Fantastic? Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Thrilling, engaging and totally adequate are more fitting adjectives to the latest superhero special effects bonanza.
"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," which opened Friday, is a breezy crowd-pleaser, and a fitting antidote for that scatterbrained downer known as "Spider-Man 3." In "Fantastic," the spryly sarcastic humor finds its mark, the action scenes are bold and flashy, and there are even traces of that element that's so rare in summer blockbusters — heart.
Rarely has a sequel improved on its predecessor in so many ways. Of course, it wasn't all that difficult for director Tim Story to make a better film than his wretched "Fantastic Four" (2005), a sloppy, uninspired effort that stands as one of the poorest comic-book adaptations.
In the first film, Story laboriously introduced each of his characters — something films with only one hero struggle to do within the confines of a 90-minute span — then brought them together unconvincingly as a team, then had them toss off dopey one-liners while battling a generic enemy.
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This time, we catch the Fantastic Four in full stride, fighting crime and wilting under media scrutiny as they try to eke out their personal lives. Elastic-limbed Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) is set to marry the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba). Their partners, rock creature The Thing (Michael Chiklis) and the Human Torch (Chris Evans), prepare for the festivities while they continue their playful personal rivalry with one another.
The villain from the first movie, metal-masked Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon), who was thought to have been defeated, is back for an unexplained reason, but Doom takes a back seat to a mysterious creature known as the Silver Surfer (voiced by Laurence Fishburne), a poorly computer-animated alien who tells the Invisible Woman that the world is doomed, set to be consumed by a planet-devouring cosmic entity known as Galactus.
As tedious as it was to watch the Fantastic Four lumber together in the first film, it's a pleasure this time out. Story lets the characters flex their powers and demonstrate personality.
Story's narrative taps into the genius of the superhero-team concept, likening the squad to a loving yet dysfunctional family. Only when they commit to working together on the fly can the Four get anything accomplished. The teammates bicker and bond, snapping tight dialogue back and forth.
An exhilarating sequence has the team halting the destruction of a Ferris wheel while arguing with one another. The Thing uses his strength to support the structure, the Invisible Woman puts up a force field that keeps the wheel from tipping over, Mr. Fantastic stretches out to take care of passengers, and the Human Torch solders the wheel back into place at its base.
There's something rhythmically comical about watching the team work together, even as they struggle to connect, much like the van push-start motif from "Little Miss Sunshine." Who would have thought a Fantastic Four flick would have been worthy of inclusion inthe same sentence as a best-picture Oscar nominee?
REVIEW
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (***) — PG for sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo. Jessica Alba stars. Tim Story directs. 89 minutes. Playing at Park Place, El Con, Century Park, Foothills, DeAnza, Desert Sky, Cinemark and Oasis.
