[Review] The Hulk

[Krug]

Might assuage some fears. Note: *spoilers*

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...&u=/nm/20030612/review_nm/review_film_hulk_dc

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Sounds encouraging.

 

[Default Name Player]

Instead of typing up another, here's a mini-review I did for the movie I posted in another forum:

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Saw it last night.

First of all, I agree that the commercials utterly suck. With that said...

For all of those complaining about the CGI, it varies throughout the movie, but in general:

- the Hulk's "presence" within the live action environment is, in most cases, quite good which lends it a level of believability
- Hulk's movement is better than the CGI Spider-Man, Neo & Agent Smiths. I'm not bashing those movies since I like them, but that's just my impression based on how noticeable it was.
- Sometimes, the Hulk just feels a little TOO green, sort of comic book green. Yeah, a total nitpick since the Hulk is suppose to be green.
- the Hulk fighting sequences were done VERY nicely...you can literally feel the anger and rage, and Hulk fights like a down and dirty brawler. The Hulk vs. M1 Abram tanks fight is worth the admission.

In terms of "CGI believeability", I rank Hulk below Gollum.

Story-wise,
- it's a long movie, so it drags in a spot or two (but doesn't drag annoyingly like, say, parts of "Attack of the Clones")
- it ends up being an ensemble piece of Banner, Betty Ross, Banner's Father, and the Hulk. This is actually a good thing since the supporting characters don't seem to suddenly "disappear" by the end of the movie (ie whatever happened to -insert major supporting character's name-)
- the basics of the Hulk's origin is there. I use to, and still, read comic books, but I'm not a raving looney fan, and I'm satified with what was done.
- the transition, cutting and fading of the scenes gives the movie a comic book feel...in a good way. It takes a little getting use to, but I ended up liking it. It definitely adds to the overall feel of the movie.
- people might have read about the presence of dogs in the movie. Yes, I rolled my eyes when I first heard about it too. All I have to say is that it was a pretty damn good - and vicious - fight.

Overall, I recommend the movie because it was entertaining. It won't change your life. It won't sweep the Academy Awards. And despite what a poster or two are saying, no, it's not an utterly depressing movie. There's conflict in it, and perhaps because the characters aren't shallow or total stereotypes, it might cause some dissonance for those who might be expecting some kind of Godzilla-type destruction movie.

all IMO

 

[KenM]

I only want to know one thing, do they explain how his pants turn purple every time?

 

[Krug]

I only want to know one thing, do they explain how his pants turn purple every time?

No young grasshopper. It remains one of the inexplicable mysteries of the universe.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I only want to know one thing, do they explain how his pants turn purple every time?

They are not purple, those are Calvin's and they stretch so thin they cut off blood, which with his green skin makes it look purple! It also explains why he is always so angry.

 

[stevelabny]

i just got home. first, the non-spoiler review.

um, unless you're a comic geek, wait for the dvd.

now the spoiler review:
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so the first hour is slow. a long time to set up the new origin. i dont know what default is talking about. the origin is almost completely different. well it still involved bruce and gamma rays but thats IT. no igor (pc!) , no rick jones (refund!!!) , no bomb (pc!) , of course betty is now a scientist too (pc!) . and gen. ross is NEVER referred to as thunderbolt. sigh. nstead... bruce's dad was running biological tests on himself and bruce was born "special" and the gamma rays only finish the job. it takes an hour to set up the four characters when just following hulk #1 would have taken about 15 minutes.

i am NOT one of those guys who whines about following continuity strictly. i dont care about spideys organic shooters or most of the changes made to the x-men. but changing the hulks origin into something that is harder to explain seems counter-productive to me.

eventually... HULK finally shows up. and then there's HULK DOGS. i'm sorry but there is no way HULK DOGS can be cool.

the cg ooks fine. much better than the trailers or commercials would have you believe. i agree with the comment that sometimes the hulk is too green. there is also the one bad scene of hulk jumping and sucessfully landing on a tree branch. thats one strong tree branch. but in general the hulk does seem to have weight behind him, which he didnt in the trailers.

