Lightning strikes twice for Marvel
I saw The Incredible Hulk (TIH) and liked it. It's interesting that TIH is something like the opposite of Iron Man (IM). Despite Edward Norton's screenwriting contributions, the dialogue in TIH, save for some nice jokes here and there, wasn't really very good, especially the conversations between Pumpkin (Pulp Fiction’s Honeybunny's boyfriend) and Viggo Mortensen's brother from A History of Violence. IM got the dialogues right, but not so much on the action. On the other hand, TIH's action scenes were really good. The CGIs are still fake looking, but they're compensated by better choreography and ideas.
Both movies scored high points on the same thing - coherence to the original materials' stories and themes. There's a lot of human drama in the comic books, and unlike other adaptations they bring it out more in these two movies, just like they did in Spider-man. Sorry Ang Lee, and people who dig his Hulk, but I can't see what the fuss is about in the "psycho-analysis" many people claimed they saw and appreciated in Hulk1. Seriously, I can appreciate any good new ideas, but though some of Hulk1's concept may be new and original, it doesn't mean it's automatically good. Plus, some of the scenes, especially the final confrontation between Bana Hulk and Nick Nolte was just B-grade laughable. TIH and IM are more in touched with the common problems ordinary people face, but though not all of us change into green monsters or build mecha suits, but the inner demons these heroes battle are quite similar to the kind of demons we face everyday, e.g. addictions, self-destructive anger, haunted pasts, etc.
Still, because of the dialogue, TIH is not yet perfection. I wonder if the stuff I heard they trimmed would have improved the movie, because the existing bad dialogue would still be there regardless. But there are so many awesome stuff like the homages to the TV show, the hard times Banner had to go through after losing his clothes and money from Hulking out, Hulk vs. Pumpkin (in human, superhuman and Hulk mode, but superhuman was the best), the chemistry between Norton and Tyler, the pulse checker, the greening eyes, the many Cloverfield-style POVs, a more ruthless Hulk (when he hurt Betty Ross in the intro, I was like, shit, this Hulk is cold-blooded and gonna be real interesting!), Banner begging for money in a Guatemalan slum, and of course the cameo from the man of iron.
But things are getting tougher now for Marvel. The last 3 projects on their hands are Thor and Captain America, two of the most popular but also the silliest Marvel titles; and later The Avengers, teaming them up with IM and TIH. I don't know how they're going to pull off a story about a Nordic god of lightning who flies around with the aid of a magic hammer, and a WW2 super-soldier who wears the American flag as a suit. Both even have tiny wings on the sides of their heads. And later they'll team up with a green monster and a billionaire playboy to probably fight some purple alien with a giant brain. So, good luck Marvel, it's a tough road ahead.
Directed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2, Danny the Dog/Unleashed) and screenplay by Zak Penn (The Grand, X-men: The Last Stand). Stars Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, and Tim Blake Nelson. Based on the Marvel comics created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. |
