Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer Review

It's probably fair to say that, while the first "Fantastic Four" did reasonably well at the box office, it wasn't the most inspired comic book outing. Well the good news is that this follow-up is an improvement on its predecessor with much of that down to the debut of another iconic Marvel character. The film sees the blue-suited quartet called into action when a series of huge holes start appearing around the world thanks to a mysterious power source. Obviously the power source in question turns out to be the Silver Surfer, the emissary of the evil intergalactic monster Galactus, who intends to eat the Earth within the week. With the fate of the planet in their hands, can the Fantastic Four find a way to get the Surfer to change sides and help them in their fight?

While most of this summers other blockbusters all over-long and over-complicated, "Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer" is actually a bit of a relief. It runs less than 100 minutes, doesn't take itself too seriously and delivers enough bang for your buck to justify the ticket price. The four themselves (Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis) have settled into their roles nicely while the Silver Surfer is beautifully realised thanks to some superb CGI based on Doug Jones' motion capture work and Laurence Fishburne's velvety tones.

Writers Don Payne and Mark Frost could maybe have opted to drop the returning Dr. Doom from this instalment - his addition does maybe over-egg the pudding slightly - but that's a minor gripe for the only film so far this blockbuster season to exceed expectations.