Ok, I’ve seen the Hulk twice now on dvd since it came out on tuesday and each viewing was better than the last: specifically the cgi seems to be more amazing each viewing.
I’ve heard the minority of complaints that the cgi Hulk was not real enough, and I brushed them off because it’s a friggin’ comic book movie for christsakes, but there were some scenes where you DO say to yourself “oh, that’s fakey lookin”.
But now, seeing it over a few times, the detail that they did with Hulks expressions, skin, musculature, etc. is damn amazing. I’m sure that such stuff will be done even better in the future, but for now I don’t think one can complain about it.
Anyone else liked their 2nd viewing?
Most real looking scene to me: The running in desert and tank battle.
Most fake looking: The falling down the sand dunes and parts of the dogfight.
I also liked the sense of weight and density that Hulk had that so many cgi characters seemed to have lacked in the past.
Also, the plain over the top, comic-book outrageous stuff that Hulk did in the last 3rd of the movie (like riding a jet to the edge of space)-- that stuff was pure comic book imagery which no one had been able to do on screen before (along with the editing which is certainly Oscar-worthy).
The storyline still drags and could’ve been tightened up.
You couldn’t pay me to watch it again. I thought it was awful. And not because I was “expecting an action movie.” I’ve seen The Ice Storm, Sense and Sensibility, and Crouching Tiger. I know what Ang Lee movies are like. I don’t think Hulk worked well as a psychological study. I do think that the action it contained was pretty poorly done. The whole military/helicopter/chase scene was ridiculously bad. The ending sequence with his father was ill-conceived and poorly presented. I am a fan of comic books and I am also someone who appreciates movies that have some depth to them. I think this movie just suffered from a bad script. The acting, directing, and technical aspects are fine. I thought the CGI looked pretty good for the most part. As others have noted, it’s impossible to make a giant green guy in purple pants look “realistic.”
The Hulk is a damn tough character to pull off on film. He’s so huge and so over the top, how can you make him look 100% real? It’s especially tough to make him look real in daylight, but the audience would feel robbed if he was only shown at night.
The cast was all good with the exception of Eric Bana, whose blandness made the scenes with Bruce Banner drag too long. I think that’s why the final third of the film, which is almost entirely Hulk, was so enjoyable.
It’s too bad that a crapfest like Spider-Man grossed $400 million while something as well made as The Hulk is considered a failure.
And a very bad and juvenile psychological piece at that. I’m sorry, I just don’t buy this “Hulk was intended as a psychological movie, and it bombed because people expected an action movie.” It was just one of those films that tried to have it both ways, and failed. I groaned as much at the mindless action of the dog fight as I did at the final ‘deeply psychological’ mumbo jumbo between father and son. As far as the CGI goes, I’ll agree that some parts were laughable, while other parts were incredibly realistic. If I hadn’t seen LOTR’s Gollum, I would have called Hulk the best CGI ever, just for the parts where it really worked.
While I’m on the subject (slight hijack maybe), on all the promotional posters and cardboard cut-outs for the DVD we get over here in Europe, the Hulk is still in his typical “running towards the audience” pose, but his face is almost completely obscured by his fist. It’s as if the distributors figure that the “bad” CGI was the cause the film didn’t do so well, so they’re trying not to focus on it, even on the promotional posters. Personally, as I said, I really don’t think the CGI was the problem. Any thoughts?
Just take it back to where you bought it, with your receipt. They should allow you to make the exchange, even on an open DVD, for the same title (just in a different format).