i thought the middle of the movie was very good. i was very scared this movie would suck, and was feeling like i might be pleasantly surprised by how good it was going to be. when bruce's dad apparently became the ABSORBING MAN in front of my eyes i was thrilled. although this wasnt as good as a bald-headed, jailhouse stripe wearing, ball and chain toting CRUSHER CREEL...it was still sorta absorbing man. nifty.

so im having fun now right up until betty shows up in the helicopter and hulk de-hulks and the army takes him in. straight downhill from there. actually, i guess it started to go sour a little before that.

first the scene of exactly what happened with bruces mom and dad in the other room.... it was built up for almost two hours and then it was a let down. that scene needed to be scary, gory, and downright abominable. something to repress and be the genesis of the hulk... instead it was bad music, a tumble, an accidental knife wound and not much more. bad job.

then after the rampage, betty shows up and the army recaprtures bruce and puts him in an electric chair. they let the crazy dad visit. he does his absorbing man bit and momentarily becomes ZZaxxx (spelling?). this is followed by a hard-to-follow battle between hulk and absorbo-dad in the dark. (note to filmmakers: if the special effects need to be in the dark, dont make the movie) this is ended with the WEAKEST, MOST OVER-USED ENDING IN COMICS/SCIFI HISTORY: the all-powerful energy absorbing villian is just freely gven an unlimited power source until the villian cant handle it and implodes. if i never see this ending again, it will be too soon.

we then get the dumbest ONE YEAR LATER epilogue i have ever seen. well the betty-general part was ok. but bruce's part was ridiculous.

heres my question: HULK SILENT? with the exception of the in his own head PUNY HUMAN to bruce... the hulk never said a word.
no HULK SMASH. no PUNY HUMANS to the army guys. no IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME (waitaminute)

and WHY OH WHY did they go through the g.i.joe cartoon method of beating it our heads with sheer nonsense that NO SOLDIERS DIED during the entire movie. apparently only the main bad guy and innocent mutated dogs are allowed to be killed. it was disgusting how none of the helicopters blew up and each one that went down had a sound effect of "we're alive" immediately following it. dumbest thing ive seen since EVERY downed plane in the gijoe cartoon had a parachute coming out of it. i understand hulk isnt a mindless killer. really i do. but he is supposed to cause mass destruction. the softening of this was REALLY disheartening. especially after the great bezerker rage of wolverines in x2.

this is squarely on the bottom of the recent great marvel comic movies and theres no way i can recommend seeing this to any non-comicgeek.

tiime to sit back and wait for spidey2 and punisher. (and dd2, and elektra, and x3, and ghost rider, and man-thing, and cage, and fantastic four, and...)

 

[Default Name Player]

Um, it's kind of funny that you said "i am NOT one of those guys who whines about following continuity strictly" because that's what your entire description of the movie was. Igor? Rick Jones? "Thunderbolt"? Those are essential plot points in the Hulk? As for "i dont know what default is talking about", I said that the basics are there.

Why not ask where the Avengers are while you're at it?

As for wanting the Hulk to talk through the movie: ugh. No thank you, we don't need some kind of caveman talk which would have been ridiculous.

I have no idea how you can say "theres no way i can recommend seeing this to any non-comicgeek" since you obviously are one. Maybe you should re-phrase that to "theres no way i can recommend seeing this to any hardcore comic geeks".

Edit: Um...and you have Guy Gardner as your avatar...

 

[Desdichado]

Funny... I'd have said don't see it if you're a comic book geek, do it see it otherwise as the best comic-book movie adaption I've ever seen. As Roger Ebert said, "Ang Lee has boldly taken the broad outlines of a comic book story and transformed them to his own purposes; this is a comic book movie for people who wouldn't be caught dead at a comic book movie. "

 

[Mark Chance]

and gen. ross is NEVER referred to as thunderbolt.

He is referred to as T-Bolt several times during the helicopter-Hulk chase/fight scenes.

instead it was bad music, a tumble, an accidental knife wound and not much more.

Yeah. Seeing one's mother get stabbed and then bleed out. That wouldn't be the least bit traumatic.

but bruce's part was ridiculous.

Not ridiculous. It was an homage to Bill Bixby, and a damn fitting one at that, from the dialogue to the beard to the costume to the charity medical work. All elements taken from the TV series that Bixby made a hit.