just to see Galacticus if nothing else. His words when it ended were 'Sigh'.


I can't agree with that. Think about what Galactus look like, seriously think about it. He's a 30-foot tall dude with a tuning fork on his hat.

http://www.marveldirectory.com/pictures/individuals/g_1d/galactus.gif

That is not something I think would inspire fear in most people, particularly a movie audience full of people that probably haven't ever read a Marvel comic, or barring that haven't read a Marvel comic in the last 20 years. Is that guy, or a planet destroying energy cloud a more credible threat given what your average movie audience understands about comic books? Be honest.

[Hephaestus]

Perfect explanation of my feelings towards The Silver Surfer (http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20070516.html). I'm just not feeling it...

[Gavin Sage]

That is not something I think would inspire fear in most people, particularly a movie audience full of people that probably haven't ever read a Marvel comic, or barring that haven't read a Marvel comic in the last 20 years. Is that guy, or a planet destroying energy cloud a more credible threat given what your average movie audience understands about comic books? Be honest.

The titan like God come a' judgin any day of the week. Those colors rendered dark with a booming voice that shakes the heavens and eye a glow like the fires of heaven and hell. Sitting on a massive throne inside that cloud for the best of both worlds. Doing the Devourer of Worlds justice to his true character instead of randomly killing..... a funny cloud.

[SmartAlec]

If you go see it again (though I'm not sure why you would), check out the patterns of fire in the swirling cloud when the Surfer faces it down. I was sure it resembled Galactus's comic-book incarnation's head, the square helmet with the horns.

[Beleriphon]

If you go see it again (though I'm not sure why you would), check out the patterns of fire in the swirling cloud when the Surfer faces it down. I was sure it resembled Galactus's comic-book incarnation's head, the square helmet with the horns.

It does, and as the cloud passes over Saturn you can clearly see the shadow takes on the appearance of the tuning fork helmet.

[Atreyu the Masked LLama]

I can't agree with that. Think about what Galactus look like, seriously think about it. He's a 30-foot tall dude with a tuning fork on his hat.

That is not something I think would inspire fear in most people, particularly a movie audience full of people that probably haven't ever read a Marvel comic, or barring that haven't read a Marvel comic in the last 20 years. Is that guy, or a planet destroying energy cloud a more credible threat given what your average movie audience understands about comic books? Be honest.

Majorly changing characters is a personal pet peeve of mine. If they wanted to make a movie about an evil cloud of energy, then it should have been called Fantastic Four 2: The Rise of the Shiny Guy with an Evil Energy Cloud Following Him.
I feel that using the names of Silver Surfer and Galactus constitutes a promise to show me Silver Surfer and Galactus on the big screen. If the director felt that a large purple man with a tuning fork on his head wasn't the villian he wanted, he should not have used the name Galactus, because Galactus is a large purple man with a tuning fork on his head.

I do apologize if you feel this post wasted your time. Its just a peeve of mine and it sends me ranting.

[TSGames]

I don't know what was better, the acting or the plot. I say "better" only because one of them was at absolute bottom so the other could not have been "worse." It had one of the worst movie endings of all time; consequently, though I didn't think it possible, I put this movie ending in the same category as "The Fog."* In fact, I put the whole movie in that category: Jessica Alba and the man who played Mr. Incredible could not have acted their way out of an imaginary cardboard box, the plot was awful, Dr. Doom was once again retarded, the Silver Surfer was seen maybe two or three minutes out of the first third of the movie, Galactus was just a freakin' cloud/fireball thing(even though it had a shadow with the tuning fork helmit), and the Silver Surfer pimpsmacks Galactus which makes no sense at all.

I think I'm being as generous as the mathematical system allows when I use a 1 to 5 integer scale to give this movie a 1 out of 5.


*The new "The Fog" not the decades old one, that one was actually a decent movie.




Majorly changing characters is a personal pet peeve of mine. If they wanted to make a movie about an evil cloud of energy, then it should have been called Fantastic Four 2: The Rise of the Shiny Guy with an Evil Energy Cloud Following Him.
I feel that using the names of Silver Surfer and Galactus constitutes a promise to show me Silver Surfer and Galactus on the big screen. If the director felt that a large purple man with a tuning fork on his head wasn't the villian he wanted, he should not have used the name Galactus, because Galactus is a large purple man with a tuning fork on his head.

QFT

[The Vorpal Tribble]

I can't agree with that. Think about what Galactus look like, seriously think about it. He's a 30-foot tall dude with a tuning fork on his hat.
Oh, no, he wasn't sighing about Galacticus in particular, just the movie in general and the fact that the Silver Surfer takes him out like nothing.

