The Incredible Hulk

I'm 50 mins into this film and so far I am bored shitless.
What was the point of this film?
Is it going to get an actual storyline before the end or what?

Yeah, not a great film. The best part is when Edward Norton comes back into Liv Tyler's life. She's moved on and is serious with someone else. Of course, she still has feelings for the Hulk. In most movies, there would be a few scenes where she struggles with the predicament. Not this one. She drops the new guy in a flash and it's completely believable.

I thought the beginning was pretty good too.

If I remember correctly, this film is what made Marvel decide to open their own movie production division so that they would have complete control over the content of future films.

Sag.

The movie wasn't great, but compared to the previous Hulk film its a fucking masterpiece.

I haven't watched either and probably never will. I just can't get past a digitally animated super-sized Hulk. I wanna see a big guy with some green paint on dammit!

Mad Dog wrote:

The movie wasn't great, but compared to the previous Hulk film its a fucking masterpiece.

You have got to be joking - Ange Lee's one had:
- An actual story
- Themes
- A point
- Characters & growth

This one had none of those.
What a seriously stupid 'film' - it barely even qualifys as a film, just padding between underwhelming action scenes.
For fucks sake the film ENDED IN THE EXACT SAME STATE THAT IT BEGAN, qualifying the whole exercise as pointless.

You seen it Barnes? This thing makes Iron Man actually look like an oscar worthy film.

I don't even know where to start, man.

It was a note-perfect Hulk movie. That's as "deep" as the character gets, Ang Lee pretense aside.

He ended the movie as Banner "in control" of Hulk. That storyline happened ages ago in the comics but few movies or television shows have ever acknowledged that development.


It had action, it had character build-up, it had cameos, and Hulk smashed some shit. Like I said, I have no idea what kind of Hulk movie you want if this didn't do the trick. He's not exactly fucking Batman storywise caliber here.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Mad Dog wrote:

The movie wasn't great, but compared to the previous Hulk film its a fucking masterpiece.

You have got to be joking - Ange Lee's one had:
- An actual story
- Themes
- A point
- Characters & growth

Man has Anger/Father issues, gets nuked, beats up on some nuked dogs then in the climactic final scene it's Nuked Angry Son versus Lightning Dad.

Classic! Oops, I mean retarded.

Exactly. Fans want a big dumb action movie for the Hulk, not some pretentious twaddle involving daddy issues. Ang Lee delivered the goods with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But his Hulk was a swing and a miss.

I didn't like Ang Lee's Hulk that much when I saw it in the theater, but I watched it again a few months ago and was surprised how good some of the scenes were. Also, it has Eric "Chopper" Bana, so there's that.

Don't stone me.

Exactly. Fans want a big dumb action movie for the Hulk, not some pretentious twaddle involving daddy issues.

HA! Perhaps Hulk should be on Oprah or in an anger management class.

the*mad*gamer wrote:

Exactly. Fans want a big dumb action movie for the Hulk, not some pretentious twaddle involving daddy issues.

HA! Perhaps Hulk should be on Oprah or in an anger management class.

This is why the daddy issues weren't necessary: most people can relate to losing your temper. For a very long time after the tv show off the air, people were still quoting that line, "Don't make me angry; you wouldn't like me when I'm angry." The tv show had the right formula. Show Banner as a really nice guy who happens to be on the run. Wherever he goes, he ends up helping innocent people, until somebody makes him very angry. Then he Hulks out and smashes up the bad people who made him angry. Lots of people can relate to that fantasy. Not so many people can relate to the daddy issues.

Ken B. wrote:

It was a note-perfect Hulk movie. That's as "deep" as the character gets, Ang Lee pretense aside.

Must be a lame series of comic books then.
Banner runs. Becomes Hulk. Fights military. Banner runs. Becomes Hulk. Fights military. Banner runs. Becomes Hulk. Fights military. Fights monster (from military). Banner Runs. The end.

He ended the movie as Banner "in control" of Hulk. That storyline happened ages ago in the comics but few movies or television shows have ever acknowledged that development.

Wait, THATS what the ending was???? I thought he was going to hulk out again at the ending. What incompetent directing.
And what exactly in the stroyline supports that he is able to control the hulk? What and how did he learn? There was the breathing bit at the start and thats about it. Why didn't they have him going through stages of learning control instead of the lame "finding a cure at university campuses while military chase" storyline?

It had action

Yes, and I liked the opening fight where hulk was a monster in the darkness. But the rest until the end fight were pointless, the film established early on the military couldn't harm him yet we got cnstant fights of utterly dumb soldiers uselessly standing there and shooting at him. There was never any sense of danger. Bag the Hulk dogs all you want, but Lee's film constantly upped the anti throughout.
I liked the added brutality in this one (Lee's hulk never causing anyone to be killed was stupid) but Lee's was more logical because he was presented as frankenstinian - in that he wasn't really a 'monster' so much as something that wanted to be left alone. Here the hulk is presented as a destructive powerhouse of anger, but it never really went far enough. He should have been tearing the city apart.

it had character build-up

????? Which characters? The acting was shit, no one had an arc, the dialogue phoney and everyone was so one note. Noties weird arsed villan as fucking left field as it was was way more interesting that the punce in this, and ALL of the cast in Lee's were way better. Especially Ross, he was a fucking mostache twirling goofball in this one. Lee's take on the character was much better.

it had cameos,

Fuck cameos. Seriosly. Stan Lee cameos these days are too big to the point of getting distracting, and Feringoes wasn't much better. As far as Stark goes, just make the film seem like it was filler for an Avengers movie - which it pretty much was.

and Hulk smashed some shit. Like I said, I have no idea what kind of Hulk movie you want if this didn't do the trick. He's not exactly fucking Batman storywise caliber here.

At it's heart Man vs the inner beast is a classic theme that could be done really well. If in the end Banner learns to control it, then for fucks sake MAKE THE WHOLE FILM ABOUT THAT!!!! How about centering the storyline on Banner's fear of harming Betty, then following through on that. At the start he hulks out somewhere and people get killed and he has to live with the guilt. The climax actually involves his internal struggle with controlling the monster before he kills Betty. Instead we get some fucking rediculous "I think im cured but i'll jump off a plane anyway hoping the cure didn't work so I can fight the ending boss for no fucking reason."

Hulk was a nobel misstep full of good ideas and great stuff and fuckups.
The Incredible Hulk was just shit. Boring shit.

Ed Norton sucks as Bruce Banner unfortunately. He seems way too cool all the way through. Eric Banna was a much better choice and came across as actually geeky to me. Ed Norton looks like a porn star in at least one scene I remember. This movie delivered what most movie fans want. Dumb action, dumb plot and Liv Tyler (my favorite part), it was fun don't get me wrong but Ang Lee actually tried to do something interesting and for me he gets points for that. Many people don't like the father son dynamic in his vision of the hulk but it is much less about winning then it is about ego and id and it that respect he makes more of the Hulk then there should be.

Good for him because the Hulk as a character needs that, he's not very interesting otherwise.

The new one reminded my of a Bourne movie rip-off, a two hour chase scene.

Ang Lee's Hulk was by far the better of the two. You've pretty much mentioned all my reasons above: direction, acting, plot.