This is long, but bear with me for I feel its a well thought out review. This movie ran hot and cold for me. I'm a comic book fanatic and probably this movie's #1 target. A mid 20s white man who was obsessed with comics and now has a family to bring to the theatre. I figure if Marvel puts out a movie that stars one of their heavily licensable characters...I'll be there.
X Men - Not Bad. Spiderman - Fantastic - true and well played transformation from comic to the big screen. Understandable tale, good characters/acting...solid ending.
Hulk - a mixed bag with a horrible ending. (SPOILER DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU DON"T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING)
Let me start by saying that I was impressed with the way the Hulk looked/moved/etc...well done. The effort put into this was probably 75% of the work done in the movie, and it shows. The face has emotion without looking fake, the movements are well orchestrated (and no, the 1000 foot leaps didn't bother me - gotta be somewhat lenient).
However, I'm a big fan of stories. If a comic is going to tell a story, do it well. If a movie is going to tell a story from a comic...you better do it great. This movie suffered in that department with a regressive storyline dealing with a blocked memory, a needless Nick Nolte father character (could have been completely written out of the movie without really affecting the script), and an ending that was so bad I'm still rolling my eyes 2 weeks later.
Several problems existed in the movie's continuity as well. The comic book screen layouts should have been kept at the beginning and end (ala bookmarks)...not throughout the movie. Plus, if you were to do that, do it similar to Fox's "24"...where you have different scenes and then cut to one. Instead Hulk had a helicopter flying from three angles, so the screen layout doesn't really add anything.
Second, anyone in their mid to late 20s remembers the GI Joe cartoons. A missle would hit a plane, plane blows up, and about 3 seconds later you see a little man parachuting to safety screaming "I'll get you GI Joe." While I understand the necessity of this in a kids cartoon, its hard to swallow in a "real life" movie. There are several times when Hulk jumps on a helecopter, smashes it to the ground, runs away, there is a shot of the copter mangled, and then dialogue like this: MAN1: Jimmy you ok (note picture of mangled helecopter) Pilot: uhhh, yeah, that thing is unstoppable.
Now, we all know why this is the case. Can't harm US soldiers in today's age in Hollywood...this is understandable...however it does become a distracting effect.
Finally, I go back to the ending...a frustrating blend of idiocracy and contradiction. After Hulk calms down in the streets of San Fran with Betty giving him a hug is where the movie should end. Then cut to an institution where the army is keeping him happy, and a guy says the movie's tagline, "Whatever you do, don't make him angry." Good...solid...leaves open for a sequel...everyone is happy. Didn't work out that way.
Instead, we have Sam Elliot's general character holding Banner in a warehouse. For some reason, they agree that the father can speak to Banner, while he is sitting between two ray guns armed to kill him. (I exaggerate, but essentially that's what they were) Elliot says the line, "If he as much as moves, incinerate him." Contradiction as Nolte (the father character) goes on to jump up and down, freak out and scream "Get Angry!!!" HA HA HA! I think its just absurd that with basically the entire U.S. Army there, nothing is occuring. No word on whether they were just warming up the ray guns at this point. Now, I think its as bad as it gets. But it isn't. Nolte grabs a convenient Army Cable of some sort laying across the platform between the ray guns and proceeds to bite it...sucking all of the electricity from San Francisco (which feeds his energy as a result of an experiment earlier in the movie that has nothing to do with the plot WHAT SO EVER). He turns into an "energy man," Banner turns into Hulk, Hulk jumps with the ever powerful "energy man" into the desert...they get nuked and energy man dies in a bubble similar to a frog's throat when it ribbits. Betty/Sam Elliot have a phone conversation a year later and we find out Banner really did survive and is living in South America. I'm sitting with my mouth open wondering what the H$ll just happened.
To close, I love the basic story of the Hulk. I merely think of it and go back to when I wasn't a grown up. The Marvel comics was predicated on the notion that any ordinary boy/girl just like yourself could become extraordinary under certain circumstances. Spiderman captured that well with a fun up beat story. Hulk tried to hard. Stan Lee and the writers wanted to loop a continuing flashback storyline integrated with an evil father character to wind a intricate plot. The problem was they lost the little details along the way, and by the end, the majority of movie goers didn't care where the Hulk came from or where he was going. That was sad.
