Just saw Hulk...

Cafe Society
41

I thought he was pretty good, but that’s a fairly biased opinion as I thoroughly enjoyed both Chopper and his role in Black Hawk Down (well, the whole movie actually). My main problem is that Bruce Banner is a little girl in comparison to those roles. Remember in BHD his line about the safety? Yeah…now he wears a bicycle helmet when walking through hallways. Not quite as badass. Then, in contrast to Hulk, he looks downright puny. Again, a step down, this time from Mark Read.

A slight hijack here: does anyone know if tapes of either Full Frontal or his standup can be easily acquired in the States? I get the feeling tha searching “Full frontal” on Kazaa will come up with something else, not to mention being illegal. Rental would be ideal…

42

Saw it last night, and I have two questions.

1.My nephew had to go to the bathroom at the scene in the middle where they are first driving past the restaurant that we can recognize from Jennifer Connelly’s dream. You can also see that the rest of the town looks pretty burned out. We got back right as Jennifer Connelly gets denied access to see Banner, and her father tells her that the NSC is taking over the project, and that he still follows orders. What did we miss?

  1. A bit of a hijack: dalovindj, your nic is familiar. Do you post in the Ann Coulter Chat Room, and if so, how can you stand it??
43

Gaaahhhh…

What, what… mental defective greenlit that script? Needlessly, pointlessly, hopelessly convoluted, with backstory and entire plotlines that should never have gotten past the first re-write.

Consider this fair spoiler warning.

Guys, here’s an update: Batman and Spider-Man are the two big superheroes who are orphaned. This concept does not need to be shoehorned into every superhero origin story. It’s just not needed. Even if it turns out that he’s not really orphaned after all.

Look, I like Nick Nolte. Really. But if every scene he was in, and every reference to him had been expunged from the film, it would have made it at least mildly watchable.

I am still a huge comic book geek, deep at heart. I’ll watch any kind of dreck, if it’ll get a superhero up on the big screen, with new special effects. At least, this used to be true.

When I caught myself checking my watch, for the second time, I realized this dog was just never gonna be salvagable.

Bleeech.

44

It was bad. Very bad.

There were so many parts that irked me, most of them have been touched on already.

• happy fun ball hulk that can jump 8 trillion miles in the air
• hulk dogs that looked like something the editing floor of Anaconda
• rambling plot lines
• too long, and the last 30 minutes made a bad movie even worse

Not to mention the jerkass who sat behind me and chewed popcorn louded than any human being in the history of popcorn and movies and the planet Earth. I really could have cracked open oysters with a rock quieter than Mr Ed was chewing behind me. gooti and I moved after a while.
And, while I am not the first to mention it, it still cracks me up that Nick Nolte likely did not need more than about 10 seconds in makeup to look like David Banner.

45

Skeezix: I think you may have missed an orphaned superhero from your list, unless, of course, you don’t count Superman as being a big superhero.

46

Hmmmmm. Judging from the posts on this thread, either you like Hulk or you hate it. Now, I’m trying to decide whether or not to go see it; and if so, who I know that would remotely consider seeing a comic-book movie without intending to use the ticket stubs as blackmail later.

What I like: Action and comedy, with a side of romance and supernatural crap. Oh, and well done historicals like Le Comte de Monte Cristo, but for purposes of this discussion those don’t really count.

What I dislike: Drawn-out psychological drama (I have that IRL, thanks), tearjerkers, ‘victim’ comedy (I laugh with people, not at them), dangling plot ends. Oh, and excessive gore.

So, given the above… would you recommend I see it, wait and rent the DVD, or not bother at all?

47

Well, i think it’s pretty obvious, but I’d lean towards “not bother at all.”

It’s just a badly made film, whether you dig on the comic book/TV show version of the Hulk, or not. None of the characters are very sympathetic, the action is sparse considering the length of the film, the romance, despite being an important plot point is almost non-existent.

Bana (a coincedental name for the actor playing Bruce Banner, at the least) is not too shabby, but he’s got nothing to work with. Connelly’s performance wanders from good to bad, hell, even Sam Elliot (who I always get a kick out of) comes across pretty flat, with one or two exceptions. And as I said, Nick Nolte usually works for me, but not this time around.

The psycho drama is drawn out, boring, and badly done, even for a “comic book movie,” the comic book style visuals are seriously overdone, and in all the wrong places…

(The split screening and multiple camera angles should have been used to keep the pace of the film quick and involving, as they tend to do in a comic book, but all they really do is draw out the sequences that are too long or visually boring to begin with, to the detriment of the film.)

