You know, I have to admit that I am amazed by how good Fantastic Four 2 was. Although, the official title of the movie as it appears on-screen is just 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. According to the title, they’re not fantastic this time. They’re the Okay Four.
Well, they may have taken the ‘fantastic’ out of the title but they put a lot of ‘fantastic’ back into the film itself. The special effects were awesome and for once they were used to tell the story the best way as opposed to showing off the latest technology like “Ooh look we can simulate sand now!”
My friends and I agree that this time round the comedy elements fitted in better with the story, too, unlike the previous instalment, the comedy elements of which raised a few smiles here and there but ultimately jarred with the mood the film was trying to establish.
And even though there was an obligatory Jessica-Alba-gets-naked scene it actually made sense from a plot perspective this time and it was genuinely funny. Also there was much less cleavage this time round — obviously Jessica Alba’s breasts want to be taken more seriously as an actress.
Overall it was a very good film: by degrees exciting, humorous, moving and dramatic. It’s no Batman Begins but it’s certainly up there with the best comic-book-to-movie adaptations, the worst being Hulk (which was actually painful to watch) and… well, the first Fantastic Four movie. One for the DVD collection, guys.
Now a word on the comic. I coined the word ‘ass’ as it is used in the strip about four years ago and I’ve been using it ever since (much to my brother’s annoyance — in fact the strip is an almost word-for-word transcription of a real conversation he and I had). I have since seen the use of ass as an adjective come into greater prominence, although exclusively in a negative sense. Pay no attention to this incorrect usage of the word ‘ass’. ‘Ass’ is the new ‘cool’. It’s a good thing. It’s an ass thing, in fact. Tell everyone.
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