Film review: The Incredible Hulk.
Despite its size, bulk and garish skin colour, the Hulk is the forgotten superhero of the summer of '08, what with Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne stealing his thunder. But, in all honesty, the 'kinda reboot, kinda not' reimagining of the Hulk franchise has a lot to offer.
At first glance, this film does not have a lot going for it. We all vividly remember the not-so-bad-but-much-maligned Hulk, Ang Lee's 2003 attempt at starting the franchise; his psychological approach, as opposed to the violent and spectacular, failed to captivate us but managed to confuse us all the better. Hulk smashed the box office records upon release but bad word-of-mouth caught up with it and the film struggled to break even. But over the last decade superheroes have proven to be booming business so 'if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!'.
And try again they did. None of the originals returned; Eric bana, Jennifer Connolly and Sam Elliot were replaced by Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and William Hurt. Norton, renowned for his anti-mainstream approach to film-making and his artistic credibility, is a bit of surprising left-field casting, but he manages to pull it off admirably. He injects his Banner with intelligence, paranoia, tenacity and anguish; a modern day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, struggling to conceal and control his affliction. Bana's 2003 performance was more complex (due primarily to the nature of Lee's film), but Norton offers the viewer more nuance.
Another strong point of the film is Tim Roth: his typically riveting intensity makes up for the deficiencies of his character, so that he’s believable nevertheless as both a man of action and one who’s curious about the possibilities of science. Roth's Emil Blonksy cum Abomination is an ideal and spectacular adversary for both Banner and Hulk.
The CG is stunningly realistic, in as far as you can call a green giant realistic. Several times during this film I was amazed at how real and tangible the Hulk looked, the texture of his skin, the depth in his eyes, rain water trickling down his face. This is less the case with abomination, which is primarily due to the fact that it is an even stranger and more outlandish creature than Hulk itself.
The action surprisingly contains heart; Hulk becomes Hero. No longer is Hulk a brainless dud or fogged with gamma-induced amnesia; this Hulk retains a sizeable chunk of Banner-brain, compassion and awareness. We sense that Hulk's most compelling battle is not with big things that go boom, but with himself.
For the perceptive, there's a plethora of clever nods and winks: Stan Lee as an unwary office guy who drinks a soda tainted with Hulk blood; Bill Bixby in a TV snippet; a cameo by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) hinting at the Avenger Initiative; and, not least, Lou Ferrigno. Even King Kong is (unintentionally?) referenced in a touching cave moment. And while comic relief was unthinkable in the all too serious Hulk, there's plenty of it in this outing.
Great fun.
A 78 out of 100.
At first glance, this film does not have a lot going for it. We all vividly remember the not-so-bad-but-much-maligned Hulk, Ang Lee's 2003 attempt at starting the franchise; his psychological approach, as opposed to the violent and spectacular, failed to captivate us but managed to confuse us all the better. Hulk smashed the box office records upon release but bad word-of-mouth caught up with it and the film struggled to break even. But over the last decade superheroes have proven to be booming business so 'if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!'.
And try again they did. None of the originals returned; Eric bana, Jennifer Connolly and Sam Elliot were replaced by Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and William Hurt. Norton, renowned for his anti-mainstream approach to film-making and his artistic credibility, is a bit of surprising left-field casting, but he manages to pull it off admirably. He injects his Banner with intelligence, paranoia, tenacity and anguish; a modern day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, struggling to conceal and control his affliction. Bana's 2003 performance was more complex (due primarily to the nature of Lee's film), but Norton offers the viewer more nuance.
Another strong point of the film is Tim Roth: his typically riveting intensity makes up for the deficiencies of his character, so that he’s believable nevertheless as both a man of action and one who’s curious about the possibilities of science. Roth's Emil Blonksy cum Abomination is an ideal and spectacular adversary for both Banner and Hulk.
The CG is stunningly realistic, in as far as you can call a green giant realistic. Several times during this film I was amazed at how real and tangible the Hulk looked, the texture of his skin, the depth in his eyes, rain water trickling down his face. This is less the case with abomination, which is primarily due to the fact that it is an even stranger and more outlandish creature than Hulk itself.
The action surprisingly contains heart; Hulk becomes Hero. No longer is Hulk a brainless dud or fogged with gamma-induced amnesia; this Hulk retains a sizeable chunk of Banner-brain, compassion and awareness. We sense that Hulk's most compelling battle is not with big things that go boom, but with himself.
For the perceptive, there's a plethora of clever nods and winks: Stan Lee as an unwary office guy who drinks a soda tainted with Hulk blood; Bill Bixby in a TV snippet; a cameo by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) hinting at the Avenger Initiative; and, not least, Lou Ferrigno. Even King Kong is (unintentionally?) referenced in a touching cave moment. And while comic relief was unthinkable in the all too serious Hulk, there's plenty of it in this outing.
Great fun.
A 78 out of 100.
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