Techtite's DVD Reviews!

"As campy fun that nobody expected much from, this film works. However; the Fantastic Four deserve better, and so do their fans."

--from the review

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Sidebar ::

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Memflix? Memflix who? Just kidding. Yeah; just about any "sidebar" for any FF:RotSS review would almost HAVE to include a mention of Memflix, the guy who posted a negative review of this movie before it was even released, and lost his job as a projectionist because of it.

Opinions? Well, maybe he shouldn't have lost his job exactly, though to be fair: there are differences between this review and the reviews Memflix has posted many times before, and I'd dare say Memflix knows this. For one thing: Memflix gave away THE WHOLE ENDING to the movie in his review. You never post an "early bird" movie review and spoil the ending That's crossing a line that...well, that Memflix crossed. It's that simple. Then again; did he deserve to lose his job because of it?

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Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

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Fantastic Four:

Rise of the Silver Surfer

A Review by Techtite

Was it foolish to even try and make a Fantastic Four movie sequel? Hardly. Remember how Star Trek: The Motion Picture led to the classic Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan...? All they needed for Fantastic Four "2" was a better script, and better respect of the original subject matter.

From a distance, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is halfway there, with one of the best stories ever written for that comic book: specifically, the Silver Surfer. Imagine a being of superior power coming to Earth, causing worldwide panic. It turns out that the alien, which the press nicknames "The Silver Surfer," is simply a slave to a larger force of destruction heading this way. If this "Surfer" doesn't do his master's bidding, his own home world will die, and everyone on it...including the Surfer's true love. Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), looks a lot like the Surfer's long lost love, reminding him of the humanity he lost. Will he learn in time that to destroy one planet to save another, well...sucks?

This is a swell story, to be sure. Did it deserve to be told in a campy way? Well...no, though I will say that some of the campiness works. I particularly liked how this film shows the Fantastic Four trying to live "normal" lives. See; unlike most superheroes, the FF don't try to hide behind a pair of glasses with a "secret identity." They have to walk around in real life as-is. Just seeing The Thing's rocklike mass try to saunter up to a bar and order a drink is pretty funny. So is the elastic "Mr. Fantastic" cutting a rug on the dance floor. As for The Human Torch: he has a dangerous yet humorous confrontation with the Surfer, which leads to him changing super powers with whatever hero he touches. I would've loved to see this joke go the distance with cameos of Spiderman and Wolverine, though the point is: this film does have its moments where it is ---gasp!--- fun.

Let me be clear here, before fanboys scream in unison, "Flame ON!" I'm not an apologist; I'm just saying. As much as comic fans love it when a movie takes their favorite comic and makes it into a Shakespearean epic, I have to admit, I love a campy, harmless popcorn summer flick on occasion. Sure this film is less Spiderman 2 and more like, say, Batman Forever, which was entertaining, yet all but bastardized the story of Two-Face...which, in case anyone wondered, is far more involved than simply "guy with a face half burned flips his marbles." The Silver Surfer story is similarly much more elaborate than "silver alien gets a conscience," though try explaining that to an agnostic theater patron in 90 minutes.

Not that this is a perfect movie. Oh; it has its flaws! Director Tim Story needs to stop focusing in close-up all the time. His "extreme close up" method of cinematography doesn't just spoil one or two action scenes; it spoils one or two jokes as well. Allow me to find an example irrelevant enough to not irk the "spoiler police": Sue Storm gets the Human Torch's powers, her costume isn't fireproof, she is suddenly "normal" again, and yadda yadda yadda, she's bare naked in the street. While Invisible Woman's "public nudity" could become this film series' running gag (she had a similar scene in the first movie), the joke really doesn't work when the camera man is fixated on Sue's face. I'm not saying "bring on the nudity" to a comic book movie, though if you are going to attempt an "Austin Powers" style visual gag, you can't focus on the face. The same goes for action scenes. Now imagine, spoilers intact, how gritty the action scenes are, when all you see are the faces!

Then there's the ending. Look; Memflix already burst that bubble wide open in his now infamous review (see the "sidebar" story at right), so there's no point in spoiling it here. It's no surprise, however, that the ending isn't completely true to the story, when the rest of the movie wasn't, either. However; one thing is perfectly clear. If there is a third film in this series, someone needs to actually open up the comic books and stay true to the great stories they find there. Oh, and don't irk the comic's fans! As Sue Storm put it in this film: "Gee...Do you think?"

---Techtite

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