In all fairness, the CGI is great stuff. The Hulk looks damned decent, and, as much as he can be said to be realistic looking, he is.

If you must, wait and rent the DVD, and just chapter skip to the good bits.

Just for comparison’s sake, I liked the first X-Men flick, absolutely loved the second one, and I thought Spider-Man, while a bit weak in parts, was still a lot of fun to watch. Never did catch Daredevil.

But the Hulk? Feh. All the best bits were on the special the SciFi channel ran t’other day.

[sub]Y’know, when I saw the promo that says “as seen through the eyes of a visionary director” or somesuch, I should have known that was a warning sign.[/sub]

Oh yeah, Number Six? Fair 'nuff. I forgot all about him. But that’s just more proof to my mind that there are already enough orphaned guys in colorful underwear running around. :smiley:

48

Most of my complaints have been covered. CGI, Nolte didn’t need to be there, distracting screen wipes, the last half hour, and a metric eon of exposition. So I won’t go into those.

When Hulk pops up in San Francisco at Vallejo and Sansome, you can see two girls hanging out on one of the houses’ balconies, on the left side of the street. I suppose they could have been extras, but all the other extras were long gone, and it looks a lot like they were just checking out the filming of a big movie.

49

I thought The Hulk was okay. At 137 minutes I felt that the movie was too long. A good portion of the film probably could’ve been cut. For a movie that is supposed to be your typical summer fare, I think that the movie was trying too hard to be more than what it is. Which is simply an action flick based on a series of comic books. And speaking of action, the action sequences in this movie were too few and far between. Not really enough to hold my attention the entire movie. Anyway, the movie came across as a little too heavy. Other recent movies based on comic books also had serious undertones and messages, but they also had good humor and did not take themselves too seriously. The Hulk, unlike Spiderman and X2, did not have this balance. If there is a sequel (which I assume is a given), I do think they can make a great one based on the foundation that the first one has laid. In the sequel they won’t have to worry so much about character development and can focus more on the action. And hopefully in the sequel the Hulk will actually have some dialogue. A good “Hulk smash!” or “Hulk smash you now!” couldn’t hurt. I was kind of surprised the Hulk had virtually no dialogue in this film. Hopefully the sequel will be better.

50

This really got to me too. When he takes a miles long leap and then they show him land I was expecting a BOOM as he hit the ground. Instead I got a “dink”. The pavement and rocks he hit should have crumbled and cratered big time. A dime dropped from a skyscraper will dent a car pretty hard. A thousand pound mass hitting the ground after a mile (or more) leap would have a tremendous amount of force to displace. This aint Crouching Tiger where the fighters barely touch the ground (or tree or water) that they move across (though it worked for that movie). The Hulk aint graceful. For some reason Ang Lee just seems to hate realistic contact with the ground. . . Physics: Like to see it worked into a film.

DaLovin’ Dj

51

Too slow and illogical, though I’m glad they managed to work in at least one “Puny human!”

There were a lot of moments when I was wondering if the army guys (and Talbott) had been taking stupid pills:

[ul][li]Rush a sedated Bruce to a top-secret facility in the desert, then let him go for a casual walk with Betty.[/li][li]Use a cattle prod to poke the guy who’s already busted you up quite a bit.[/li][li]After “Angryman” shrugs off helicopters and tanks, send a bunch of guys with rifles after him.[/li][li]After “Angryman” destroys about $100 million in army equipment, maybe you should leave him alone and let him calm down?[/li][li]After Bruce is caught and rigged up, let’s send his estranged father to talk to him, y’know, the guy who killed Bruce’s mother! Then, when we’re done, let’s send in a Jehovah’s Witness insurance salesman! Yep, no chance this’ll upset him.[/li][/ul]
Random observations:

I’m a little put-off by the G.I. Joe element of having the attackers always survive, including the guy wandering around slightly dazed after riding a flying tank. Further, Hulk jumps on the fighter plane in order to save the motorists on the Golden Gate Bridge. I mean c’mon, either he’s a rampaging menace or a superhero. Don’t play it both ways.

Best missed opportunity: when Hulkie bends the tank cannon to face into the turret, and the tank commander’s face, the commander should have muttered to the gunner: “Hold your fire.”

The chat between Bruce and David looked like a scene from Waiting for Godot, though at first when Nolte went all electrical I was thinking of a different Hulk villian: Zzzzzax. The climactic battle was visually interesting but completely incomprehensible, kinda like the end of 2001.

The top-secret facility with the curved hallways and multicoloured levels was kinda reminiscent of Andromeda Strain, I thought.

The Stan Lee/Lou Ferrigno cameos were amusing, though.

52

Random Hulk Trivia:

Does anyone remember that show from a couple seasons ago on USA called “Combat Missions”? The final squad-based missions was a house-to-house battle on an abandoned residential area of an old desert base. The neat thing is that it is the very same housing area that was used in the Hulk. In real life it looks just like the deserted look it had in the present in the movie.

53

Ever occur to anyone that the seemingly random acts of stupidity by the bad guy (former Maj Glen Talbot) was intentional so that we cah cheer his death but ultimate stupidity? I enjoyed the sweet ironic justice of that.

Bruce strapped to an electro magnetic gun was a supposed to be a fail safe. Anyone within 200 yards of it when activated is going to fry (that was stated in the movie) It was supposed to kill banner instantly. I dont know of any special army security detail that can cross 200 yards in a split second. The general half wanted an excuse to kill banner because he knew he couldnt imprison him. Sending in the only other man that can give him that excuse was not an act of intentional stupidity. He didnt know David could absorb energy much less that much that fast.

Only betty witnessed the power of the hulk againts the dogs. General Ross had no real idea that bullets bounce off him or that he gets bigger and stronger with rage or that he can toss around Abrams tanks. To Gen Ross, he was just a 15 foot human that can easily be taken down with enuf bullets. Thats why when they went for a stroll in the army base (with the detail following them) it was ignorance of the power of the hulk not stupidy. Thats also why the interior of the underground base was not enuf to contain the hulk. They seriously underestimated the Hulks power.

The police and national guard surrounding a standing hulk in san francisco with rifles was comedic but Im wondering how they got permission to shoot at the golden gate bridge when there were obviously still cars moving on it. You can take restrict airspace and not clue in the police and national guard that a 15 green hulk shrugs off 50 caliber machine gun fire?

BTW, if youre SFPD and you respond to a disturbance call and find a 15 foot green man that causes earthquakes by bashing the ground with his hands, would you really approach him in your police car and point a handgun at him?

54

To be fair, the comic book often made this stupid mistake too.

55

The best part of the movie…The Punisher trailer

56

Nitpick irritation: Toward the end, as David Banner’s being let into the spartan room to talk to his son, General Dad of Betty says something like “if [David Banner] does so much as move from the chair, kill him”. Then we see him do anything but sit in the chair but no one lifts a finger to a trigger.

Jennifer Connelly really needs to find less troubled movie-boyfriends (Hulk, Beautiful Mind).

57

From 1975 to 1993, I read damn near every issue of The Hulk. And I freaking LOVED the movie.

The origin change made sense to me. After all, not a lot of nuclear bomb testing going on in the US these days.

They did tie in Bruce’s comic father with the movie one. In the comic he was an abusive man who murdered Bruce’s mother and spent many years in an asylum. That was one of the Hulk’s sources of rage. He was also an atomic scientist like his son.

The Hulk himself was almost exactly what I pictured him to be like in the “real world”. Man, when he was tearing those tanks apart and making those three-mile jumps… I could barely contain myself! Whoo Hoo! (I do agree his landings should have had more crunch to them.)

Sam Elliot was outstanding. As usual.

The multi-angle framing worked for me.

I just dug that movie. Plan to see it again soon.

58

I found the whole Hulk-dog scene to be horrible. It would have been far better if Hulk had simply crushed them like grapes. This is actually true of most of the movie.

59

Haven’t seen the movie yet.

Did they ever explain what Bruce was doing with purple pants on in the first place? Was that ever in fashion or did the radiation change them?

Did he get to say “Hulk smash!”

60

I thought the script was pretty weak. I didn’t really find a reason to care about Banner and his problems, and though I had a lot more sympathy for Betty, that isn’t saying much. I didn’t find a clear and interesting conflict, either, and found myself thinking that the army was absolutely right in its desire to contain Bruce, but that, since he’s a reasonable guy, they would have done a lot better sitting him down and explaining that, so he doesn’t hurt anyone, he’s going to have to live here in the Big Metal Room now. Rather than chasing him around the landscape shooting at him.

I went in expecting that it might be flawed, that it might not have a great script, that it might have logical inconsistencies. But I was surprised to be so bored by it. An hour into “The Hulk,” and we finally get the Hulk. Two hours in, we get an interesting villain. The special effects were pretty, but the movie itself I found pretty dull.