Rival Angels

Last week Sunday, the Mrs. and I took her Dad (and step-mom, brother and nephew) out to the movies for Father’s Day and we saw the Hulk.

I’ll start by saying that in hindsight, the 2003 Ang Lee Incredible Hulk was a headscratcher.  All daddy-angst, giant poodle, pseudo-Absorbing Man mess that it was (though Jennifer Connelly is a babe and a half) wasn’t what I had expected.  

Now eight years later we have the new Hulk movie.  I thought it was good.  Not Iron Man good, and certainly not Spiderman 2 good (one of my all time favorite films, come on!  Spidey and Doc Ock brawling during a freefall?! Dynamite.) but the Hulk movie was good.  It started well, laid down some good foundation and away we went!  I have to confess that I though ‘Dr. Blue’ was Reed Richards (from the Fantastic Four), but after we found out his name, I eventually came upon the significance of Dr. Blue and how he’ll definitely return in the future, even giving us a brief glimpse of his origin.

Anywho, Banner’s on the run from the wanna-be Hulkbusters in Brazil.  Great chase, great drama in Banner trying not to Hulk out.  The anticipation and drama (not to mention the great nods to the TV show) were excellent, and then he Hulks out and then, not so dramatic.  They did a good job of cloaking Hulk in the shadows and for a second it seemed like a great horror-monster movie, but I have to say that I no longer had that sense of anticipation that was built up when Banner was on the run, because now he’s the Hulk and going to bash the shit out of everyone.

Then again, this IS the Hulk movie so you gotta see him right?  Well, he delivers and not just tapping someone down, he literally kicks the shit out of people and knocks the taste out of their mouth and the yellow off of their teeth.  Bad ass monster.

Throughout the film, Banner’s looking for a cure but I don’t know, maybe its me being meta but I never thought for a second that it would happen.  The last scene with Banner WAS pretty cool though, if it means what I think it means about his control over the Hulk.

Norton was a fine Banner.  Liv way okay.  The chemistry was a bit stale between the two, like they were going by a formula.  William Hurt was the bomb and just like Sam Elliot before him and Jeff Bridges in Iron Man, was criminally good.  Of course the last scene with Tony Stark was cool and at the same time thought provoking.  I seriously didn’t see it coming and I’m not so sure where they’re going to go with it.

The fight with the Abomination was good certainly what was missing in the first film.  Couldn’t they have at least given him scales or the ears though? Lame.  I thought that there would be a bit more collateral damage too, but I’m okay with it.

Finally, I knew from the trailers that I wouldn’t like the Hulk CGI so much, but comparing it to the 2003 version, sort of the same.  No improvement, not any worse.

The 2008 ‘Meh’ Hulk. Seriously, are his teeth tinted green?

Fathead Hulk from 2003.

Not wowed by them, but they do the job. So I suppose WANTED is next.  I have very low expectations for this film. No heroes or villains?  WTF?  And Millar’s response of how he and JG Jones (the artist on the mini-series) “forgot” is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

The superhero costumes in the series were also removed, with the exception of the leather attire worn by Wesley Gibson and The Fox. Ironically, this had been Millar’s intent when writing the graphic novel, although he and artist J. G. Jones had forgotten to.

From wikipedia