BEFORE: NOW we're getting somewhere. This is the Hulk sequel from just 2 years ago, with Ed Norton replacing Eric Bana as Bruce Banner. Why they didn't sign the stars of the first "Hulk" movie to 2 or 3-picture deals is beyond me.
THE PLOT: Dr. Bruce Banner, thanks to a gamma ray experiment gone wrong, transforms into a giant green-skinned hulk whenever his pulse rate gets too high. Meanwhile, a soldier uses the same technology to become an evil version of the original.
AFTER: Not exactly a direct sequel to the earlier film, especially with new people taking over in every single role - Liv Tyler takes over for Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross, and William Hurt takes over for Sam Elliott as General "Thunderbolt" Ross. But the action sort of picks up from where the last film left off, with Bruce Banner hiding out in Brazil. He's now working as a laborer/repairman in a factory that makes guarana soda (nice green color...) while searching the Amazon rain forests for some flower or chemical that can cure his gamma-radiation poisoning. He's also studying martial arts, and learning techniques to control his anger (why didn't Banner ever think of that before?) The U.S. Army hasn't given up the search for Banner, though, and they even bring in a specialist to help take him down...
The good thing about being a comic-book fan like me is, I know so much about the characters - so when a character named Emil Blonsky is introduced, I have a good idea where the storyline is going. But this can also be a negative, since I've got high expectations for the story, and I can tell exactly where the movie deviates. Emil Blonsky is supposed to be a Russian agent (in the comics written during the Cold War), but here he's a British soldier (with a Russian name) on loan to the U.S. Army. So why does he wear an American uniform?
Anyway, he jumps at the chance to test a super-soldier serum (possible reference to the origin of Captain America) so he can fight the Hulk. Gee, I can't imagine how that could go wrong at all...
This film starts out pretty slow, since Banner is trying very hard to NOT turn into the Hulk - but come on, you know it's gotta happen, since the film is NAMED after him. Once he turns into the Hulk, some pretty cool action sequences follow - Hulk vs. the Army, Hulk vs. Blonsky, and eventually Hulk vs. the "abomination" that Blonsky becomes.
Lots of in-jokes and references for the long-time fans, from the original "sad, walking away" music that was heard in the old 1970's TV show, to the obligatory cameos by Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno (and even Bill Bixby, seen on TV in an old episode of "The Courtship of Eddie's Father")
We've been told that all of the Marvel movie threads are going to converge, with the success of "Iron Man", "Hulk", and the upcoming "Thor" and "Captain America" movies all leading into a super-team movie version of "The Avengers". Throw in Black Widow, Giant-Man, Wasp and Hawkeye and I'll be first in line at the theater - maybe by then I'll be caught up on my list and ready to go out to the movies.
My wife joined me as a guest reviewer tonight, but her comments are mostly questions about why the Hulk always wears giant purple pants, where he buys them, and where they go when he turns back into Banner. They touched on a little bit of this in the film, but clearly it's not enough of an explanation for her. This is just like when we watched "Spider-Man", and she couldn't believe that a bite from a radioactive spider would eliminate Peter Parker's need for eyeglasses. She was fine with the super-strength, the webbing and the ability to stick to walls, but she got hung up on his vision getting improved...
Also starring Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky, Tim Blake Nelson (as another long-term Hulk character) and Ty Burrell in a bit part.
RATING: 6 out of 10 crashing helicopters
My theory about Peter Parker's glasses:
ReplyDeletePeter Parker never "needed" glasses in the first place. He's slightly nearsighted, which means that the glasses mainly improve his ability to see things way off on the other side of the room. He wore glasses all the time because of the simple fact that he could see better with them than without him.
After the spider bit him and he suddenly could lift cars and wipe the floor with professional wrestlers, his self-image improved a bit and (at least on a subconscious level) he didn't want to look like quite so much of a nerd any more.
Note that the canonical Spider-Man has lenses built into his mask. Peter Parker might not have any difficulty reading a computer screen a few feet away but when you're firing a life-or-death webline at a building a city block away...yeah, that's where you want the benefit of diopter correction.
I myself take the "Spider-Man" approach to my glasses. I stopped wearing glasses every day when I had a routine eye exam and the doc said that I only borderline-need them. I wear them when I drive -- even though I have no restrictions on my license -- but have largely traded "I see slightly better with corrective lenses" for "I see slightly better when I don't have this dust and grease-collecting surface in front of my eyes."
re: Hulk -- He's on my list of characters that only work if they keep "fireman's hours." You can tell Captain America stories all year-round. With the Hulk (and the Punisher, and Doctor Doom) you need to bring him out for six months and then bench him for a while.
As-is, Marvel rotates through the same approaches every few years:
1) He's a mindless raging engine of destruction! Rrrr!
2) He's moody and misunderstood and emo. Waah!
3) His friends turn into monsters/get killed/form a task force! Huh?
Repeat.
You forgot #4 - or maybe it only happens after a few cycles of #1 through #3:
ReplyDelete4) The Hulk gains Banner's brain, or some level of intelligence and doesn't turn back into "puny" Banner for a long while. See: the Mr. Fixit storyline, or the one where he worked with the Pantheon.
I find these periods to be the most interesting - sort of the "Best of Both Worlds" approach. But I suppose they don't last very long.
They MIGHT be heading this way with the "Avengers" movie. It's not clear if a smart Hulk will be on the team, or if the dumb brute Hulk will be the reason that the team forms.
I think your #4 is wrapped up in my "Emo" one. A la "Richards and Stark don't truly respect me; they exploit my knowledge of a specific scientific discipline when it suits them, and they like having a 'big dub brute' when they need raw strength and invulnerability. But in the end, they'll turn on me. They all turn on me, in the end..."
ReplyDelete(Waaaah!)