Marvel Movie Project #6: The Incredible Hulk

Aimee here! First let me apologize that this project is slowing down. It's 100% on me--I'm on the final stretch of my pregnancy and only interested in laying down and eating donuts. Anyway...

I thought I'd take the lead on this one because, well, frankly, this is my X-Men 3. This is the movie I love and defend despite the fact that everyone seems to hate. And I mean hate.

First of all, I don't know what more you want out of a damn Incredible Hulk movie.

There's no bothersome origin story here. The "backstory" is told through open-ended flashbacks and illustrated through the narrative--which I frankly find more enjoyable. With a film like this, you have to expect that at least 75% of your audience is going to be at least mostly familiar with the character.

We spend a good amount of time being introduced to meek, unassuming scientist-in-hiding Bruce Banner. A peek at his life reveals much about his character. Edward Norton knocks it out. I feel like he's perfect for the role here. Bruce Banner is not a body builder. He has a lot of issues. He's a scientist. He's not really the "super hero" type. He's at odds with what he wants his life to be versus what the big guy brings to the table.

I also love the terrific nods to the Incredible Hulk TV show. The show has very little to do with the comic, to be honest, but it's still an interesting and sensitive take on the character. I think Norton models a lot from Bill Bixby, and frankly, it works. They both seem like guys who wouldn't have a monster lurking inside--which is the very reason watching them grapple with the Hulk is compelling. This is why "I'm-the-Hulk-all-the-time" Eric Bana is horrible choice and a miserable Banner.

I'm glad to see a more interesting Thunderbolt Ross in this iteration; although I do believe by the end he's gone a little over-the-top. Same with Blonsky. I actually really enjoy Tim Roth in the role initially; he is off-kilter and compulsively power-mad, so his eventual transition to the Abomination makes some sense even if it, too, is an over-the-top addition to the film. More on this later.

I like Liv Tyler in the role of Betty. I don't mind that they've made her into a fellow scientist. It's not unbelievable and gives Betty something to do other than be tossed around by hapless fate. She and Bruce do seem like a fairly believable couple, although I do question Betty dumping her current boyfriend in two minutes just because Bruce came back. He's trying not to make waves, but she's all the way in without any hesitation. Maybe that's what would happen; I don't know.

The plot revolves around traveling to New York in order to make an attempt at curing Bruce of his affliction--again, feeling like a TV Hulk nod--and ultimately having a throw-down with Thunderbolt and his cronies, one of which winds up being the out-of-control Abomination (thanks to Samuel Stern's intervention with Bruce's unique gamma poisoning...)

This is where the movie gets...uh...stupid. I know, I know. I love this movie for its wonderfully sensitive portrayal of Banner and his demons. But... well, Iron Man. It came out earlier in the same summer. What does that mean? Big Hollywood Ending.

1. The Abomination looks stupid. I'm sorry, he does. I hate the character design; it's not the worst take, I guess, but the big bone-cracking transformation seems...ridiculous.

2. What's that? Sensitive portrayal? No no no, we need to have two "big guys" slug it out in traffic. It won't be a good movie if we don't do the thing where one of them picks up a car with a family in it. That hasn't been done many times.

3. Let's do that thing where after "ridding" the main character of his powerful flaw, we need him to have it again so he can stop the other thing that was supposed to kill him.

My complaints are mainly based on the design and execution of the ending here. I do feel that the character of Blonsky has been groomed appropriately to become the Abomination. Pay attention to that, because you're going to see me bring this up again in another review. But on the whole, it's overblown and unnecessary and kind of ruins the credibility that we were building for this movie.

On the whole, I absolutely believe this movie belongs in the top 10; I actually advocated early on that it belonged much higher. Unfortunately for it, it just can't edge its way out of the 6 slot due to the stiff competition and its disappointing conclusion. It has the distinction of what I feel is the best Banner (although Avengers is a game-changer) and will probably always be my underdog dark horse favorite. My apologies to those who thought it was stupid and boring.

Stan's Take

My Lovely Wife is exactly right.  This is the smartest, most thoughtful treatment of the Hulk character since Peter David's run on the Incredible Hulk comic book and the surprisingly high quality TV show.  Norton's performance is smart and nuanced.  He is Banner in every sense of the character.  The supporting characters are equally strong and while Roth's Blonsky is a bit of a departure from the source, his portrayal of a man mad with power is frighteningly compelling.

