Is The Hulk "Do Over" A Good Idea?
Considering if Ed Norton Film Can "Hulk Smash" Worried Fans
Jun 10, 2008
Summer’s Ugly Stepchild, The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk is the forgotten man in the summer movie scene. It’s overshadowed by the novelty of Iron Man and the goodwill towards The Dark Knight after the well-received Batman Begins. There’s a wave of hype preceding The Dark Knight as there was before with Iron Man but not so much for The Incredible Hulk.
Hulk A Tough Sell To Fans
The Incredible Hulk doesn’t have a great pedigree attached to it. It’s a reboot of the franchise only five years after Ang Lee plopped down his Hulk film to much disdain. It’s overshadowed by other comic book films of the summer. There isn’t a lot of hype around it. It’s even overshadowed on its own weekend, where the potential career comeback of M. Night Shyamalan makes for a better story with the opening of The Happening.
Reasons for Optimism
This writer was privileged to catch a preview screening of the film last night, and it’s everything the Ang Lee version wasn’t. Stripped down of the philosophical aspirations that clouded Lee’s take, director Louis Leterrier has made a very solid and no-frills action movie with the always effective Ed Norton in the lead. Like Iron Man it doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it actually has more action scenes (and better ones) than that much-overrated film. It’s good enough to garner major word of mouth, and that’s where its strength could lie.
Summer Sleeper, The Hulk?
But big summer films tend to do much of their business upfront, and at present it doesn’t seem like The Incredible Hulk will open huge. But the product is quality, and the next action film doesn’t open until Wanted on June 27th. After that there’s a new action film nearly every weekend until the end of summer. The Incredible Hulk will need fans raving in order to survive amongst such brutal competition.
Marvel Stepping Up
With Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk Marvel has really established themselves as a name to trust in the comic book adaptation scene. They’ve delivered two top notch films in one summer, and continue to drop hints in their films that all the characters in this Marvel universe will at some point come together in other films. This was suggested by the Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury scene after the credits of Iron Man and also by a scene this writer won’t ruin in The Incredible Hulk.
Bottom Line
Fans should be reassured their concerns another terrible Hulk would hit theaters. The Hulk is back, and if fans only support him, he’ll be here to stay.
