A review. "Flame On" or "Clobbering Time"?

Wow!

I'm truly besides myself, wake me because I must be dreaming. Is this a dream? It must be too good to be true.

For those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, allow me to explain. Just got home from the movie theaters (Brick Plaza, to be exact) where I saw some of my more recent favorite films. Now surprisingly, I hit a good streak since every film I've seen in theaters lately I've thoroughly enjoyed. The new film to make this list is the very entertaining sequel -

Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer

Why is it such a shock I enjoyed "FF2"? To be honest, I hated the first one. And let me take you on a trip back in time on why I hated the first film.

I consider myself a DC Buff, whenever something happens in the DC Universe chances are I know about it. Teen Titans, Batman/Superman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern to name a few. So my appreciation for Marvel is limited because frankly I never really got into it. However, there are Marvel series that I absolutely adore: Daredevil, Fantastic Four, & The X-Men. So when news of a "FF" feature was coming out, I nearly torched myself (pun intended). Little did I know that the first film would be a cliche, in your face, cheesy, blasphemous piece of trash that would even make Joel Shumacher blush - and that says a lot.

To me, FF is my favorite of the Marvel Universe; it's funny, smart, action packed, romantic, and has everything X-Men does... but with just a little bit more edge. The first one was a total letdown: horrible character development, bad action sequences, cheesy story, and the whole battle with Dr. Doom at the end just left me scratching my head. It was like a 7 y/o wrote and directed it. I left the theater disappointed (more so than "The Village"), and I vowed never to sit through the horrible piece of 90minute-long garbage that is "FF" ever again.

Then one day I'm playing on youtube, like dorks do, and I see a trailer for "FF2". Could it be real or fan-made? My curiosity got the best of me and I checked it out and what I saw almost gave me a migraine. A trailer to a sequel of a shitty movie - how scary is that? I swore I hated "FF2" without even seeing it, to me it was ludicrous. Why don't we make "Elektra 2" or "Hulk 2" while were at it? What are they thinking? So I went on bashing this trailer and movie to nearly everyone I know.

Then a few months pass....

And I'm shopping BestBuy (a haven for people like me), and something catches my eye - "FF - The Extended Cut". The original cut plus additional 20minutes put in not seen in theaters, a boatload of special features, and a free ticket to "FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer". Could an extra 20mins save this film? Would it actually make it worth-while? Is it worth my money? I swallowed my hatred and sucked it up; and to answer my questions - Yes! It was definitely worth it. Believe it or not, 20 additional minutes did make this movie better. The scenes added gave better rising action and development to not just the story but also the characters. Watching "FF" was actually like watching a good movie, a pretty good movie. Note: If you pick up this little diddy make sure to check out "The Worlds Greatest Comic Magazine" documentary - real awesome.

So now after seeing "FF" as it was meant to be seen I decided to give "FF2" a try, and I loved it. The film starts out in space with the destruction of a planet, for a second I thought they were showing "Superman Returns" by accident. Then we go to our heroes, living lives as heroes in public where they are seen on the news on a regular basis. Reed and Susan are the hottest couple since Bennifer2 and Johnny and Ben get along like, well, Johnny and Ben. Wait! This resembles the comics, whoo'da though?

Let me try to give you a little rundown without ruining the flick for you.

Sue and Reed have tried persistently to get married, each time unsuccessful. Silver Surfer comes and causes havok. Johnny gets into a battle with him, and becomes a bit like X-Mens Rouge, Doom is freed (something I never saw in the trailers) and his role is reprised by Dr. Troy who starts a whole bunch of trouble for our heroes. In the end, as always, evil is beaten (for now) and our heroes live on. 3rd installment definite and I can't wait.

What I loved about this movie was how it actually stayed noble to The Worlds Greatest Comic Magazine and didn't turn it into a big joke. It had story, heart, humor, action, and edge. Isn't that what Fantastic Four is all about? Hey, isn't that what good movies are all about? Now for once good movies and Fantastic Four will be in the same category for quite sometime to come.

Flame On!