Sunday, July 20, 2008

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Un-incredible Hulk


With the long stretch of grueling work behind me, I rewarded myself with a movie. And I watched the movie that I promised myself to watch on the first day of its screening - The Incredible Hulk.

The actors were great in this movie. The great Edward Norton portrayed the geeky Bruce Banner the way he is supposed to be portrayed. William Hurt was also superb as General Thunderbolt Ross. Tim Roth (as a British agent-turned Abomination) was a perfect fit as the movie's villain. The only sore point was Liv Tyler, in my opinion. She rendered a weak Betty Ross, whereas I pictured Betty Ross as an intelligent and strong-willed woman. She exuded neither in her portrayal.

Despite the potential for a great movie, The Incredible Hulk fell short of my expectations. There is much potential in the franchise, but somehow, the Hulk is continued to be pitted with the military - reminiscent of the 2003 version of the film. We all knew that didn't work. As to why the producers continued to tread that path, I don't have a ready answer for that.

Moreover, the movie lacks action the way a Hulk film is supposed to have. I mean, he is supposed to be the strongest creature on the planet, so where's the destruction amidst his wake? The Hulk persona was not taken advantage of in this film too much. That is too bad, because the interest really picks up when the Hulk was doing his thing.

Despite the movie's shortcomings, this probably won't be the last appearance of the Hulk in the big screen. In the end part of the movie, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) approached Thunderbolt Ross in a bar and talked about forming a team... Hmm...

Avengers, anyone?


Photo: lman1138, Creative Commons, Flickr