[Johnny V]

Oh, no, he wasn't sighing about Galacticus in particular, just the movie in general and the fact that the Silver Surfer takes him out like nothing.

I have a few questions about that. How could he kill the one that created him? If he did, would he not also be destroyed? Why would Galaticus give him enough power to destroy him? Don't think that someone that has been around since before our universe was created would make a mistake like that? Anyone have answers?

[doliemaster]

The people who directed don't know anything about Fantastic Four, end of story.

[Vonriel]

Did you expect anything different? I think comic book fans in general will become much happier with movies "based on comics" if they realize that it bears the name, and nothing more, and start to judge solely by the world within the movie rather than the comic. Honestly folks, they've done this how many times? Hell, Hollywood gave comic book fans the stereotype they so enjoy now. Sheesh.

As someone who had no prior knowledge of the comics, I enjoyed this movie for what it was: the sequel to a movie set in a universe where four people encountered radiation that gave them super powers. *shrug* Maybe I'm some sort of super breed of human who actually watches movies just to be entertained, rather than to critique every failing..

[TSGames]

As someone who had no prior knowledge of the comics, I enjoyed this movie for what it was: the sequel to a movie set in a universe where four people encountered radiation that gave them super powers. *shrug* Maybe I'm some sort of super breed of human who actually watches movies just to be entertained, rather than to critique every failing..
Or maybe your glass is always half-full(even when I tip it over).

[The Vorpal Tribble]

As someone who had no prior knowledge of the comics, I enjoyed this movie for what it was: the sequel to a movie set in a universe where four people encountered radiation that gave them super powers. *shrug* Maybe I'm some sort of super breed of human who actually watches movies just to be entertained, rather than to critique every failing..
I had no prior knowledge either. I'm judging it on the merits of plot and believability. Pinprick takes out planet-consuming cloud? Riiiight :smallsigh:

[Nevrmore]

The fact that the Silver Surfer manages to defeat Galactus Lite is even funnier given the fact that in the original comics, the Surfer's tried to take out Galactus countless times and failed every single one.

SS has barely a fraction of Galactus' power (The Power Cosmic-Cosmic-cosmic). He's not able to or allowed to beat him. THe very thought of it fills me with righteous fury.

[Call_me_Fate]

I don't know the comics. The movie was entertaining, but not great. I thought the CG was not too bad.

As far as the ending goes though, there were about 30 people in the theatre laughing out loud when SS ended the movie like that.

Yeah.

[Vonriel]

*shrug* It falls within the realm of "Silver guy on a surfboard from another planet." for me. I mean, seriously...

Anyway, I probably would make a horrible critic, as there really are very few movies I don't like. That rant earlier was a rather.. unusual thing for me to post, but am I really the only one who thinks that?

[Atreyu the Masked LLama]

*shrug* It falls within the realm of "Silver guy on a surfboard from another planet." for me. I mean, seriously...

Anyway, I probably would make a horrible critic, as there really are very few movies I don't like. That rant earlier was a rather.. unusual thing for me to post, but am I really the only one who thinks that?

Vonriel,
I think as someone who doesn't know the comics that your opinions on Galactus are likely to be different than someone who has read them. I understand your frustration over us comic boys getting mad because the character wasn't exactly like he was in the comic. I was on your side of the fence during the "Kingpin is supposed to be white" debate of Daredevil. I was perfectly happy with Michael Clark Duncan as Wilson Fisk while many around me went into fits over it, because I felt that Mr Duncan would bring to the big screen the character that I read in the little panels and he did a great job.

Character likenesses don't have to be spot on and plots don't have to be exact because a movie is a different medium than a comic book. Comic books don't need actors or special effects and they can take years to tell a good story. Movies have worry about casting and budgets and attention spans.

However, (and I'm repeating myself) I feel that saying you are going to use a certain character implies a responsibility to bring that character to life on the screen as accurately as possible while still making a good movie.

Ultimately, it comes down to personal opinion and expectation. Above are listed my opinions for my expectations.

[Xuincherguixe]

You know, I'm not against the idea of an evil world eating cloud per say.

Sounds though like it had many problems, like they only took a hit of some really weak acid when coming up with the plot. (Not that I condone that sort of thing. Much better to just be psychotic ^_^)

[squidthingy]

Was the room where the silver surfer was taken after being seperated from the board exactly what you pictured Room 101 of the ministy of love looking like(1984 by George Orwell)

that's what I thought, feel free to voice your opinions

[TSGames]

Was the room where the silver surfer was taken after being seperated from the board exactly what you pictured Room 101 of the ministy of love looking like(1984 by George Orwell)

that's what I thought, feel free to voice your opinions
Atually, now that you mention it... It does seem quite similar to me, but I can't be certain as it is long since I read that book and may just be that the suggestion makes it seem similar. I think it was quite similar.

