FF2:Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Director: Tim Story
Writers: Mark Frost
Cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington, Andre Braugher, Gonzalo Menendez.
Release Date: June 15, 2007

From the handful of impressive trailers we've seen so far, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is inspired by some of the best storytelling in the history of Marvel Comics - issues 48 through 50 of Fantastic Four, known (by some) as the Galactus Trilogy.

This tale, appearing both at the midpoint of the 1960s and at the apogee of the groundbreaking Jack Kirby/Stan Lee collaboration, is a comics milestone. It signals the beginning of Kirby's mature period as a master visual storyteller, and marks one of the first successful attempts by Lee to set his fourcolor characters on a grand metaphysical stage. Kirby's Silver Surfer, a liquid-chrome angel of hyper-motion and divine grace, would speak with a voice culled from some of Lee's best highfalutin superhero angst.

In that original story, the Surfer is a star-spanning fallen angel (with silver skin, surfboard and the 'Power Cosmic' in place of halo, wings, and Divine Grace) who serves as the herald of Galactus, a nigh omnipotent being that can sustain its existence only by devouring planets. Finding the Earth a suitable world for his master's appetite, the Surfer ultimately has misgivings about the destruction of humanity. Befriended by the blind sculptor Alicia (the Thing's girlfriend), Galactus' herald is moved, in the end, to side with the Fantastic Four against the world-eater.

Galactus, as drawn by Kirby, is a cosmic cartoon of God if He were a super-villain: a colossus in purple armor, wearing a massive helmet sprouting what appears to be a set of bent tuning forks. Fighting a planet-eating Deity is not really an option for our heroes (though they do try). The story is only resolved by resorting to deus ex machina, when another inconceivably powerful cosmic entity, the Watcher (imagine a macrocephalic Telly Savalas, wearing a toga), arranges for Reed Richards to gain control of the awesome Ultimate Nullifer - a weapon that even Galactus fears. Though the threat is ended, Galactus strips the Surfer of his 'space-time' powers, and traps him on Earth to remain forever in the company of the humans he has chosen to defend.

Whether or not this tale - which made for great comic book storytelling at the high tide of the Marvel Age of Comics - can make a good two-hour movie (while remaining more or less faithful to its original) is a question worth considering.

It looks like director Tim Story has done his level best to bring the Silver Surfer (given body and motion by Hollywood's current go-to monster-guy, the affable Doug Jones, and voiced by Laurence Fishburne) to cinematic life. He looks great.

Ever since James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, we comics aficionados have known (or dreamed, anyway) that a live-action big screen Surfer was possible. Shots from the first trailer, in which the Silver One interrupts Sue and Reed's wedding with his earthly arrival, bring to mind the work of artist Alex Ross in the graphic novel Marvels - for a diehard Marvel fan, it's awe-inspiring to see this favorite character brought to life. At the very least, this film will bring fans to the theater on the strength of a single premise - that they will actually get to see the Silver freakin' Surfer open a cosmic can on the Fantastic Four (and probably on Julian McMahon's Dr. Doom, as well).

We know very little about the film's plot beyond the basics: the Surfer comes to Earth, wreaks havoc, and is pursued by our heroes, who try to pluck out the heart of his mystery; Dr. Doom somehow gets involved. There's a wedding, a Fantasticar (one of Kirby's many credulity-staggering contraptions, a flying car with parts that separate and re-join), and somehow the Surfer's touch causes the team to switch powers. (What's up with that?)

The few details we can piece together from the trailers don't bode well for the movie's plot (usually we see bits of the absolute best stuff in these trailers... here, the pickings are sparse). Some of the advance word is not good. Apparently, nothing resembling the traditional Galactus will make an appearance. Reports of a not-too-threatening purple cloud do not quicken the blood, or raise our hopes - but on the other hand, a giant man in a purple suit with a tuning-fork hat might not translate neatly to the big screen.

What the film will have, hopefully, is an encore performance by its principal actors and director that builds on the best parts of the first movie and takes them further. Though it certainly has its flaws, 2005's Fantastic Four is a fun movie, and it has a lot of heart, particularly when it sticks to what made the Kirby and Lee quartet so compelling - Jack and Stan, as has often been pointed out, were using a superhero comic book to tell a story about a family.

Gruffudd, Alba, Chiklis, Evans and Story did a very good job of bringing that quality to life, and they gave the movie something that a lot of recent big screen Marvel adaptations (Daredevil, Elektra, and The Punisher come to mind) have lacked - recognizably human characters. No matter how fantastic the Fantastic Four may be, if we can look at them and see a geek, his best friend, a brainy sister and a hot-headed brother - then they'll actually mean something to us.

Hopefully, Story and company have paid attention to the negative fan response to the first film's Dr. Doom - it would be nice to see the greatest Marvel villain of all time done justice in a movie. It'll be nice, too, if Jessica Alba's Invisible Woman and Ioan Gruffudd's Mr. Fantastic are given a bit more to do. Since Ben Grimm's lady love, Alicia Masters (played by Kerry Washington in the first film), will be in this movie, we can dare to hope that some of her interaction with the Surfer from the original tale (and Ben's subsequent jealousy) will be retained. Frankie Raye (a love interest of Johnny's) shows up, too - played here by Beau Garrett - which leads us to wonder if a future turn for her as Nova (a herald of Galactus) might be in the works.