movie: The Incredible Hulk
Sep. 8th, 2009 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreOf the Super Duper Extra Big superhero movies last year, I’d put this one somewhere between Iron Man and Dark Knight, with my really enjoying Iron Man despite finding it deeply problematic in some areas, and realizing that Dark Knight is a good movie with good performances, but not really enjoying it. Of course, Iron Man had two major female characters it really really liked, Incredible Hulk had one major female character that the creators seem to be pretty in love with, and Dark Knight kinda didn’t care about women outside of useful double fridging, and sometimes looking scared. I tend to be heavily influenced by things like that.
I’ve never been particularly interested in the Hulk comics, so my only real familiarity going in was fandom osmosis, maybe half a dozen comics, and the 2003 movie with Jennifer Connelly and Eric Bana. All I really remember about that is Connelly, Bana, and Hulk Dogs. Based on the last, maybe it’s for the best? Though, during the Super Compacted Angsty Flashback at the beginning of this, I did get confused as to whether this was a sequel or a reboot. (It’s a reboot.) The plot was pretty decent for a superhero movie, but getting into would require way too much exposition. All that really matters is that it makes sense while you're watching.
In the interview with the three superhero girlfriends recently, Liv Tyler was the one who talked about dangling from an airplane and about how it was kinda silly that she was the only woman around. There are a couple of minor female characters, but she’s pretty much right. She made a pretty adorable Betty Ross, though, and she and Ed Norton’s Hulk were ridiculously cute. I even “aww”-ed at the absurdly clichéd “rampaging monster is subdued when he hears and sees his slim little True Love” bits. And maybe laughed gleefully when they couldn’t have sex because he turns into a giant green monster if he gets too excited. Which, uhm, means he spent the last several years chastely pining for her as he angsted in South America, and she was getting at least some action? She also elbows soldiers in the nose without breaking her stride.
The movie also starts with a few montages of a shirtless, angsting Ed Norton and later has angsty hugging on the bridge in the rain, so I briefly wondered if it turned into a kdrama. But I’m annoyed by how all Brazilians (except the token girl with a crush on Bruce and the token guy teaching him self control) were either violent street thugs or in awe of his ability to fix things. And the nods to the upcoming Avengers movie pretty much crossed the line between geekservice and gratuitous. I’m a bit worried that Iron Man 2 will be nothing but setup for it.
I’ve never been particularly interested in the Hulk comics, so my only real familiarity going in was fandom osmosis, maybe half a dozen comics, and the 2003 movie with Jennifer Connelly and Eric Bana. All I really remember about that is Connelly, Bana, and Hulk Dogs. Based on the last, maybe it’s for the best? Though, during the Super Compacted Angsty Flashback at the beginning of this, I did get confused as to whether this was a sequel or a reboot. (It’s a reboot.) The plot was pretty decent for a superhero movie, but getting into would require way too much exposition. All that really matters is that it makes sense while you're watching.
In the interview with the three superhero girlfriends recently, Liv Tyler was the one who talked about dangling from an airplane and about how it was kinda silly that she was the only woman around. There are a couple of minor female characters, but she’s pretty much right. She made a pretty adorable Betty Ross, though, and she and Ed Norton’s Hulk were ridiculously cute. I even “aww”-ed at the absurdly clichéd “rampaging monster is subdued when he hears and sees his slim little True Love” bits. And maybe laughed gleefully when they couldn’t have sex because he turns into a giant green monster if he gets too excited. Which, uhm, means he spent the last several years chastely pining for her as he angsted in South America, and she was getting at least some action? She also elbows soldiers in the nose without breaking her stride.
The movie also starts with a few montages of a shirtless, angsting Ed Norton and later has angsty hugging on the bridge in the rain, so I briefly wondered if it turned into a kdrama. But I’m annoyed by how all Brazilians (except the token girl with a crush on Bruce and the token guy teaching him self control) were either violent street thugs or in awe of his ability to fix things. And the nods to the upcoming Avengers movie pretty much crossed the line between geekservice and gratuitous. I’m a bit worried that Iron Man 2 will be nothing but setup for it.