The characters are the backbone of this film's success, but the storytelling deserves some recognition for putting those great characters through their paces in a way that makes you really care about the them.  Banner is believed to be dead and is hiding out in South America as he works on a cure for his condition.  The movie opens with him being discovered and on the run.  Right off the bat you are invested in Banner's survival and his escape.  This is partly due to Norton being so damn likeable and partly because of the sympathy he generates for his plight.  Even though we are put right into the action and are only given a glimpse of the Hulk, the story is instantly engaging. 
Later, when Banner returns to the US and he is hiding out near his old university trying to get his hands on his research, there is a chance encounter with Betty where Banner must run from the person he loves the most rather than risk putting her in danger.  Moments like this make the heart sink and further drive home the cost of the curse of the Hulk.

With all of this drama you might worry that the movie is light on action, but with the exception of the ending, this movie does an incredible job of pacing the action with the drama and using action to raise the stakes for each character.   The best action scene in the film takes place on the campus of Banner's old university.  Giant sonic cannons are brought into play to subdue the Hulk.  There are extremely, carelessly powerful missiles and flamethrowers in use.  Tanks, jeeps, and army dudes by the score descend upon the campus to kill Banner before he can become the Hulk.  Of course, the Hulk wins the day by smashing everything to tiny bits (and putting the serious hurt on Blonksy), but he also takes a beating for the sole purpose of protecting a foolish Betty who runs out on the field of battle because she has the brain damage (only reason I can think of, although the movie would suggest it is to stand against her father's Moby Dick-esque obsession with the Hulk).  Make no mistake the moment is all action, but at its heart are great characters being put to the test.

And then, the whole thing just devolves into standard Hollywood blockbuster nonsense.  It's a Hulk movie so the Hulk has to fight some other kind of Hulk who is somehow stronger than he is and overcome him to win the day.  I have no idea why.  The movie was set up to be much smarter and subtle, but America's lowest common denominator prevails and instead we get a Transformers level smash-em-up instead.  It is kind of fitting, however, since the only watchable part of the first Hulk movie was the last 10 minutes.  It only makes sense that the only cringe-worthy part of this movie was the last 10 minutes.

I would be remiss in overlooking the fact that while still not perfect, the Hulk CG does look much improved in this film.  The Abomination is a sad cartoon, but the Hulk looks pretty good.  We have to wait for the Avengers for the Hulk to look his very best.

Ending aside, The Incredible Hulk is an exceptional film and although it is ranked #6 on our list, it really represents the beginning of the true Elite Marvel Movies.

Next time we'll crack the Top 5 and take a look at the very cream of the crop in Marvel Movies.  See you next week!

Marvel Movie Project SPECIAL EVENT: The Avengers

That's right.  Nerds that we are, the Lovely Wife and I made the midnight showing of The Avengers last night.  Chances are good if you are a reader of this blog, then you did as well.  However, in the event you are on the fence about seeing it, haven't had a good chance, or just want to see if you share the sentiments of your favorite bloggers, we are going to give you our take on Marvel's most ambitious movie project ever!  We will try very hard not to spoil too much along the way, but if you are sensitive to knowing too much, proceed with caution.

What Stan says:

This movie defines and then redefines the term blockbuster.  Grandiose in every way, The Avengers is truly the culmination of a body of work that began with Iron Man in 2008.  And yet despite all of the explosions, alien invasions, and super-hero squabbles, the film manages to have some heart and take loving care of its characters.

When you have a film like The Avengers, you have a rare opportunity.  Just like Return of the Jedi, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Back the Future III, or other films of the sort, we already know the characters, we already know their back story and we already like them (at least for the most part), so we can dispense with all of the exposition and get straight to the meat of the beast.  The Avengers does this exceptionally well.  While I think you could still see this movie cold and get enough to figure out what is what, your experience is definitely enhanced by seeing the previous 4 movies leading up to this (I discount Iron Man 2 with good reason, and you'll find out more about that in the coming weeks).  So instead of boring us to death with a lot of needs explanations, the movie puts us into the action very quickly.  SPOILERS AHEAD! Loki is up to no good again and this time means to enslave the Earth under his rule, not only to pump up his own ego, but to rub it in his brother's face.  This is set up right away when he steal the Tesseract (read Cosmic Cube), last seen at the end of the Captain America movie.  This theft puts SHEILD on full alert and they call in all of the super-heroes they have contacted in order to combat the threat.  Despite some personality conflicts, the team bands together to combat Loki and his extra-terrestrial invasion force. SPOILERS OVER.

