Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer by Paul Bullock

Ever since Bryan Singer first opted to dress the X-Men in black leather rather than the customary yellow and blue spandex, comic book films have been all about angst. Batman has spent all his time musing on the difference between justice and revenge; Spider-Man has been consumed by his almighty guilt complex and even the Hulk has taken time out from smashing stuff up to think about repression and father issues. Such seriousness has helped make realistic, enjoyable and, at times, thought-provoking films. But, for all their brilliance, these movies have lacked one thing: a silver bloke on a surfboard. Gladly, Fantastic Four 2 has just that.

We pick things up shortly after the events of the first Fantastic film. The Human Torch (Chris Evans) is still flirting his way through the women of Manhattan, The Thing (Michael Chiklis) is still clobbering his way through the walls of Manhattan and Mr Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) and The Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba) are currently the toast of Manhattan, having just announced their wedding. Sadly, just as the nuptials are about to take place, a naked silver alien riding a surfboard flies through the skies warning the citizens of earth of their impending doom at the hands of an intergalactic planet eater.

Sounds dark, huh? Well it's not. Big, broad and decidedly kiddie-friendly, Rise of the Silver Surfer is a day-glow feast for the eyes that is so faithful to its pulpy origins that every line of dialogue seems encased in a speech bubble. Director Tim Story and his writers Don Payne and Mark Frost do nothing to persuade the audience otherwise and gleefully indulge us in the more ridiculous aspects of the Fantastic Four’s world. Johnny Storm repeatedly utters his famous but fairly pointless ‘Flame On!’ catchphrase, the gang live in the souped-up Baxter Building and now have the absurdly brilliant Fantasticar to cart them around and Stan Lee pops up for a sweet cameo as, well, Stan Lee.

Indeed, so dedicated to the comics are Story and his team that the only tenet of the FF’s mythology that they seem a little uncertain of is the planet-eater himself. A pointy-hatted space giant in the comics, Galactus here is turned into something more palatable for a general audience: a giant, malevolent storm cloud. Every now and then, sharp-eyed Fantastic fans will spot a giant hand or the shadow of the hat’s spire (look out for it as it passes Saturn), but essentially, the film's big bad is a dark force who has no real sense of menace and therefore ends up being entirely overshadowed by his silvery herald.

One of Stan Lee‘s most brilliant creations, The Surfer has become a counterculture hero since making his debut in 1966 and proves to be the movie's trump card both visually and dramatically. This is partly down to some stunning effects (including great work from the voice of Laurence Fishburne and the body of Pan’s Labyrinth star Doug Jones), but mostly due to the fact that the script, just as it did in the first film, struggles to make the Fantastic Four as interesting as they should be.

The Thing, who was the lead player in the original, here acts as simple comic relief, while Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba once again struggle with their rather bland and underwritten characters. The film’s only dramatic arc therefore belongs to the Human Torch (Evans, once again nailing his character). A one-note playboy in the first film, he is here stuck in a crisis of maturity, as the threat of Reed and Sue disbanding the Fantastic Four to start a family away from the glare of the media, makes him question his hollow life.

Predictably any such angst is all wrapped up in a cheesily cheerful bow come the end of the film. But then, it was always going to be. Rise of the Silver Surfer is a comic book movie so vivid and bright that nothing bad can ever happen in it - and it shouldn’t be any other way. Batman can keep his mood swings and the X-Men are welcome to their dark suits. The Fantastic Four have a kick-ass car, a luxurious apartment in a skyscraper and a silver bloke surfing through the galaxy. And when you've got all that, who needs darkness?