There will likely be a sequel to this movie. At which time I can only hope that I'll be leaving the theatre happy, because I certainly didn't this time. But Marvel shouldn't worry, if the Hulk is in a movie...chances are I'll be there. I owe the Company that much for a lifetime of great characters and storylines.
X Men - Not Bad. Spiderman - Fantastic - true and well played transformation from comic to the big screen. Understandable tale, good characters/acting...solid ending.
Hulk - a mixed bag with a horrible ending. (SPOILER DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU DON"T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING)
Let me start by saying that I was impressed with the way the Hulk looked/moved/etc...well done. The effort put into this was probably 75% of the work done in the movie, and it shows. The face has emotion without looking fake, the movements are well orchestrated (and no, the 1000 foot leaps didn't bother me - gotta be somewhat lenient).
However, I'm a big fan of stories. If a comic is going to tell a story, do it well. If a movie is going to tell a story from a comic...you better do it great. This movie suffered in that department with a regressive storyline dealing with a blocked memory, a needless Nick Nolte father character (could have been completely written out of the movie without really affecting the script), and an ending that was so bad I'm still rolling my eyes 2 weeks later.
Several problems existed in the movie's continuity as well. The comic book screen layouts should have been kept at the beginning and end (ala bookmarks)...not throughout the movie. Plus, if you were to do that, do it similar to Fox's "24"...where you have different scenes and then cut to one. Instead Hulk had a helicopter flying from three angles, so the screen layout doesn't really add anything.
Second, anyone in their mid to late 20s remembers the GI Joe cartoons. A missle would hit a plane, plane blows up, and about 3 seconds later you see a little man parachuting to safety screaming "I'll get you GI Joe." While I understand the necessity of this in a kids cartoon, its hard to swallow in a "real life" movie. There are several times when Hulk jumps on a helecopter, smashes it to the ground, runs away, there is a shot of the copter mangled, and then dialogue like this: MAN1: Jimmy you ok (note picture of mangled helecopter) Pilot: uhhh, yeah, that thing is unstoppable.
Now, we all know why this is the case. Can't harm US soldiers in today's age in Hollywood...this is understandable...however it does become a distracting effect.
Finally, I go back to the ending...a frustrating blend of idiocracy and contradiction. After Hulk calms down in the streets of San Fran with Betty giving him a hug is where the movie should end. Then cut to an institution where the army is keeping him happy, and a guy says the movie's tagline, "Whatever you do, don't make him angry." Good...solid...leaves open for a sequel...everyone is happy. Didn't work out that way.
Instead, we have Sam Elliot's general character holding Banner in a warehouse. For some reason, they agree that the father can speak to Banner, while he is sitting between two ray guns armed to kill him. (I exaggerate, but essentially that's what they were) Elliot says the line, "If he as much as moves, incinerate him." Contradiction as Nolte (the father character) goes on to jump up and down, freak out and scream "Get Angry!!!" HA HA HA! I think its just absurd that with basically the entire U.S. Army there, nothing is occuring. No word on whether they were just warming up the ray guns at this point. Now, I think its as bad as it gets. But it isn't. Nolte grabs a convenient Army Cable of some sort laying across the platform between the ray guns and proceeds to bite it...sucking all of the electricity from San Francisco (which feeds his energy as a result of an experiment earlier in the movie that has nothing to do with the plot WHAT SO EVER). He turns into an "energy man," Banner turns into Hulk, Hulk jumps with the ever powerful "energy man" into the desert...they get nuked and energy man dies in a bubble similar to a frog's throat when it ribbits. Betty/Sam Elliot have a phone conversation a year later and we find out Banner really did survive and is living in South America. I'm sitting with my mouth open wondering what the H$ll just happened.
To close, I love the basic story of the Hulk. I merely think of it and go back to when I wasn't a grown up. The Marvel comics was predicated on the notion that any ordinary boy/girl just like yourself could become extraordinary under certain circumstances. Spiderman captured that well with a fun up beat story. Hulk tried to hard. Stan Lee and the writers wanted to loop a continuing flashback storyline integrated with an evil father character to wind a intricate plot. The problem was they lost the little details along the way, and by the end, the majority of movie goers didn't care where the Hulk came from or where he was going. That was sad.
There will likely be a sequel to this movie. At which time I can only hope that I'll be leaving the theatre happy, because I certainly didn't this time. But Marvel shouldn't worry, if the Hulk is in a movie...chances are I'll be there. I owe the Company that much for a lifetime of great characters and storylines.
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