Monday, July 23, 2007

07-07-23 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Seen: July 15th, 2007
Format: Theater
Rating: 5


By now you know that I like comics and, in general, the films spawned from them. While I tend to give comic films a little leeway, they have to be pretty awesome to get full marks.

This one doesn't quite make it.

There's nothing wrong with this film. It's fine.

It does a good job of telling a fairly complex story. The story, action and dialogue are all well done. The acting is decent, hardly outstanding, though that's not a real requirement in this genre.

The effects actually serve the story exceptionally well. While they're exaggerated for effect or humor on a few occasions, they still fit well enough within the Fantastic Four flaovor that we can give them a pass.

The only things I can really complain about are the blatant product placements, expecially the one for Dodge. I saw it right away and cringed while antidipating the clever banter. Ugh.

And McMahon overplays Doom a bit for my taste. I always considered him more rational than he's played here. Evil, sure, but not manical.

And that's pretty much it. In short, a summer popcorn flick for kids of all ages. You'll have a decent time. Escape the heat, have a few laughs along with a few oooohhs and aaahhhs. Your ability to remember what happened a few days or weeks later will be inversely proportionaly to your age.

And that's OK too.

The Good: Takes on a difficult chapter of the FF saga

The Bad: Product placement

The Ugly: Sucking the soul out of your planet

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