Scots Taffer on 15/3/2008 at 13:09

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I don't get it.
What was wrong with Ang Lee's Hulk in 2003?

Is Hollywood so arrogant they are more or less remaking movies (not even foreign ones) not even 5 years old? Or is it a case of the idea bankrupt and the ridiculous nerddom commanding such box office respect these days that combine in some freak-gamma-fuelled-fuck-up to create a film that, for all the criticisms of the first (waaah unrealistic CG of a HUGE FUCKING GREEN MAN and TOO MUCH "WHO AM I" NOT ENOUGH HULK GOES RAAARGH), looks EXACTLY the SAME?

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf56xPg53FQ) Trailer for "The Incredible Hulk".

Warning: it's one of those "the entire movie in 2 minutes" trailer so my following discussion will include spoilers that are shown.

What's the problem, Scots? Why you gotta hate on the new Hulk?

Well, according to wikipedia, Norton when signed on was content with the main body of the plot (Banner trying to rid himself of the Hulk gene while being hunted by the army and then using his Hulk abilities to put a stop to the newly created "Abomination") which was penned as a loose sequel to the Bana Hulk of '03. Okay, so far, so good.

However, as a Hulk fan, Norton didn't much like Ang Lee's interpretation and chose to rewrite the script to incorporate flashbacks that tell a revised origin story and obviously preceding events that put him on the army's radar in the first place.

Talk about lumbering a movie with so much unnecessary baggage that it's so likely to fuck up. This already sounds like (in terms of development) and looks like (in terms of shitty CG) a disaster of Sandman in Spiderman 3 proportions.

It's like there's some point in the development of comic book heroes where they say - oh look, it's not enough to have classic conflict, a good versus bad storyline and an idea of origin, let's have all of that PLUS A NEW BAD GUY AND SEVERAL ACTION SET PIECES!

YEAH! LET'S!

Or not. How about leaving Lee's pretty fucking excellent interpretation of Hulk and just moving forward trying to construct a decent storyline around Banner in his current predicament and who this Blonsky bloke who turns into Abomination is and his motivations, and then some decent reason for Banner getting involved in the conflict.

I mean, don't get me started on how the "revised origin" will probably be unimaginative bollocks that has the gravitas from Lee's direction cut away from it to provide an unimaginative take on the whole "rage/personality" issue with Banner that made the '03 Hulk so compelling.

Or how Norton is such a piss poor replacement of Bana for the role of Banner, sure, he may look nerdier than Bana and he may be the better actor but Norton getting angry is about as nerve-wrecking as a visit to the hairdressers.

Plus from the initial looksie the trailer offers, I really dug the military encounters in Hulk far more than this generic MONSTERS SMASH INTO EACH OTHER AND CARS AND BUILDING IN URBAN SETTING. It's like every movie these days looks like a rolling car wreck of Spiderman action and Cloverfield type shit.

The other thing that was so great about Lee's Hulk was the fact that the father-son climactic (monster) battle was actually touching on so many other issues - the fact of Banner wanting to release his Hulk into his father, the fact that his father wanted to kill his son to achieve his power, the fact that the power was fuelled by repressed memories of his mother being killed by his father and the fact that Banner's rage at this was so great that it obliterated his father's entire existence. That's just awesome. (Yes, I have just finished watching the movie).

At least there's The Dark Knight and Iron Man (who makes a cameo in Incredible Hulk for the sake of Marvel Universe continuity by the by) to make '09 a potentially awesome year for this kind of movie. Last year was so, so bad.

OH YEAH ALMOST FORGOT, replacing Connelly with Tyler? lol.

This post was made from a non comic book reader perspective.

SubJeff on 15/3/2008 at 17:48

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I wholly and completely concur.

This one looks embarrassingly bad and Norton may be rated as the better actor but he is certainly a bad choice for this and the script and acting in that trailer were just awful.

Shame on Roth for stooping so low. Norton seems to be disappearing up his own arse.

jtr7 on 15/3/2008 at 20:30

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But yeah, this one's not looking too good.

jtr7 on 16/3/2008 at 01:10

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Well, Samuel Sterns IS in it, but who knows if we'll see him become The Leader. Doc Samson's in it, too.


When I was kid, I was really into the Hulk, before the TV series came out. I was baffled that they changed Bruce Banner's name to David, for the TV show, and when I found out why, years later, I'm still baffled. "'Bruce' sounds gay." As a child, I had no concept of such things, and it didn't help that my father's name was Bruce. I never understood why David wasn't on a military base, working on a new kind of atomic bomb, and getting blasted by radiation when the bomb-test goes wrong. I wouldn't have had a problem with the elimination of Igor, the Russian spy, setting the bomb off while David was outside the bunker. I understand the removal of the Cold War aspects.

I also NEVER saw the Hulk as having a DAMNED thing to do with Banner's id, until it was introduced later on. I can see how it could easily bend that way, but I never thought of the Hulk in obvious Jekyll & Hyde terms. Bruce Banner was a scrawny nerd like I was, treated with contempt for not having a fighting bone in his body. I can totally relate to that.

The original Hulk didn't transform out of anger or adrenaline, or any strong emotion, or repression. The Hulk would first appear between sunset and sunrise regardless of circumstance, and he spoke more complete sentences "Out of my way, puny insect." At the heart of the stories, it was about the burden of having no control, or only a temporary grip on it. All the Hulk comics I'd ever read had Banner trying to control the Hulk persona, and often failing. I liked how sometimes the Hulk had Banner's mind, but a darker version, or vestiges of the Hulk remaining in Banner after transforming back. The Hulk wishing to remain in control because of the awesome power and complete lack of physical weakness. Dream sequences of the Hulk trying to destroy the milksop Banner. I always felt sorry for Betty, too, who's feelings for Banner just enraged Gen. Ross, and who never had moment's peace with Bruce, just Bruce. I liked how Banner tried to keep himself out of the cities, isolated in a cave in the desert, to try to protect everybody from the Hulk and the gamma ray experiments. I stopped reading Hulk comics in the early 80's, so that's my bias.

Scots Taffer on 16/3/2008 at 10:41

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Having just watched The Lost Boys barely a fortnight ago (introducing Shug to the pleasure of a lost childhood spent watching movies throughout the 80s and 90s) I wept bitterly at the sheer horror there.