"The Incredibly Ironic Hulking Manatee" by Troy H. Cheek on Jun 16, 2008
Apparently, there's a rule somewhere which says that movies based on Marvel Comic books has to suck. I took my punishment by watching a dozen The Punisher movies a few weeks back. Actually, it was only three or four, but it seemed like at least a dozen. The one from 2004 starring (sic) Thomas Jane wasn't all that bad a movie, but it wasn't really The Punisher.
I'd like to say that I watched four different Fantastic Four movies, but I only found three when I went back to check. I most enjoyed the clunker from 1994 which the studio never meant to be released. Fortunately, nobody told the cast that, and their innocent enthusiasm kicks it up into "so bad it's good" territory. As opposed to the big money productions that came later. "So good it's bad."
I like vampires, I like the character Blade, I like Wesley Snipes, and I've been a big Kris Kristofferson fan for as long as I can remember, but for some reason after the first half of the first Blade movie, I got bored. I didn't even have to sleep with the lights on afterwards. Besides, the characters were changed so much from the comics that I barely recognized them.
The three Spider-Man movies weren't all that bad, though they drag in places. There's rumor of an edited version which condenses all three into a single two hour movie. I might like that better. The thing I like about the Spider-Man movies is that while they made changes to the characters, those changes work. They make the story better. Organic web spinners? Not in the comics, but they just worked. Radioactive spider bite becomes transgenetic spider bite? It works.
Which brings me to my point (really, I do have one!) that it's okay to mess with the mythology a bit to make a better movie, but you still have to stay true to the spirit of the comic.
And that in turn brings me to the point of discussing the two Marvel movies I watched last week: Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.
These are the 2008 versions of the movies. There was another Hulk movie back in 2003. It made a lot of changes from the comic version. While some of them worked, for the most part, I felt like I was watching some other movie with Hulk scenes randomly inserted. The 2008 movie also made changes (or, as some have suggested, used a different comic book universe "imagining"), but they worked. All the way through, I felt like I was actually watching a Hulk movie. There were even considerable shout outs to the old 1970s TV series. Luckily, said series is available on DVD and was recently aired again on TV, so a lot of people in the theater with me got them. As it was, I still found myself whispering answers to people on either side of me. How I was instantly recognized as the alpha geek in my row, I have no idea.
Some reviews I've read have a problem with the computer generated characters in this movie, like the titular Hulk. The comparison was, if I remember correctly, that the Hulk looked like a character from any modern rendered video game. My response is "yeah, but have you seen what video games are capable of nowadays?" Besides, the Hulk was pasted into the scene better than Liv Taylor. (Okay, I admit it. I have a thing for Jennifer Connelly from the 2003 movie. And Selma Blair is maturing nicely.)
Enough of the Hulk. Let's talk iron. There was another Iron Man movie a few years back. I watched it back then. I swear I did. But according to IMDB.com and everything else I checked, I'm imagining things. I'm a crazy old man who's hallucinating movies. So be it.
No matter. The 2008 Iron Man is cast from the same mold as the 2008 Incredible Hulk. Again, they've changed quite a bit or are adapting from a different universe. This Iron Man is a bit more comedic than I remember, and his drinking problem seems to be more of a choice than an addiction, but Robert Downey Jr works in this role. And Gwyneth or Charlize or Cameron or Uma or whoever that was as the love interest was pretty good, too.
The CG Iron Man was even better than the CG Hulk. Of course, CG effects have traditionally been better suited for mechanisms than organics. Still, in both movies, I could forget that I was watching electrons and not real people. And Iron Man in his suit was completely seamless.
Both these movies are scheduled for sequels. For once, I think that's a good thing.
