Caught me a matinee of the INCREDIBLE HULK this past Sunday, and after hearing all the positive buzz, I was prepared to be underwhelmed... and well, I mostly was.
It was good, and Norton and most of the cast were good to game, a solid outing all around, but it just didn't ever really get me too excited... once the Hulk showed up.
I was really enjoying the first arc, in Brazil, and Banner's story, and the elements lifted from the recent Bruce Jones/JR JR run of the series (the hoodie, the caps, the mr green and mr blue emails, etc)... I thought placing banner in that location was great, and it made for some awesome visuals.
The Banner chase through the city was Bourne level cool, but then, the Hulk showed up.
I guess I'm not in the grouping of those who thought the CG was okay in the movie... never worked for me (and it worked just fine for me in the first).
I'll take it though, as long as we don't get another satanic turd like the Thing in the FF movies!!!
So, yeah, once the Hulk showed up, I pretty much became unengaged...
It was fun enough, and by the numbers, but there was never any sense of drama, danger, action, or fun for me.
I thought the Ang Lee desert battle was much better than anything here.
And until I read a bit about the movie just now, I couldn't figure out why the hell they fought the hulk in an open field, on a college campus, with like, no one around. I mean, the army shows up, in force (sort of), and Betty's there, but that's it...
Oh sure, need some kids to capture it on camera phone?!? Wha-la, presto, 2 kids show up, but that's it.
Uh, where is everybody, anybody, anything?
Just the Hulk, and lots of grass
Riveting stuff ;)
Then there's the final battle, and sure, it's in NYC/Harlem, and there's people an stuff around at first, but then they go to a rooftop (at least I thought they did, but it seemed to be the ground when they were done)... and everyone drops away... except for General Ross and Betty of course, cuz they're in the story ya know.
Guess the whole thing was on not the biggest of budgets, which explains the sub par CG and vacant action showcases.
They must have blown most of the budget in Brazil :)
And all the little cool moments, dialogue bits, and crowd pleasing touches mainly fell flat for me, or were spoiled in the trailers. (But hey, the Stan Lee and Lou Ferigno cameos were solid gold!!)
Overall, it was decent, don't get me wrong, but I'd give it about a 6 or 7, to Iron Man's 8 or 9.
Oh, and what's all this talk, from reviewers, to viewers, about it being non stop action?
Sure, there's plenty, but I'm still waiting for a comic book movie that unleashes the level and scale of chaos and action that's the bread and butter of the stories...
Give me five more minutes of ass kicking finale, the climactic battles shouldn't feel like they're on a stopwatch!!
With all of Hollywood's vaunted CG and a new era sans limitations, how come every comic book movie feels like a Hollywood set piece, budget limited, watered down version of that?
Ah, I just expect too much... and wish they'd make the damn movies in high quality animation where they truly can do any. fucking. thing. and in style! (and no, the recent Marvel animation doesn't count)
What's the next comic book movie then, Wanted?
Gots to see me that!
For much more discussion on the Hulk movie, visit my DeviantArt journal posting HERE
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