Z/Web

This is a very strange film. I think you can only enjoy it if you have inside knowledge. Apparently the “Silver Surfer” character is famous from the comics but the way the film is written and promoted assumes you know about this character and eagerly want to see it. I found the character absurd to the point of silliness and utterly uncompelling. The film gives us minimal information about the Surfer’s story and treats the whole thing like it’s an inside joke only the “in” people will understand. For someone like me, who has never heard of the Silver Surfer, the whole movie is confusing and pointless. There a giant logic holes in the plot that Surfer fans probably overlook or miss because they already understand the back story, but I found it impossible to get into the movie because of the way it was presented. It was being a stranger at a party where everyone is laughing at something and no one will explain the joke to you. When the “mystery” of the Silver Surfer is finally revealed in the film my reaction was like, “Huh? Is that it? All the fuss was over that???” Keep in mind I love superhero films and I didn’t hate the first Fantastic Four, though the series is decidedly low-brow entertainment, so my not liking this was a surprise to me. This movie takes “slight” to new levels and has such abrupt shifts between scenes and characters and quick resolutions to deep conflicts that it makes a sitcom feel profound. It feels as trite as a Saturday morning cartoon — except with a worse script. Other than a handful of mildly entertaining relationship humor between the Four, there’s just not enough depth here to sustain a movie, let alone a 30 minute cartoon. Sad. Very sad.