It is a simple Avengers story and that is exactly what this film needs to be: simple.  With so many characters and personalities in play, if you attempt too ambitious of a tale, you are going to lose everyone in the process and end up with a mess (I call this the Iron Man 2 problem).  Keeping the story simple gives some great characters a chance to play off one another and really shine in the process.  I would love to give one example, but I think pretty much every character is at their very best in this film.  Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark is in full form, snarky and irreverent and NOT a team player.  Evan's Captain America (although I like him better as Johnny Storm) is a duty driven and true soldier and plays the "man out of time" smartly without over doing it.  While Ed Norton should have returned as Bruce Banner, Mark Ruffalo's portrayal is as good with plenty of nuance and substance. Ruffalo manages to continue the character work Norton had so brilliantly began in Incredible Hulk. Thor is freaking Thor.  Just as awesome here as he was in his own film, his entrance into this movie was for me the "shit's about to get real moment" that turned the intensity of the film up a notch.  "Minor" characters like Black Widow (far better here than in IM2), Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and Agent Colson get plenty of attention and development as well.  With the tendency for Sam Jackson to steal every second of screen time he gets, it was nice to see him playing a less overt character and being more of a member of the ensemble than the show stopper that we have become accustomed to.  I don't mean to downplay the importance of these four characters, they are every bit as instrumental in the success of the film as any of the heavy hitters, but without major motion pictures to support them it would be all too easy to over or under emphasize their part in the film.  There is a real tendency for any given character here to steal the show, but thankfully it never happens.

And that is another reason why this film works so well.  Joss Whedon knows character chemistry.  He knows it well and his credentials on Buffy: the Vampire Slayer and Astonishing X-men more than speak for his talents.  The Avengers only succeeds if the character chemistry is just right.  To see this fail spectacularly, got watch either Fantastic Four movie.  This doesn't mean that the characters have to get along, as a matter of fact it is better if they don't from time to time, but it does mean that their interactions have to feel organic and real.  They have to feel like real people in real situations acting and reacting based on what the other characters are giving them to work with.  This is quite literally Acting 101.  Whedon seems to have a natural affinity for this and gets the absolute best work out of his actors.  To put it plainly, it is fun to watch these characters hanging out with each other, fighting with and against each other, and you get the feeling they are having fun too.

Of course, this isn't The Breakfast Club, so character chemistry alone isn't going to fill our action-hungry stomachs.  Thankfully, The Avengers fills our plate with giant chunks of sweet delicious action as well.  I honestly think at some point every super person in this movie fights every other super person at least once even if only briefly.  You want action, you are going to get it and thanks to the strong character foundation the action has meaning, it is not just gratuitous fighting for fighting sake. (like in Iron Man 2...)  SPOILERS AHEAD! The battles between Iron Man and Thor, Hulk and Loki, Hulk and Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow are particularly incredible.  And when Hulk and Thor team up to take down the alien space whale (you tell me its not) you cannot help but cheer!  The final, climactic battle between the Avengers and Loki's army is huge, intense and surprisingly complex, keeping all of the characters in play, both in the air and on the ground.  It also manages to keep from being too over the top and does not lose itself in its own intensity  There isn't a terrible sense of dread, you know the Avengers are going to win the day, but that doesn't take away from the fun of watching them square off against the invading aliens, each in their own unique way.  There is one particularly compelling shot in the heat of the battle, where we look in on each Avenger as they battle the invaders.  For me, that shot, plus the very final scene at the end of the credits, sums of the greatness of this movie. SPOILERS OVER!

Finally, speaking of the end,  DO NOT LEAVE just because the end credits roll.  As you probably well know by now with these films, there is a little tidbit awaiting those whose bladders can hold their 32 oz. soda for a few more minutes.  This film has two such tidbits and the first one is a reveal that comic book fans absolutely cannot miss.  The second tidbit is pretty much a thank you to both the audience and the characters.  Both are great and worth the brief wait.

To sum up, The Avengers movie is superb!  A perfect summer action blockbuster in every possible connotation of the term.  Top shelf action, fun characters with strong chemistry, a simple plot knitted together with smart dialogue; this film has it all.  I won't say it is the ultimate super-hero film, but I will say that it delivers on every promise it makes and I cannot imagine anyone not having fun with this movie.  Go see The Avengers already!

What Aimee says:

I was very nervous about this movie. I'm not a card-carrying member of the Joss Whedon fan cult, and I'm not a particularly big Avengers fan, although I do enjoy many of the characters individually. I wasn't exactly in love with all of the movies leading up to this one, and the trailers looked silly and pandering. Like, Transformers 4 level stuff, seriously. Don't get me wrong, that can work fine--I like a mindless blockbuster--but this movie was being heralded as the second coming of Jesus.