[TheEmerged]

*shrug* It falls within the realm of "Silver guy on a surfboard from another planet." for me. I mean, seriously...

Anyway, I probably would make a horrible critic, as there really are very few movies I don't like. That rant earlier was a rather.. unusual thing for me to post, but am I really the only one who thinks that?

Vonriel, let me spin this a little bit for you. I assume since you're on this board you're a fan of Order of the Stick.

How would you feel if there was an Order of the Stick movie... and Roy was a Hispanic woman who cast magic spells, Elan was a genius, Haley a lesbian, Durkon a lush, and Nale secretly a double agent working for the good guys?

That's what you're asking us to overlook. The fact that Hollywood keeps doing it doesn't make it right.

I found the first movie enjoyable enough -- only because I was able to do something similar to what you're describing. I had to mentally distance the overactor on the screen from the character of Doom. I shouldn't have to do that every time I go to a movie from established fiction.

/sarcasm OFF

There's a reason I went to see the Nancy Drew movie this weekend instead of F4:SS -- I knew which one was going to be the better action film.

[DraPrime]

I swore off seeing the film right there (+ the first "F4" was the weakest superhero movie since "The Hulk").

I don't know, Dare Devil and Electra were pretty horrible to. I saw the first one and was greatly disappointedly. They had one fight with the BBEG and then the story ended. I remember watching it and thinking That's it?. From what I've read something similar happens in the second movie. My opinion is that whoever wrote the script doesn't know how to make a good climax. I don't even plan on watching the second one. It would be a waste of my time. If you want to see some good fight scenes (with less CGI though) then watch Hot Fuzz. They (intentionally) stuff every single cliche into one big insane scene. So hilarious.

[Eldpollard]

I am not going to go and see this film. I had to endure the first one. That was bad enough. I like the silver surfer, I don't want him ruined.

[Jerthanis]

/sarcasm OFF

There's a reason I went to see the Nancy Drew movie this weekend instead of F4:SS -- I knew which one was going to be the better action film.

I actually saw Nancy Drew the night before I saw Silver Surfer, and my first comment upon standing up after FF:RotSS was "Well, that wasn't as good as Nancy Drew, but it was pretty cool all the same."

[bosssmiley]

I don't know, Dare Devil and Electra were pretty horrible to.

AGH!!! My brain! Why? Why did you have to mention them? I'd managed to block the sheer decrapitude of those cinematic abortions out of my mind. Now I must drink heavily and watch swashbuckler movies until the pain fades again.

"From Hell's heart I stab at thee dragonprime!"

At least we got away without anyone mentioning the execrable, unforgivable "Catwoman" movie. ("Oh, Miss Berry, the Academy phoned. They say they want the Oscar back now...")


Was the room where the silver surfer was taken after being seperated from the board exactly what you pictured Room 101 of the ministy of love looking like(1984 by George Orwell)

Sorry, but no. Insufficient Richard Burton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Brien_%281984%29) or John Hurt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Smith) to fulfill requisite pre-conditions for such greatness.

"Do it to Julia! Do it to her, not me!"

[DraPrime]

ARRRRRGH!!!! Someone mentioned Catwoman.

*falls over with blood gushing out of ears*

[kpenguin]

I saw the movie just hours ago. My thoughts:

Things I Liked

The appearance and voice of the Silver Surfer. Totally cool.
The way they used Ben and Johnny as comedic foils of each other.
The fight scene between Doom and Johnny w/ all the powers of the four. How did they beat Super Skrull again?
Doom putting on his coak and mask before taking the board. Total Doom moment right there.
Stan Lee at the wedding. :smallsmile:


Things I didn't Like

The Silver Surfer killing Galactus. Is it just me, or does that make him far less heroic? I mean, he could have sacrificed his life a long time ago. It doesn't make up for all those worlds he helped destroyed. They should have included some part about Galactus dulling his emotions, like in the comics.
Doom. His voice wasn't dramatic enough. We need a James Earl Jones type voice for Doom. And what about him fighting the FF with the coming of Galactus? Even with the world ending around him? Doom is arrogant, not stupid. He's fought against destroyer-of-worlds level threats before.
Galactus was a storm cloud? What? And even as that, they could have made him far more frightening. You know, destroy some buildings or massacre some people before Norrin defeated him?
Too many jokes at the wrong moments

[Pwenet]

I admit I saw it on opening day with my wife.

