DAMNING WITH PUNY PRAISE
While I’ve never liked the Hulk as much as, say, Meryl Yourish, I always thought it was a good character. And, unlike Meryl, I actually liked the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno Incredible Hulk TV show from the 1970s, even with “David” Banner. What can I say–I liked him enough when he wasn’t angry to put up with the name change and the lame Hulkness.
But the Hulk movie is getting awful reviews. The most succinct of which is from Jay Solo who writes:
I predict Hulk 1 will be to Hulk films, if they do more, what Star Trek the Motion Picture is to Wrath of Khan.
Ouch! Jay Smash puny movie.
Speaking of Meryl, she answers the age old question: why are the Hulk’s pants always purple and why don’t they rip off like the rest of his clothes?
Ii’m a link whore, James! I really am! I reviewed THE TEASERS to Hulk and immediately I thought it was horrible!!! Hahahahah! It’s Shrek in real life or something… Whoda thunkit?
I liked it! I just predict market-wise, and perception-wise, that will be the result. It’s sufficiently slow in buildup that many people will dislike it – or at least wish it had been snappier and more action packed.
The comparison I made is on the expectation that, origins out of the way, Hulk 2 *will* be more action packed, much as Khan was more action and ST:TMP was slower and more cerebral.
I just got back from it and loved it. It held my attention the whole way even though there was a slow buildup, and many teens in the audience were giving it a pretty good reception. Even the animation was better than I expected. Yeah, it was fake at parts, but suspend disbelief will ya folks? It’s a movie! More on Hulk in the Barrel of Fish (shameless plug).
And James…reread Jay Solo’s movie review. It is not an “ouch,” but rather a favorable (if not brief) review. He is right on with the Star Trek comment. There was a slow buildup on this one, but I think it was necessary. And I actually didn’t think it was all that slow; it held my attention all the way through…and I even forgot my Ritalin tonight.
Jay and John: I got that Jay liked the movie but thought it was slow. But any comparision to STTMP is an automatic OUCH! in my book. Lord, that was an awful movie.
And the sad thing about STTMP is the concept was intriguing.
Hulk was the hot topic of Mark Davis’s radio show today. He went off on it for about an hour and had absolutely nothing good to say about it. I’ve never heard him lambast a movie like this. He killed any possibility that I might rent it on DVD or even watch it for free one day when it makes its way to tv.
I don’t get it. I thought Hulk was a very good film, even one that the critics could enjoy as it had a fairly decent psychological plot.
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