I'm happy to say, my nervousness was completely unfounded! Avengers is a very nicely constructed homage to all the characters we love and some we didn't (Iron Man 2's Black Widow, I am looking at you!) and manages to make them all interesting. It's a lot of juggling to keep all these big names in the air but the pace never dulls and the fun never stops. You feel pretty satisfied that every character has enough weight to carry their part, and no one is slighted.

That being said, Thor is my favorite. Still swaggering and still a powerhouse, he shows up and lays down the law. Hulk is also a loveable addition to this film. You'll find out later how much I appreciated Ed Norton's portrayal of the big green guy, but I have to give credit where credit is due: Mark Ruffalo knocks it out.

The movie is light and funny and still manages to be fairly intense. My one problem is one that I have with a lot of modern movies. POSSIBLE SPOILER Loki is a compelling villain and I love every minute he's in. But the "alien/robot" army is faceless, cardboard and has NO weight whatsoever. I get aggravated when I see compelling heroes fighting bands of video game spawn--I never think there's going to be a real issue, because, clearly, only the "real" enemies would pose any danger. This is redeemed in the first "extra" scene after the credits roll. You will understand why. But within the confines of the main film...? Reads a little "Episode 1 droid army" to me. It gets better, though, I just wish I hadn't had to feel bad before I felt good. I can deal. END SPOILER.

Bottom line, if you love Marvel, you want to see this. If you don't love Marvel--the characters are easy enough to engage even without having seen the previous movies. That said, seeing at LEAST Captain America and Thor will help you understand finer plot points.

I'm not afraid to eat crow when I have to--and this movie is fantastic and belongs in the upper echelon of comic book movies. Is it the best? I don't know. I really don't believe so--too much happens and the character studies can't compete with the very top--but it is very, very good. The end-credit scenes managed to ratchet its standing up a few places... with me at least.

Marvel Movie List #24 HULK

#24 HULK

The Incredible Hulk is the nuclear era's Jekyll and Hyde.  It is the story of the struggle between the rational man (ego) and his inner beast (id).  It reveals the truth about human nature and the struggle of our inner duality.  Bruce Banner's story is that of a desperate search to mediate (superego) the two sides of his personality.  It is a classic story and when well told is compelling and speaks to something in all of us.

I wanted you to know the above going in because that is not quite what you are going to get in Ang Lee's interpretation.  Part of this is due to directorial vision and the rest is left to some questionable acting.  To put it bluntly, Eric Bana's Bruce Banner would just be the Hulk all of the time.  Bana is irritated and frustrated for the duration of the film and he makes the audience uncomfortable right out of the gate.  His characterization of Banner is so one sided you find yourself hoping he will turn into the Hulk just so he can stop being so obtuse.  You are hoping for this, of course, until the neon green spongy-looking Special Effect shows up.  Once that happens you are hoping that Netflix is still running the Bill Bixby Incredible Hulk TV show (which it is at the time of this writing!) so you can see what the Hulk should really look like.  Seriously, somewhere between Ferrigno's body paint and this 3D cartoon, there has to be a more realistic looking Hulk (and there will be some improvements farther up on the list, but we are dealing with the here and now), even at this point in the evolution of special effects.  But I'm jumbling things up a bit here, let's stay on task...
This is yet another movie with no likeable characters.  Bana is so angry all the time and Jennifer Connelly's Betty is so weepy and empathetic that you have a hard time wanting to relate to either one.  Further more Nolte's role as the lead villain provides so little for ol' Nick to do that you almost feel sorry for him instead!  So I am never sure who I am supposed to like in this film.  I know it is meant to be Bana, but he gives me no reason to like him.  Is it a directing or acting mistake?  I find that I pretty much don't care.  If I have to choose, I think Sam Elliot was a decent cast for Thunderbolt Ross.

This will always be the Hulk to me.  You cannot replace him with a Special Effect.