First of all, I read the comics. My wife didn't.

I found it to be a decent movie, not as bad as stuff in recent memory (since some people's ears have just stopped bleeding I won't say titles) but with significant room for improvement for many of the reasons listed here (Galactus as a cloud, Silver Surfer feeding back energy into Galactus [which is generously 1/100000000th of Galactus's power I would surmise.] At the very least, coulden't old SS go "This is the moment, at feeding, where he is vulnerable, I must give him indigestion, and since they don't make Pepto-Bismol large enough it won't be pretty. Farewell.")

On the flip side, my wife, who never read the comics, and her only exposure to the characters was via the first movie, liked it.

It just falls into prior experiences and your ability to treat the movie as a seperate set of fiction.

Sadly these movies typically won't please anyone, for they do not want to go into a 30 hour backstory explaining everything in great detail.

[Rare Pink Leech]

I thought that all-in-all, it was an okay movie, even though it has many shortcomings that I can point out. I'm probably more forgiving, though, because I was a bigger Spider-Man and X-Men fan growing up, and I'd be more pissed at the same number of shortcomings in either of their movies (which explains why I like Fantastic Four 2 more than Spider-Man 3).

First off, what was up with Susan's eyes? Those contacts looked absolutely terrible on her. Her makeup designer should've been fired before filming began.

While there was a character who resembled Dr. Doom more closely than in the first movie, I was still disappointed at the total absense of the Fantastic Four's archnemesis. I mean, I know his name is Victor von Doom, but two people can have the same name, right? If during the third movie Dr. Doom shows up, kills the puny human who uses his name, and pronounces "Who is this man that pretends to be Doom? There can only be one Doom!", then I will be much happier with the franchise.

I was terribly disappointed with the Galactus-as-a-cloud, and the several times that the cloud evoked his helmet was a nice tough. Mark my words, when he shows up as the main villain in the third movie, we'll see him take a humanoid form much closer to his traditional appearance. There's no way he's dead, especially if Surfer survived.

Probably my biggest disappointment was that, in a move typical of Hollywood, the Surfer's best scenes were shown in trailers - his chase with Johnny, and the sequence that began with his moving through Sue's forcefield with butter and ending with him blowing the crap out of the missile trucks. He didn't have any other cool scenes, which sucks.

Scratch that - my biggest disappointment is that they made his board the source of his power? WTF? His boards an extension of himself, and the source of his power is a direct link to Galactus. For some reason this is my biggest gripe with the movie.

Finally, I don't think that the Surfer looked worse than the T1000, however I think he looked much better when he was matte and grey. When he was shiny and silver he looked cool, but he also looked like something from a movie -- on the other hand, the grey Surfer looked very realistic, like he could actually walk among us.

[Ranis]

I'm going to have to second the need of a new voice for Dr. Doom. He sounds like a pansy. If anyone's ever heard Doom's voice from the new character packs in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance or just his voice at the end, that's exactly what he sounds like. Exactly.

[kpenguin]

Well, the MUA voice was okay... although he did seem to have a bit of Scottish brogue to me. I'd prefer a James Earl Jones type voice with East European accent. For those who don't know, James Earl Jones provided the voice for Darth Vader. I need say no more.

EDIT:

While there was a character who resembled Dr. Doom more closely than in the first movie, I was still disappointed at the total absense of the Fantastic Four's archnemesis. I mean, I know his name is Victor von Doom, but two people can have the same name, right? If during the third movie Dr. Doom shows up, kills the puny human who uses his name, and pronounces "Who is this man that pretends to be Doom? There can only be one Doom!", then I will be much happier with the franchise.


Those Dooms were in fact, Doombots. That's the only explanation.

[Ezlo]

I didn't like the movie much at all. During the whole thing I kept thinking, "Capri Sun commercial" over and over and over.:smallredface:

[Rare Pink Leech]

Those Dooms were in fact, Doombots. That's the only explanation.

Indeed. And he hasn't quite perfected the technology, which explains why they're inexact copies. 'Tis truly the only explanation.

[kpenguin]

I didn't like the movie much at all. During the whole thing I kept thinking, "Capri Sun commercial" over and over and over.:smallredface:

While my friends and I joked about Capri Sun being the true source of Silver Surfer's powers, I think that he looked pretty good.

[Gavin Sage]

Well, the MUA voice was okay... although he did seem to have a bit of Scottish brogue to me. I'd prefer a James Earl Jones type voice with East European accent. For those who don't know, James Earl Jones provided the voice for Darth Vader. I need say no more.

Because Vader stole all his tricks from Doom's book.:smallsmile: