Blog Hop 2019: I tried to defend the Incredible Hulk, and I went insane.

For this go-around of the blog hop, I was planning to defend a movie whose reputation
needs a little boosting; The Incredible Hulk (2008)  Or so I thought. However, after re-watching
without the lens of nostalgia, the movie’s constant low placing on various Marvel lists make sense. 
So for this blog hop, I’m going to examine The Incredible Hulk (2008) and look at it as straightforward
as possible. To begin, let's look at that *thud*

*Wakes up an indeterminate number of hours later, head throbbing*

Me:  What the hell happened?  Wh…why am I tied up?

*Down the dark corridor, I hear a deep, reverberating smack.  A millisecond later, the bestial groan
of “hulk smash” echoes towards me.  A figure cuts through the darkness. Right away, the bright green
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hat pulls my eyes up.  Moving down, I’m unable to see the face due to
the bill being bent down, casting a shadow over my assailant’s face. . His Green Ranger shirt continue
d to green motif, but it was when I noticed his hands that the previous sounds made sense.  Adorning
each of his hands were those plastic hulk hands. The person looked up and finally revealed his profile.
It’s me.*

Me:…..........Huh.

Nostalgia: Hey there,  I’m the embodiment of your nostalgia.

Me:  No, I get that.  Pretty obvious, actually.  But why am I tied up?

N:  Desperate times.  You were getting ready to ruin one of your favorite movies from college, and
I couldn’t stand aside and abide by while it happened.

Me:  Hey, so let’s talk about this, you know, civilly.  Also, could you untie me before people start
overly analyzing the Freudian implications of one part of my psyche literally tying me up. 

*Unties me*

Me:  Thanks.  So, anyways, The Incredible Hulk is deserves all of the criticism.  Byyyyyeeeee!!!!

*Tries to run away.  Gets a few feet and hears the cocking of a gun”

N: *Waves gun at the chair*.  Have a seat.  I insist.

Me:  Okay, okay.  Hey, how about this?  What if we can alternate our individual takes through
various aspects of the film?

N:  OH! That’s a good idea!  I was just going to kill you, but this works too.  Better even!   

Me:  Okay, let’s try this again.  First let’s look at…

N:  *Cocks gun again*

Me:  Or...I guess you can go first if you want.

N: Gladly.

The 2008 Incredible Hulk opens with one of the best uses of opening credits a superhero movie has
ever done.  In it, we witness Marvel in the early stages of crafting their “requel”, which pretty much
meant that the movie was a reboot of the character from the 2003 box office bomb, but it could also
act as a continuation of that movie as well.

This was accomplished in the opening credits, which are a series of flash scenes that show the Hulk’s
origin story while effectively establishing his relationships with characters within the first 5 minutes.  It’s
quick and impactful, and does a great job of delivering an important story needed to play catch up
without bloating it up into its own feature.

Me:….

N:..... Well?  You got something to say?

Me:  Not really, because you’re right.

N:  Really?

Me:  Yeah, I actually liked this part.  Marvel knew that we knew the origin story, so they treated us with
respect by not retelling the same origin story like Sony did with their Spiderman reboot.

N:  Very cool.  Thanks!

Me:  You’re very welcome.  Although, there’s really no style to the scenes in question.  They’re just
showing us things. But it’s such a small portion of the movie, so I won’t instigate a battle on this front
any further.  Besides, it’s my turn.     

The acting, for the most part, is serviceable at best and, well, interesting at its worst.  Edward Norton is
a fine Bruce Banner, but it’s not until Mark Ruffalo took over the role in The Avengers (2012) that it
becomes apparent that Mr. American History X didn’t really bring anything to the table that was close
to compelling.  The same goes for all the other actors….except for Liv Tyler. Goodness me, we need
to talk about her.

N: *Brings out a Lord of the Rings wallet, all the while keeping the gun’s barrel steadily forward*. 
Careful now.

Me:  Hey, she’s not a bad actress.  She has efficiently and confidently nailed a lot of my favorite roles
in the last decade though.  

N: *Relaxes grip on gun*

Me:  It’s just that THAT actress didn’t show up.

N: *Tightens grip on gun*

Me:  All right, all right.  But it’s still not a good performance.  

Her eyes seem to be void of any attachment to any scene she’s in.  You could probably digitally move
her into the background with the aimless extras and she would fit in perfectly.  And when she speaks,
it’s from a place of aloofness. For example, there’s a scene after she goes on the run with Bruce.  She
comes back to the hotel and hears him vomiting. He then reveals to her that he ate the jump drive
with all of his data for safekeeping earlier at the college.  Her response, both facial and verbal, contains
the same energy as a billionaire whose been asked for a raise: tremendous indifference and
non-interest.

N:  Hey, sometimes actors are given poor directions.

Me:  Oh, so you’re saying that this movie has bad direction?

N: ………

Me:  ……….

N: Hey, let’s talk about the actual hulk

Me:  Let’s 

N:  That first time you see him?  Man, what a treat!

The first sequence featuring him plays out like a monster movie.  As it should. It’s mostly just flashes of him in a dark area. The bad guys are taking out one by one in the most visually minimal, but satisfying, ways.  My favorite is when you see one of the victims emerge from a darkened corridor, running towards the camera. Before he’s able to make it to safety, the Hulk (unseen by the audience) pulls him back into the darkness.  He screams, and it’s so awesome! And then the full reveal of his face? With the darkness framing and accentuating his monster-ish features? What a killer shot.

Me:  It IS awesome!  To paraphrase Joss Whedon, the Hulk works best as a werewolf movie.  This
scene cements that approach as one of the best ways to portray the character.  It’s just a shame that
the movie had to turn into an action heavy comic book movie at the end.

N:  But the action sequence in the finale between him and the abomination is such a fun display of
destruction and earth shaking punches!

Me:  There is a lot of destruction in it sure, but when was the last time you watched the movie?  

There’s actually not a whole lot of action going on here.  The two mutated roid machines punch each
other in the street, bad guy chases helicopter onto rooftop, then the two not-so-jolly green giants punch
each other again, but this time the Hulk punched a little harder.  Thus, the fight ends. That’s it. 

Overall, it’s not a bad movie, but there’s a reason why it usually ends up at the bottom of everyone’s
rankings of the Marvel movies.  Outside of a couple cool visuals in the action sequences, there’s really
nothing else here to engage you.

N:  Well, you’re being too harsh.  The Incredible Hulk is the best Hulk movie ever. It features more
action and contains the comic book sensibilities we look forward to in these types of movies.  I highly
recommend it.

Me:  Meh. So, are you gonna let me go?

N:  Huh?  Oh yeah, of course.  I’m just a figment of your imagination after all.

Me:  Oh yeah, that’s right.

For Tuesday's blog hop entry, click here www.jamideise.blogspot.com and see what Jami has in store for her blog.