Fridae

Jessica Alba and Chris Evans in Lycra.

Possibly the only reason you need to go see this Fantastic Four sequel. After all, even though the first film made a lot of money at the box-office, almost everyone agrees that it was not that great. The media even speculated that it was partly the lava-hot sex appeal of Jessica and Chris who helped attract many to the first movie � just for the pleasure of seeing them in Lycra.

Jessica, as you know, has long been a fixture in many lesbians' fluttering hearts, while Chris � who was then an unknown � has been, ah-hem, firing up millions of gay men's loins ever since they saw him in the first movie.

Which brings us to the sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Directed by Tim Story (again), this new film disappoints (again) with its weak plot and characters. Indeed, audiences will possibly be struck by deja vu after witnessing this unremarkable sequel for themselves.

This time round, Mr Fantastic (Ioan Gruffud), Invisible Woman (Jessica), the Human Torch (Chris) and the Thing (Michael Chiklis) go head-to-head against the Silver Surfer, a mysterious intergalactic being who has surfed into earth to prepare it for destruction. The Silver Surfer is a minion of Galactus, who will arrive in good time to decimate the earth completely.

Unfortunately, the special effects creation of the Silver Surfer is all that's truly impressive with Fantastic Four. The problem that dogged the first film taunts the second one too: The characterization of the four leads is rather sketchy (Mr Fantastic shows no leadership, the Thing has no poignancy, the Human Torch is just juvenile, and Invisible Woman is too whiny), there's no chemistry between the leads, and the average plot, dialogue, soundtrack and direction leave much to be desired.

But hey, we know some of you love superhero movies no matter how average the movies may be. Plus, Jessica and Chris still look flaming hot in that Lycra. So lower your expectations and surf on to the cinema � we know you want to.