KEY POINTS:
Ever since comic book adaptation Fantastic Four opened to critical yawns but big box office bucks, all eyes have been set on crafting a sequel.
The wait is now officially over - tomorrow marks the opening of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. But given its predecessor's
somewhat underwhelming performance, the pressure's on for Silver Surfer to perform.
Unlike its predecessor, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer promises to deliver both style and substance in spades.
The burning question, however, is whether the introduction of the Silver surfer - one of the comic book genre's most popular characters - can feed the flagging franchise with much-needed credibility.
The metallic galactic wave rider has long been mooted as a prospective Marvel movie, but film distributor Fox has been nervous to commit to the idea because the character would require either oodles of expensive CGI and or bucket loads of lots of silver paint. Thankfully, Fox saw the light and invested in the former.
Ol' shiny head's presence in the sequel has certainly re-ignited fans' interest in the Fantastic Four. And if fan reports and critical reviews are anything to go by, the Silver Surfer's chaos causing devilry is scene-stealing stuff.
Masterfully created by the talented team at Weta, voiced by Laurence Fishburne (Matrix) and animated via motion placement technology (think Gollum in Lord of The Rings), the Surfer is the stuff of any comic fan's dream - he's also proof that CGI needn't be a dirty word.
The movie's basic plotline sees the four lead characters (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Susan Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Ben Grimm/The Thing) learn that they aren't the only super-powered beings in the universe when they square off against the powerful Silver Surfer and the planet-eating Galactus.
The plot won't win any awards for depth and complexity, but let's hope the action ultimately offers more bang for its buck.
It's so far been a relatively bumpy year for comic book adaptations. Spider-man 3, replete with its toolbox of overblown CGI, convoluted plotlines and 'bum numbing' running time of 140minutes, delivered high on superficiality, but low on originality and fun.
The problem? Movie makers generally alienate themselves by negating the fact that most cinemagoers these days want a hell of a lot more than occasional cleavage and sloppy CGI.
So will the latest instalment of the Fantastic Four rise to the occasion? The jury's still out.
* Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is released on Thursday, June 21
- NZHERALD STAFF
