THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008) - Louis Leterrier

Once upon a time, Ang Lee directed a film about a giant green man who had anger management problems and liked so smash things up. The powers that be, along with a large number of fans didn’t think the movie was up to scratch. They complained and complained and the large green man’s opus disappeared into obscurity and the cast and crew who brought the green man to life were dropped from any subsequent film about the character. Five years later, a new director, and a new cast came along and the green man was resurrected in an attempt to reboot the ailing franchise. And thus, in 2008, The Incredible Hulk was unleashed.

The Incredible Hulk pretty much picks up where the last film left off, without making any reference to it’s predecessor. In the credits sequence, we’re given a very light version of how Bruce Banner’s gamma ray experiment went horribly wrong and turned him into the mutating green Hulk. We see how he went on the run and General Ross, the father of Banner’s love began the odyssey to find Banner. We’re then transported to Brazil where Banner is working for a bottling plant while in his spare time he searches for a cure for his Hulk infection. After a freak accident, General Ross learns of Banner’s location and sends a squad of soldiers led by somewhat mad soldier Emil Blonsky to bring Banner in. After it all goes horribly wrong, Ross attempts to create a super-soldier using all-too-willing Blonsky as a guinea pig. But Blonsky becomes addicted to the serum and eventually turns into Abomination, whom only the Hulk has the power to stop.



I have to admit, I’m one of the few who really enjoyed Ang Lee’s version of the Hulk story. I will admit, it did have it’s problems. Eric Banna was a little too dashing to play Bruce Banner. The Hulk’s nemesis in that film was a little far out in terms of the usual super-hero villain. But aside from those minor quibbles, I thought Hulk was a massive and quite refreshing departure from the usual comic-book fare. So when I heard of Louis Leterrier’s reboot of the franchise, I was a little surprised. And having watched the film, it’s clear that Marvel pretty much wanted to ‘make up’ to the fans of the Hulk for the lack of action in the first film. So what we get in The Incredible Hulk is a film that is basically a bunch of action sequences tied tenuously together with a very thin story. In terms of story, the most interesting moment for me lies in the last few moments. A character from a recently released Marvel adaptation steps into this film and begins to tie a number of franchises together. While, for me it’s no Batman and Superman teaming up, it’s still a moment you can’t help grinning at. Especially if you know exactly where all these little moments are going.

What makes Bruce Banner/Hulk such an interesting character is his relationship to anger. His attempt to control this rage inside him and how it overcomes him and unleashes this Hyde-like character. The unfortunate thing with The Incredible Hulk is that this side of the story is only lightly touched upon. We have some interesting moments at the beginning of the film where we see Banner learning techniques to control his anger through breathing. We see him use... a watch to monitor his heart rate. Not exactly Shakespeare, but it carries the idea across. But once the first confrontation happens, everything else takes back seat to getting to the action sequences. In fact, you wouldn’t find yourself lost if you fast forwarded through the moments in between the set pieces to get to the next fight.



As for the fights themselves. Well, they’re quite impressive. There’s plenty of smashing, destroying and demolishing to keep the audience entertained. The fight in campus is more amusing than exciting as the military start with pistols and as things keep failing to bring the Hulk down, Ross just orders in bigger and bigger guns. The most interesting moment in this confrontation is between Hulk and Blonsky who’s been injected with the serum giving him super speed and agility, but keeping him human. Seeing more of this would have been great. Where the action does fall down, however, is in terms of special effects. Here, the film does seem to suffer. When the action with the Hulk kicks in, the film starts to look way too much like a cut-scene from a computer game. It’s not just that the Hulk looks way too CGI. It’s that everything, the Hulk, his environment, it all just looks too out of place within the rest of the film. One scene, featuring the Hulk and Betty Ross is more impressive than the others, but you still feel like every time the camera focuses on the Hulk, you’re looking at a cartoon. The design in Lee’s Hulk was just that bit better. It seemed less cartooney, more real and looked a helluva lot more like the Banner of that film than this Hulk does of Edward Norton. Once Norton changes into the Hulk, there is nothing of a resemblance between the two sides of the same character.

The cast is perfectly adequate for their roles. The stand out performances are from William Hurt as General Ross and Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky. Maybe it’s because villains get the juiciest roles that these actors seem to be streets ahead of everyone else. But Hurt and Roth are both excellent actors and are certainly relishing playing the bad guys. Edward Norton does a good enough job as Bruce Banner. Unfortunately, due to the script, written by Zak Penn who wrote the excellent X-Men 2 and the truly awful X-Men: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four and Elektra, Norton isn’t given much to do. He looks melancholy when secretly watching Betty Ross. And he looks fearful in the moment before Hulking out. But other than this, he’s not got much else to do other than furrow his brow in concentration when on a computer. Having seen Norton excel in a role that could be seen as similar to the Hulk in Fight Club, it’s a missed opportunity not to give Norton more to do. But then, the script is very flimsy.



