Mahusay na Apat: Kanin ng Pilak na Thrasher

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!

The film started with updates on how did the life of the foursome go since the first film. This time, Reed and Sue were scheduled to get married but for some turn of events, a mysterious entity, Silver Surfer, appeared to wreck havoc to the world and the team was forced to postpone the wedding and work with the US armed forces to subdue the alien. They were not getting much progress as the Surfer proved to be much aware of their every moves.

Enter, Victor Von Doom! *lightning sparks*

He was somehow restored back to life and on a close encounter with the sparkly surf dude, Doctor Doom was able to secure important information that can be used against Silver Surfer. He employed his aid to the US armed forces and an unlikely alliance was formed between him and his old foes, the Fantastic Four. Through the brilliance of Doctor Richards and Silver Surfer's apparent affinity with Sue (I mean c'mon, who's not gonna go gaga over Miss Alba), they were finally able to capture the alien by separating him from his power source - the surfboard. With his twisted schemes, Victor was able to snatch the surfboard from the US military and augment his powers to even greater heights.

With not much time left, as they discovered that a world devourer (Galactus) was about to destroy the world and that Surfer was their only chance to salvation, the Fantastic Four set out to rescue Silver Surfer and capture back the surfboard... which (of course) they were able to do. And they all lived happily ever after.

At least not after the Surfer sacrificed himself to eliminate the Galactus threat.

The film is generally decent: mediocre plot, CG effects, acting, and all. It's just disheartening to take note that despite the hype and all anticipation of a grand battle from watching the previews, there are really not much of an outright combat in the movie. There's this scene of the Torch vs. Surfer or Torch vs. Doom, but they din't have the quality of a fast-paced, "superheroic", cinematic fight as say compared to Spiderman vs. the New Goblin in Spiderman 3. Even the group assault of the Fantastic Four against Doctor Doom in the final scenes of Fantastic Four 1 can outdo all the battle scenes in Fantastic Four 2 (FF2) combined. And that scene on part 1 is just mediocre to start with, unfortunately.

True to it's form, though, the movie kept much in line with the comicbook identity of the team. I personally liked how the continuity of each of the members' personalities still carried on to this sequel. I know many will have quirks on the appearance of Galactus as a gaseous entity of sorts, but I really would have to prefer him as such than his original purple-helmeted giant figure as seen in the comics. Silver Surfer is a great representation too. I really felt his commanding aura and his outlandish impression. Probably, it's Lawrence Fishburne's voice there that made the magic.

Jessica Alba is searing hot, hands up. BUT I will still have to stand by my opinion that she's NOT physically apt for the role. Susan Richards (Invisible Woman) from the comicbooks is a white blonde which is very much in contrast with what Miss Alba is, naturally. I don't even think she is of the right height if memory serves me well, but heck... I'm too lazy to do my research at the moment but I believe there's a lot of discrepancies there. I'm not up for an "up-to-the-last-dot" similarities but they should have at least satisfied the fans' childhood image of the Invisible Woman.

Doctor Doom is more worth to be the evil brain this time. I dig. I don't like how the Fantastic Four fall for such a ploy of his. It looks stupid. But I guess they just have no choice since it's the destruction of the world that is at stake. Still, they could have at least be more vigilant of his schemes. The Thing and Human Torch banter is still a hit for me. I like it when those two clashed with each other with their antics, and there's still a lot of it in this movie although you can feel that their relationship became more of a casual antagonist to each other unlike on the first film where they just plainly loathed each other.

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is a so so film, all in all. It's likely that it's not something you'll be remembering as one of your all-time favorites but it won't be on your all-time crap movies either. It's relatively short and is a good popcorn movie for the family. A good way to past time in a mall, definitely. Six gulamans worth.

*****

Added an album on my Multiply site... pics from our company dinner at Dencio's.

Lakwatserong Kalbo

Mahusay na Apat: Kanin ng Pilak na Thrasher

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!

The film started with updates on how did the life of the foursome go since the first film. This time, Reed and Sue were scheduled to get married but for some turn of events, a mysterious entity, Silver Surfer, appeared to wreck havoc to the world and the team was forced to postpone the wedding and work with the US armed forces to subdue the alien. They were not getting much progress as the Surfer proved to be much aware of their every moves.

Enter, Victor Von Doom! *lightning sparks*

He was somehow restored back to life and on a close encounter with the sparkly surf dude, Doctor Doom was able to secure important information that can be used against Silver Surfer. He employed his aid to the US armed forces and an unlikely alliance was formed between him and his old foes, the Fantastic Four. Through the brilliance of Doctor Richards and Silver Surfer's apparent affinity with Sue (I mean c'mon, who's not gonna go gaga over Miss Alba), they were finally able to capture the alien by separating him from his power source - the surfboard. With his twisted schemes, Victor was able to snatch the surfboard from the US military and augment his powers to even greater heights.

With not much time left, as they discovered that a world devourer (Galactus) was about to destroy the world and that Surfer was their only chance to salvation, the Fantastic Four set out to rescue Silver Surfer and capture back the surfboard... which (of course) they were able to do. And they all lived happily ever after.

At least not after the Surfer sacrificed himself to eliminate the Galactus threat.

The film is generally decent: mediocre plot, CG effects, acting, and all. It's just disheartening to take note that despite the hype and all anticipation of a grand battle from watching the previews, there are really not much of an outright combat in the movie. There's this scene of the Torch vs. Surfer or Torch vs. Doom, but they din't have the quality of a fast-paced, "superheroic", cinematic fight as say compared to Spiderman vs. the New Goblin in Spiderman 3. Even the group assault of the Fantastic Four against Doctor Doom in the final scenes of Fantastic Four 1 can outdo all the battle scenes in Fantastic Four 2 (FF2) combined. And that scene on part 1 is just mediocre to start with, unfortunately.

True to it's form, though, the movie kept much in line with the comicbook identity of the team. I personally liked how the continuity of each of the members' personalities still carried on to this sequel. I know many will have quirks on the appearance of Galactus as a gaseous entity of sorts, but I really would have to prefer him as such than his original purple-helmeted giant figure as seen in the comics. Silver Surfer is a great representation too. I really felt his commanding aura and his outlandish impression. Probably, it's Lawrence Fishburne's voice there that made the magic.

Jessica Alba is searing hot, hands up. BUT I will still have to stand by my opinion that she's NOT physically apt for the role. Susan Richards (Invisible Woman) from the comicbooks is a white blonde which is very much in contrast with what Miss Alba is, naturally. I don't even think she is of the right height if memory serves me well, but heck... I'm too lazy to do my research at the moment but I believe there's a lot of discrepancies there. I'm not up for an "up-to-the-last-dot" similarities but they should have at least satisfied the fans' childhood image of the Invisible Woman.

Doctor Doom is more worth to be the evil brain this time. I dig. I don't like how the Fantastic Four fall for such a ploy of his. It looks stupid. But I guess they just have no choice since it's the destruction of the world that is at stake. Still, they could have at least be more vigilant of his schemes. The Thing and Human Torch banter is still a hit for me. I like it when those two clashed with each other with their antics, and there's still a lot of it in this movie although you can feel that their relationship became more of a casual antagonist to each other unlike on the first film where they just plainly loathed each other.

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is a so so film, all in all. It's likely that it's not something you'll be remembering as one of your all-time favorites but it won't be on your all-time crap movies either. It's relatively short and is a good popcorn movie for the family. A good way to past time in a mall, definitely. Six gulamans worth.

*****

Added an album on my Multiply site... pics from our company dinner at Dencio's.

Lakwatserong Kalbo