4: Rise of the Silver Surfer

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Year:	2007
Country of origin:	USA / Germany / UK / Canada
Director:	Tim Story
Genre:	Comic book capers
Starring:	Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Laurence Fishburne, Doug Jones
Rating:	3/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486576/
Tagline:	Rise
Favourite line:	"I will no longer serve. This is the end for us both."

I never even bothered watching the original movie, put off by the atrocious marketing campaign that seemed aimed squarely at the kind of imbeciles who sit, slack jawed, guffawing into their cans of Smart Price lager at You've Been Framed or Animals Do The Funniest Things but, when the sequel aired on Channel 4 a few weeks ago I plucked up the reserves of energy to V+ it and finally got round to watching it.
I expected to hate it.
I did.
And I didn't.

The plot:
Gigantic craters are appearing at apparently random locations around the Earth and, simultaneously, a mysterious object is seen flying through the sky.
Meanwhile, astronomers detect a huge presence moving towards our beloved planet at enormous speed. Our heroes, midway through a wedding, have to break off from the romance for a while to sort it all out, Silver Surfer, Galactus, Von Doom and all.

The things I expected to hate about it where present and correct; the dimwitted scripting, the 'hilarious' bickering between the characters, the 'zany' antics the fantastic ones get up to using their special powers including Mr. Fantastic in a ball shrinkingly embarrassing dance sequence and, most horrendously, the focus on the family unit.
All that being said, there were things I loved about it.
The Silver Surfer is a great character, well realised and multi-layered, and the approach of Galactus is well handled, the very thought of something monstrous approaching from space being a personal favourite of mine.
As expected, the special effects are incredible, particularly The Human Torch sequences which are jaw-dropping.
The first thirty minutes or so is almost unbearable, with the focus very much on knockabout romantic comedy - seriously, someone pass me some surgical implements so I can remove my spleen to prevent me drowning in a pool of my own bile - but once the action kicks in you can switch your brain into 'fuckwit' mode and enjoy the onscreen spectacle.
Devastatingly flawed, then, but just about worth a watch.