Leterrier’s direction is adequate. During some of the action sequences, everything moves so fast and frenetically, that you wish things would just be a little clearer. But this is a minor quibble. It’s no Transformers, believe me. The Incredible Hulk is something of a quandary. For many people, it will be a vastly superior film to Ang Lee’s Hulk due to the injection of plenty of fight sequences. And for others, the lack of substance to the script will be a major flaw. If you could combine Lee’s depth of story to Leterrier’s action, you’d have something really special. But for now, The Incredible Hulk is entertaining, but nothing to get particularly excited about.


6/10

THE PAINTED VEIL (2006) - John Curran

Set against the backdrop of 1920s China, The Painted Veil tells the story of Kitty Fane (Naomi Watts), an upper class English woman who marries a young doctor to escape her overbearing mother. Kitty and her husband, Walter (Edward Norton) relocate to Shanghai, where she meets Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber), a man she begins an affair with. Walter discovers the affair and offers Kitty an ultimatum. Divorce, or accompany him to a remote Chinese village, where a cholera epidemic has broken out. Kitty chooses the later and the couple move to the village, miles from anything resembling civilization. Walter's cold indifference to his wife leaves her bored with her life. She takes a job in the local convent and, being close to her husband's work, she begins to see him in a different light. Meanwhile, the Chinese people begin to grow tired of English rule, and the seeds of revolution begin to take root all over the country.

Based on W. Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name, The Painted Veil is a romantic drama, but not the kind that pits two lovers who fall for each other at first sight. Instead, this is a story that is based around anger and resentment, and how love can evolve from these emotions. Edward Norton is back on form after a terrible performance in The Illusionist. His Dr. Walter Fane is a cold academic, unused to dealing with people. He says himself, he has become used to talking only when he has something to say. This kind of personality is at odds with his wife, the sort of spoiled aristocrat, used to parties and dancing. Naomi Watts proves she is one of the finest actresses in the business, playing a woman rejected twice, and feeling desperately alone in a world she it totally unused to. Apart from being jilted by a lover and treated indifferently by her husband, she finds herself becoming bored with her existence. Watts plays this her character as a delicate, graceful yet rebellious woman, thrown into a world of poverty and disease, a world that she cannot get used to.

The film starts off at a slow pace. Though we are taken quickly through the affair and the departure from Shanghai, once the film transports us to rural China, the guts of the story are tackled. Director John Curran paints an incredibly beautiful picture of the countryside, and really captures the tone and mood of those period dramas from the 1950s. However, the story is somewhat thin. There are the seeds of some very interesting stories concerning the uprising of the Chinese people against the foreigners in their country. Or indeed, the cholera epidemic, and how this was dealt with. However, these plot points are hardly dealt with due to the focus on the two main characters. Which isn't surprising really, as this is a romantic drama. But with a story that is so simply set revealed, you feel there could have been more of a place for subplot. Despite this, the film manages to hold your attention. And with two actors on top form, ample support from Schreiber and British character actor, Toby Jones, and a simply stunning backdrop, you can forgive the shortfalls of this film. Worth checking out.

THE ILLUSIONIST

The Illusionist is the second film released in the last few months that deals with magic and illusion. The first, Christopher Nolan's The Prestige was an excellent study of obsession as two rival magicians competed to create the greatest illusion the world has ever seen. Released next month is Neil Buger's The Illusionist. Set in turn of the century Vienna the film is about a mysterious magician known as Eisenheim (Edward Norton) who creates illusions unlike any other. Word of his feats reaches the Crown Prince, who takes his fiancee Sophie (Jessica Biel) to see Eisenheim perform. Eisenheim and Sophie meet and fall in love and Eisenheim uses his abilities to free her from her obligations and subvert the stability of the Royal House of Vienna.

Comparisons between The Prestige and The Illusionist are obviously going to be made. Both films deal with magic, a subject that has been overlooked to some degree in the last while. Both films are period pieces. But, honestly, that's where the similarities end. Having seen The Prestige, I was looking forward to this film and to see what an American production about a similar subject would be like. And to my disappointment, the film is fairly poor. The film is essentially a historical romance, stroke thriller, but there is very little romance in the story and barely any thrills! The illusions are quite obviously CGI, and while this is to be expected for the elaborate tricks, something just seemed very false about the whole film. Edward Norton, who usually delivers excellent performances creates a character that is devoid of charm and charisma. He seems to listlessly drift through the film and his chemistry with Jessica Biel is non-existent. Paul Giamatti, who plays Inspector Uhl, the Crown Prince's chief of police is on fine form, but even he cannot save this boring and languid film. The direction is acceptable, but the screenplay is really the film's weakness. I found myself caring very little for the characters and the film's 'twist' is predictable and trite. Avoid.