The Fantastic Four – Rise Of The Silver Surfer (Blu-ray)
Picture:
A- Sound: A- Extras: C Film: C
After the
surprise success of the first film, Fox forged ahead with a Fantastic Four sequel and the result is
the family/teen/child-friendly Rise Of
The Silver Surfer (2007) which introduced the famous and much-celebrated
alien into the live action realm (voiced by Laurence Fishburne) looking like
the T-1000 from Terminator 2 with a
depression problem. With Tim Story on
board directing again, the film just picks up where the previous one ends and
with the lost of Michael France, the Don Payne/Mark Frost screenplay does not
go anywhere too new.
If
anything, the film often feels like a spin-off film despite the fact that
Surfer was introduced in the FF
comics. The original cast returns in
their roles and their chemistry holds up well enough.
For more
on that first film, you can try these links for the expanded DVD:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5662/Fantastic+Four+–+Extended+Edition
And the
Blu-ray:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4598/Fantastic+Four+(2005/Blu-ray)
Unfortunately,
they cannot even save the film from its overly narrowed limits, disappointing
adult fans profoundly, but the film was about as big a hit and we should still
see a few more sequels. Dr. Doom is back
and Galactus debuts, but the film simply never adds up to more excitement that
the first and is for younger fans only with a sense of humor at best.
Fortunately,
the 1080p AVC @ 27 MBPS 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition transfer is top rate,
with decent digital video effects and Director of Photography Larry Blanford
delivers A-quality images for the big budget Superhero genre entry. Not all the digital is great, of course, but
the jokey nature of the film seems to make their flaws less of a problem. I was not as happy with the sound on the
first film as many others were, but this time, the mix is more dynamic. This is the first time Fox has ever included
English Dolby Digital 5.1 on any of their Blu-ray releases, but the DTS HD
Master Audio (MA) lossless mix annihilates it and this is another of a series
of Fox Blu-rays with D-BOX Motion Control Systems enhancement. The last film did not have that either.
I don’t
know if it because this is a 50GB Blu-ray and the first film was a 25GB
Blu-ray, but this is a much better playback experience (we have seen some good
25GB Blu-rays too) and at times, Rise Of
The Silver Surfer is demo worthy material.
Extras
include audio commentary by Director Tim Story, another separate audio
commentary by Producer Avi Arad, Writer Don Payne and Film Editors Peter Elliot
and William Hoy, Saving the World One
Question at a Time Trivia Game, Who
Dares Defy Galactus? Strategy Game, extended/deleted scenes with optional
commentary by Story, Family Bonds: The
Making of Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Fantasticar: State of the Art, The Power of Cosmic (Multi-angle VFX
featurette), Sentinel of the Spaceways:
Comic Book Origins of the Silver Surfer, Character Design with Spectral Motion, Scoring Fantastic, still galleries and HD trailers. Not bad for fans, families and young
children, but this time, the film at least moves with a smoother sense of self,
which is rare for a sequel.
Now we’ll
see if the series can really take off with the next installment.
- Nicholas Sheffo
