By Brandon Nolta

Let’s not mince words: I thought the 2005 FANTASTIC FOUR movie sucked. Although my initial opinion has softened over time, I have never suffered the urge to repeat the viewing experience, even though it has some good acting by Michael Chiklis and Jessica Alba in her underwear. Thus, it was with a mixture of trepidation and cautious enthusiasm that I trekked to the multiplex to check out FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER. Surprise; it didn’t suck.
   
Having dispensed with the backstory in the first film, the latest adventures of Marvel’s first family of superheroes opens with the impending nuptials of Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and Sue Storm (Jessica Alba). However, marriage among the metahuman set ain’t easy; not with paparazzi under every rock and shrub, Sue’s little brother, Johnny (Chris Evans), hogging all the attention he can, and a number of weather anomalies happening worldwide. Then the military — personified in officious glory by Gen. Hager (Andre Braugher) — comes knocking, and before you can say “Excelsior,” Richards, both Storms and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) are chasing a shiny dude on a flying surfboard (Doug Jones; voiced by Laurence Fishburne). Planets die, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) shows up with his best armor on, and things progress from there.
   
Director Tim Story must have taken notes on the complaint parade last time, because many of the flaws of the first movie — moronic dialogue, limp acting from everybody but Chiklis, effects that ranged from fantastic (duh) to questionable — are toned-down or missing from this one. The dialogue still isn’t great, but it doesn’t make you cringe when you hear it, and more importantly, the actors all seem far more comfortable in their characters this go-round. Gruffudd shows the greatest improvement; a mid-film scene in the Black Forest gives the Welsh actor a chance to demonstrate the spine that makes Mr. Fantastic the group’s true leader. Evans and Alba also demonstrate greater ease in their roles, and Chiklis is reliable as always. Only Kerry Washington, who gets a pittance of screen time as Alicia Masters, and McMahon’s more-petulant-than-evil Dr. Doom fail to make a good impression.
   
But the real winner in the acting sweepstakes is Doug Jones. Despite being covered in silver and having his voice dubbed by the mellifluous Fishburne (he got dubbed as Abe Sapien in HELLBOY, too, although it’s his voice in the animated films and the upcoming sequel), Jones manages to capture his character’s thoughts and innate nobility through body movement and his eyes. The Surfer is essentially a good guy, and despite his early actions, that nobility is conveyed clearly through Jones’ graceful acting. It might have been a more interesting choice to go with someone less well-known for the voice work, like Jones himself, but Fishburne’s voice is a natural fit for the character.
   
The effects are also far better this time, from the manifestation of the FF’s powers to a high-speed running battle with Doom late in the film. Even little details, like Sue getting a bloody nose due to nearly overtaxing her force-field ability, are captured nicely. If there is one example of where the effects team and designers earned their money, however, it’s in the appearance of Galactus, the villain of the piece. Marvel geeks may scream bloody murder at my assertion, but I always thought a 30-foot planet-eating humanoid looked pretty damn silly, no matter who drew it. The movie’s conception of Galactus —  a massive cloud shot through with billows of fire and what appear to be talons —  seems more like what a planet-eater would look like, and is far more majestic and menacing on the screen.
   
Overall, FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER may not approach the level of the first couple X-MEN or SPIDER-MAN features, but it’s a hell of an improvement over the first FF film. Not only is it a sequel that surpasses the original, but it justifies the further adventures of the FF in a way the first film completely failed to do. As the comic book writers of yore used to put it, ‘nuff said.