So with no characters to like, I turn to the story to find something here to enjoy.  No such luck.  The Hulk was created when Dr. Bruce Banner was caught in a gamma radiation explosion as he was rushing onto a nuclear test site to save a young man who had wandered onto the site.  It was the freak result of a selfless act.  This makes Banner the victim of circumstance and thus a sympathetic character.  In this version Banner is the victim of bizarre genetic experiments conducted by his father when he was a child that bear fruit when he is bombarded by gamma rays trying to save another hapless character.  Same basic idea, but because this is no longer the nuclear era we have to add in that little unnecessary genetic bit.  Why?  It takes away a lot of the sympathy for the character and instead makes him a victim of a different kind.  You must be very careful when you tamper with the basic premise.  It worked originally for a reason.
That aside, the rest of the story is a hodgepodge mystery to piece together why Banner reacted to the gamma rays the way he did.  It takes far too long to get to the first appearance of the Hulk and there isn't enough worth watching to make me believe that the Special Effect is worth the wait.  The early scenes between Bruce and Betty are dry white toast and neither one give me anything that indicates that they have chemistry together or any reason to be drawn into this tragic plot.  I am reminded, sadly, of the romance in Attack of the Clones.  Once the Hulk is on the scene the movie shifts from being a science drama a la Andromeda Strain and instead becomes an action film in the vein of Mission Impossible 2 with all of thinness of substance and motive implicit therein.  The Hulk smashes things and beats up on tanks and explodes gas stations and none of it means a damn thing to anyone.  We go from dry white toast to pop rocks in absolutely no time at all.

Finally, after what feels like hours, we get to what is supposed to be the big showdown between Banner and his nutjob father.  And for some reason, before that showdown can occur the U.S. government has decided it would be a good idea for Banner and his father to have a nice little chat.  And here, and ONLY here, do we get anything that is watchable in this film.  Had the editor on this film left the entirety of this movie on the cutting room floor with the exception of these five minutes, you might have been able to make a case for this being a great Hulk movie.  These five minutes by themselves make a decent Hulk film, the remaining 133 minutes completely undo anything that is done well during that time.  Try it some time.  What you'll get is a 5 minute absurdist play that speaks more to the themes and essence of the Hulk than any of Bana's mumbling or the Special Effect's jaunting about a desert canyon.

Unfortunately Ang Lee junks the rest of the film up with shaky special effects, unlikeable characters, and a needlessly complicated plot.  It is almost unbelievable that drivel of this magnitude comes from the same guy who, only three years prior, gave us the mind-blowing, epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  It almost feels like the story was played down because it was based on a comic book and the result is a movie that feels as thin as a comic page.  The only reason this is better than Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is because some of the cinematography looks competently done.  Hulk remained on the bottom our list for a long time because it belongs in the bottom of the bin.  If you haven't seen this movie yet, give it a pass.


Aimee's Take
The Hulk is one of my favorites--and not from childhood. My exposure to the Incredible Hulk properties was largely minimal until the husband decided I should probably read some of Peter David's run on the Incredible Hulk comic book. Five issues deep, I was in love. I didn't need an origin story, I didn't need to know what had happened before. The book itself caught me up to speed, and I was thoroughly happy.

This particular run of the Hulk is deeply psychological in nature. Not just regarding the Hulk himself. The complexities of the relationship between Betty and Bruce, Rick and Marlo... Hulk and everyone. Doc Samson alone is worth a look, in my opinion. Now, I did this reading in 2009ish. I had already seen two Hulk movies. Revisiting them, I suppose I had certain expectations for how rich--how full--the story could be.

Ang Lee's Hulk is a terribly disappointing exercise. No likable characters coupled with an abysmally complicated plot leads me to feel like there's nothing here to entertain, much less sustain my mind. Add to the mix a film which is miscast, altogether too long, and plagued with poor (perhaps dated is better) special effects... and you have a bad movie. I feel like the movie has good intentions, but it really fails to understand the motivations of the characters. There's no reason to have Bruce so disconnected from his past, and there's no reason for Nick Nolte's character to have all those bizarre gamma dogs. There's no reason for Bruce to be so terribly moody all the time--or so built. There's no real dichotomy between the skinny, wimpy scientist and the primal emotion and pure strength of the Hulk. He's already shades of the Hulk before he even transforms. I guess, there's just no reason for most of the things we watch in this film. I think I understand why people initially liked Hulk: in 2003, there were few new comic book movies in the field, and I think the "Ang Lee" branding had everyone a little starstruck. Simply put, we didn't know what we were watching, and it didn't seem so bad. But it was. It was.

And that, my friends, is why until the unspeakably horrible Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance hit theatres... Hulk sucked up the bottom of our list.

