At The Fleapit: Fantastic Four - Rise Of The Silver Surfer

Judged on its own merits, separate from its comic book origins, Fantastic Four - Rise Of The Silver Surfer stands as a solid, family-friendly, action adventure.

Picking up some time after the original film, with the Fantastic Four (FF) now established superheroes with a swanky high-tech base at the Baxter Building, fame, fortune and licencing deals, they are alerted to the arrival on Earth of the enigmatic Silver Surfer, an alien being seemingly intent on the destruction of the world. However, it eventually turns out that he is but the reluctant herald of a far greater danger - the planet-devouring entity known as Galactus.

The only real weakness in the general story is that, ultimately, the FF are relegated to passive bystanders during the final conflict with Galactus, which is slightly deflating.

But that aside, the acting is very good, the script is leagues above the original, and there is plenty of great eye candy, besides Jessica Alba in her figure-hugging costume, from the Fantasticar and the global backdrops to the Surfer himself, to entertain children of all mental ages. This is more like the Fantastic Four I've loved for years in the printed form.

However, where the film falls apart is when you compare it to its source material. Julian McMahon is a great actor, he does sleaze particularly well, but he's playing Doctor Doom ... and Doom is a sinister man encased in armour. He is also one of the oldest, established villains in the Marvel Universe and there's no need to reinvent him.

This Doom spend as much time out of his armour as in. The trick here, to stay truthful to the comics, is not to cast a pretty boy actor who needs to show his face on screen; take a hint from spot-on comic book adaptations like V For Vendetta or Hellboy and don't let the actor become more important than the character.

Secondly - and I'm still conflicted over this because the effects were impressive -
Galactus is not a freakin' cloud!