Starting on a gentle, note of wide-eyed fantasy, I was thinking to myself that this latest reboot of Fantastic Four harkened back to an almost-Spielbergian earnestness, down to a junkyard set that looked like it was on a soundstage. There may as well have been a row of corn lining the lot, rustling with mystery …
So I was surprised that I found Rise of the Silver Surfer to be entertaining, in an entirely popcorn-and-Red-Vines kind of way. The film reminded me of Saturday matinee movies of childhood, or action-packed mindless after-school cartoons. Sure there are still the strained attempts at hipster jokes and clever humor, but the sequel vastly improves …
Heck, even I sat in the theater thinking, “This is really good, but not quite as good as X2 or Spider-Man 2.” By the same token, the first films in those two franchises weren’t as strong as their sequels, so perhaps The Fantastic Four Return (or whatever the more-than-certain sequel will be called) will be …