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Last night at the movies, I went into the auditorium, sat down with my Pepsi and small bag of popcorn, and realized I was a bit skeptical at how well the second movie would be; this considering the production of Ghost rider was less than up to my expectations, and the sequels of the Spiderman franchise depleted ever so slowly.

To put it simply, I thought this film was better than the first one. Why?

The popular "Fantastic Four" image was not ruined in either film. The close-up's were not just focused on one or two characters, and action was focused more with the team working together. This immediately sparked my interest, as superhero movies with teams, whether based off older or newer comics, should have a balance, giving the overall feeling of being in the events.
The balance didn't stop there. It continued by the balancing of good and evil. YES, the good guys always win, but in this film they pulled it off rather well, unlike many other films. Dr. Doom came back in this movie, and appeared to have become a good person after being shot with cosmic radiation from the Silver Surfer. Furthermore, throughout most of the movie, the Silver Surfer was thought to be a villain, destroying the planet, but in the end, he saved Earth from a monster much bigger than him. So ultimately, balanced was extremely good in this film.

But enough about balance. On to other matters of importance. Plot development went by naturally unscathed. The storyline continued from the first movie with Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) and the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), setting the audience up for a major event, yet not destroying the future scenes of movie.

Love plays a major part in this film and especially in the climax. The writers incorporated the philosophy of 'Love overpowers war' by giving the motives for why the Silver Surfer helps the destroyer. They reiterate this point again at the climax. The Silver Surfer sees Reed crying over his fiance, and decides to save Earth, because he felt a connection with Reed, having once saved his planet by destroying others...Love doesn't only appear at the crucial points in the film. It has a lot to do with all the major characters' developments. With Reed and Sue and with Ben and his wife, they love each other, and are willing to protect each other at any cost. The most impacted by the thought of love I think was Johnny. In the beginning of the movie, he was his annoying, narcissistic self. But throughout the film, especially after he was told "You'll figure it out someday." by Ben's wife, a more responsible, acceptable person arose to the occasion.

One of the only things that 'irked' me in this movie is at the end, when the heroes are finished with the villains and are going home. It seems that if my planet were about to be brutally demolished without a second thought and was barely stopped, I wouldn't be that calm. As with most people, even superheroes, such a site as the monster engulfing their skies would be horrific on a traumatic level.

Overall, I give this movie 4 stars. Truth be told, it was a great movie, with a wonderful sound track, totally awesome special effects, and a usage of both. However, it's also leaning toward the common comic structure:

*Starts off with something good happening
*A villain appears
*The heroes start to stop the villain when another, more powerful villain arises
*Heroes defeat the villains in the climax
*In the end, they walk away happy as could be.

Learn more about this author, Devon Donovan.
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