Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Incredible Hulk review (part 3 of 3)

This shot is a direct reference to the TV show.

Overall

There are still many problems with this Hulk movie too, but not nearly as many as the first one. I understand why Marvel wanted to distance itself from the first one, but why start this movie in South America right where Hulk (2003) left off? It gives people ‘not in the know’ the impression that this movie is tied to first one.

That's only a minor thing.

Craig Armstrong is the composer and does an okay job with the music. I won’t say it’s Marvel’s best score, but I give them points for bringing back the old piano theme from the Hulk TV show. That was a nice touch. The score works in the bigger scenes, but doesn't work with the romantic moments. (Spider-Man's romantic theme worked better.)

The movie is fun, but certainly not as compelling as Iron Man and it will bring back memories of the TV show, which this movie more based on than the first film. On the minus side, the movie does feel a little short-sided. On the plus side, there are some kick-ass battles and it is a good chase movie.

Grade: B-

Notes:

~ Robert Downey Jr. does show up as Tony Stark in this one. He sets up that they’re making an Avengers movie. I liked the scene a lot. It ties the two movies together well. This should be done more often in movies.

~The Stan Lee cameo was a little strange.

~As I stated before, with a little editing this movie could have easily been a direct sequel to the first Hulk movie. The writers even admitted that the South America opening is left over when this movie was still a sequel to Hulk (2003).

~ The Brazilian slums were amazing and gave the movie a grander scale.

~Btw, the famous kick in chest to Emil Blonsky is edited completely different in the movie from the trailers and the TV spots.

I’ll have more on this Hulk/Avengers thing.

2 comments:

  1. I agree w/ you that the Brazilian scenes were cinematic masteries. But I can give this Hulk version closer to an A than a B- because it is so much closer to the comic books and it has homages to the TV series. Made the film worth a second look for fans of the TV series. Hope they didn't miss them. There are quite a few of these "Easter eggs".

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  2. Thanks for dropping in.

    I can see your point too, the movie certainly has a lot of Hulk Tv show moments.

    As far as the movie goes, there are a few character and action beats missing from this movie, but it certainly lives up to the action portion with the last fight.

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