With an AVC transfer at 27mbps, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer looks terrific
In the acting department, Gruffudd seems a little less like a walking corpse this outing, actually flirting with a real personality in some scenes (as when he stretch-dances with two lovelies at a club during his bachelor party), and Evans sports a spikier hair-do and an attitude to match. In fact, one of my favorite lines comes out of that scene. When one of the doting women says, "Wow, you're really smart," Mr. Fantastic says in a cheery deadpan, "Thanks, Candy, that means a a lot to me." This outing, Chiklis is as gruff and growlingly good as he was in the first film, and hilarious to watch as he reacts to having the middle seat on an airplane. Only Alba still seems wooden, coming across as someone who's afraid to let a personality shine through all that make-up a lifetime of trying to look poised. By comparison, in the few scenes that Kerry Washington has playing opposite Ben/The Thing, she's full of warmth and charisma.
The plot gets a little confusing when the FF's nemesis, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) is inadvertently revived by the Silver Surfer and tries to combine forces first with the SS, then with the FF. But thankfully Story keeps the film on-story and moving so briskly that you don't have much time to question anything. And yes, it's nice to get a PG-rated superhero film that the whole family can watch.
Video:
With an AVC transfer at 27mbps, "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" looks terrific in 2.40:1 widescreen. Colors are bright and fully saturated, yet natural-looking, while black levels support an incredible amount of detail. The first time you see a character's breath, for example, you "marvel" at how sharp it looks-every last wisp.
Audio:
The featured audio soundtrack is also pretty strong, with an English DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless delivering resonant bass, precise treble, and a rich timbre that hovers in the room like Mr. SS himself. Additional options are English, Spanish, and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Dolby Surround, which also make good use of the rear speakers and provides a clear-as-a-bell soundtrack. The difference lies in the fullness of sound, which the DTS delivers. Subtitles are in English (CC), Spanish, French, Cantonese, and Korean.
Extras:
Blu-ray lovers, rejoice. Fox went with a 50GB disc on this title, so it accommodates all of the bonus features included on the two-disc DVD.
Two fairly standard commentaries are provided, one with Story and the other with producer Avi Arad, writer Don Payne, and editors Peter S. Elliott and William Hoy. Both are low-key and not as jam-packed with information and anecdotes as I personally prefer. I mean, if you're going to make me watch the film again and again, there had better be plenty of insights. These are average at best. A day later, nothing stands out in my mind.
To be honest, a second disc of bonus features isn't all that much better. "Family Bonds," a making-of documentary, is broken up into two sections--pre-production and production. But both of them are really mostly raw behind-the-scenes footage, with no talking-heads interviews to give you some sense of narrative. You're on your own. The best moments on the disc come from watching Chiklis get his make-up on--a process that took over five hours at first, but under two hours near the end of the filming. His play-by-play commentary is amusing and also, in its own way, illuminating. Another decent feature is a short piece on "Character Design with Spectral Motion," which gives a glimpse into how the tech people managed to make this film more fluid. There's also a short feature on "State of the Art" and "The Power Cosmic" which are both better than the making-of features. My favorite, though, was "Sentinel of the Spaceways: Comic Book Origins of the Silver Surver," which featured good 'ol Stan Lee in interviews and plenty of shots of comic-book covers and pages. This and the Chiklis material is what will tempt fans to go for the Blu-ray or two-disc version over the single-disc release--not the five extended/deleted scenes in black-and-white that span just a few minutes.
Other than that, there are just the usual graphics and behind-the-scenes shots contained in still galleries, a featurette on the music, and an "Interactive Fantasticar Experience." Though the latter sounds like a Disney ride, it's really just a click-on multi-angle series of color drawings of the Fantasticar. No big deal. Rounding out the extras are theatrical trailers for this and other comic-book films.
Bottom Line:
I thought the first "Fantastic Four" film was more entertaining than most critics gave it credit for, and "Rise of the Silver Surfer" is a big improvement over Story's first Fantastic Four outing. The special effects are great, the action and pacing are brisk, and there are plenty of moments that feel in-tune with the comics. Alba remains the weak link, though, and Story may have gone overboard with the wedding stuff.
The plot gets a little confusing when the FF's nemesis, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) is inadvertently revived by the Silver Surfer and tries to combine forces first with the SS, then with the FF. But thankfully Story keeps the film on-story and moving so briskly that you don't have much time to question anything. And yes, it's nice to get a PG-rated superhero film that the whole family can watch.
Video:
With an AVC transfer at 27mbps, "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" looks terrific in 2.40:1 widescreen. Colors are bright and fully saturated, yet natural-looking, while black levels support an incredible amount of detail. The first time you see a character's breath, for example, you "marvel" at how sharp it looks-every last wisp.
Audio:
The featured audio soundtrack is also pretty strong, with an English DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless delivering resonant bass, precise treble, and a rich timbre that hovers in the room like Mr. SS himself. Additional options are English, Spanish, and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Dolby Surround, which also make good use of the rear speakers and provides a clear-as-a-bell soundtrack. The difference lies in the fullness of sound, which the DTS delivers. Subtitles are in English (CC), Spanish, French, Cantonese, and Korean.
Extras:
Blu-ray lovers, rejoice. Fox went with a 50GB disc on this title, so it accommodates all of the bonus features included on the two-disc DVD.
Two fairly standard commentaries are provided, one with Story and the other with producer Avi Arad, writer Don Payne, and editors Peter S. Elliott and William Hoy. Both are low-key and not as jam-packed with information and anecdotes as I personally prefer. I mean, if you're going to make me watch the film again and again, there had better be plenty of insights. These are average at best. A day later, nothing stands out in my mind.
To be honest, a second disc of bonus features isn't all that much better. "Family Bonds," a making-of documentary, is broken up into two sections--pre-production and production. But both of them are really mostly raw behind-the-scenes footage, with no talking-heads interviews to give you some sense of narrative. You're on your own. The best moments on the disc come from watching Chiklis get his make-up on--a process that took over five hours at first, but under two hours near the end of the filming. His play-by-play commentary is amusing and also, in its own way, illuminating. Another decent feature is a short piece on "Character Design with Spectral Motion," which gives a glimpse into how the tech people managed to make this film more fluid. There's also a short feature on "State of the Art" and "The Power Cosmic" which are both better than the making-of features. My favorite, though, was "Sentinel of the Spaceways: Comic Book Origins of the Silver Surver," which featured good 'ol Stan Lee in interviews and plenty of shots of comic-book covers and pages. This and the Chiklis material is what will tempt fans to go for the Blu-ray or two-disc version over the single-disc release--not the five extended/deleted scenes in black-and-white that span just a few minutes.
Other than that, there are just the usual graphics and behind-the-scenes shots contained in still galleries, a featurette on the music, and an "Interactive Fantasticar Experience." Though the latter sounds like a Disney ride, it's really just a click-on multi-angle series of color drawings of the Fantasticar. No big deal. Rounding out the extras are theatrical trailers for this and other comic-book films.
Bottom Line:
I thought the first "Fantastic Four" film was more entertaining than most critics gave it credit for, and "Rise of the Silver Surfer" is a big improvement over Story's first Fantastic Four outing. The special effects are great, the action and pacing are brisk, and there are plenty of moments that feel in-tune with the comics. Alba remains the weak link, though, and Story may have gone overboard with the wedding stuff.
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