12 Months, Sixty Dollars and a PS2: September

September

HULK                                                                                        By Universal Interactive

My wife and I have recently been reading Peter David’s truly masterful run on the Incredible Hulk comic book that spanned nearly all of the 1990’s.  David’s writing is inspired and his treatment of the character shows a true appreciation for Stan Lee’s original creation.  Because of this, we both had a renewed interest in all things Hulk.  Thus, whilst scanning the racks at MUST HAVE MUSIC and MORE for this month’s game, the HULK game naturally stood out to us as a potential candidate.  The only drawback was that the game was based, and spawned, from the subpar 2003 Hulk movie, and there was an equal chance that the game would suck just as much as the movie did.  Examining the game case and manual provided some hope: the game did not follow the movie plot, but was more of a sequel!  Even so, there was no promise of a good game, but with our brains enswirled (yep, I just made that up) in Hulkitude (also mine), we decided to just go for it and see what shook out.

The game itself isn’t terrible, just repetitive.  You alternately take turns controlling the Hulk or his alter ego Bruce Banner.  The Hulk levels are pretty straightforward smash ‘em ups, with the occasional mild puzzle (and I mean mild) to solve.  Most of the time as the Hulk you fight off endless waves of bad guys while trying to pursue someone or escape the onslaught of gamma dogs and machine gun fire.  In addition to pulping bad guys, you can also wreck up the place something good because the environments are almost entirely interactive.  A nice feature, but much like punching guys with guns, it can get old fast.  The Banner levels attempt to be more inventive requiring you to use stealth to evade your enemies in direct contrast to the Hulk’s less subtle approach.  As a matter of fact, confrontation as Banner will almost always result in Game Over.  As Banner you must sneak your way around military installations while trying to achieve an objective like synthesizing a cure for your condition or deactivating security controls.  Parts of the Banner levels are kind of like the stuff you do in Red Ninja, only with less finesse and fun.  Also imbedded in the Banner levels are several sequence puzzles that you must unscramble in order to proceed.  These sequence puzzles are generally presented as security codes you must override.  The puzzles are simple, but each one has a time limit that usually means you’ll occasionally need some good old fashioned luck to solve it in time.

In both areas of the game the level design is fairly uninspired.  There are neat parts here and there that give the game potential, but all in all the game is ho-hum.  The Hulk levels are fairly mindless smash ‘em ups, which has the potential to be a lot of fun and very much in the spirit of the character, but the enemies are boring and repetitive as are the Hulk’s limited cache of attacks.  “Oh great, another soldier with an energy shield, first I’ll throw a crate at him, then I’ll pick him up and slam him into the wall.”  Repeat a hundred times…  The high points are all of the various walls and doors you get to smash through as you progress through the levels. The Banner levels provide a little more cerebral stimulation, but the execution is clunky and thus some areas become frustration fests where you begin to question whether or not it is really worth your time to try to sneak past those search lights again and again.  The basic game has a shot at being really fun and the idea of playing as both Banner and the Hulk fully captures the essence of the character, but the game feels churned out instead of crafted and the result is a little dull.

What is not dull is the graphics; I only wish I meant that in a good way.  Everything in this game is shiny.  And I mean everything.  From the Hulk’s skin to General Ryker’s suit, every single surface in this game is shined up to the max.  The cut scenes are the worst.  Everyone looks like they are made of jello in the sunlight.  I think they were going for a cell-shading effect, but the result is a glossy nightmare.  The in-game graphics are better and a have more depth and texture, but overall the game looks over polished.  And if the glare doesn’t blind you, the voice acting might just push you over the edge.  Much like the acting in the film it is based on, the voice acting in this game is extremely heavy handed.  Banner is just as maudlin and gruff as Eric Bana’s film portrayal.  I’m still not sure why he isn’t the Hulk all of the time, as angry and frustrated as he seems…  The rest of the characters are two dimensional and forgettable and I think we are all better for it.

At the end of the day, I will say that the HULK game is far better than the movie it is based on.  Maybe it is because my expectations were less, but unlike the movie I was able to lose myself in the Hulk parts of the game and just enjoy smashing stuff.  I wish the game had inspired me more and was better able to hold my interest, but that may have been asking more than the game was able to give.  At its heart the game has very good intentions, it just cannot seem to fully deliver on any of them.    That being said, I don’t think my five dollars were wasted this month as I was able to eek out at least five dollars worth of entertainment from smashing tanks and tossing oil drums at helicopters.  HULK has the makings of a great Hulk game, but it just wants to be a little more than it is. 

Next month, we enter the home stretch of the “12601” project with only three games and months left!  There are still plenty of…um…interesting games on the shelf, which ones will make their way into my home?  See you next time…