A listless sequel to the uninspired original, this Fantastic Four flick piles money on top of by-the-numbers script to produce a nice-looking, colossal bore.
Underwhelming key cast returns as the less-than-fantastic Four, with only Chris Evans´ Human Torch coming close to getting the character right.
He, Ioan Gruffudd´s mild Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba´s unconvincing Invisible Woman, and Michael Chiklis’ broad Thing join forces with the US government and the evil Doctor Doom to investigate the mysterious Silver Surfer and prevent the world from being destroyed.
Supporting cast is mostly sub-par; Julian McMahon is terribly bland as Doctor Doom and Kerry Washington is (I´m sorry) awful as Alicia Masters, playing blind with all the subtlety of a Saturday morning cartoon.
The titular Silver Surfer, played by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne, looks good and is the best thing about the movie; when he´s captured and loses his powers halfway through, the film plods through to a weak conclusion.
The lack of any kind of visual for Galactus, the world-devouring threat in the film, is another major disappointment. At least failures like Hulk and Superman Returns tried to give us something unique and spectacular; these first two Fantastic Four films – much like Mark Steven Johnson´s compromised Daredevil – have been instantly forgettable junk food items that don´t do justice to the iconic characters they contain.
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