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they say there are 70 minutes of extra scenes, to be included in some sort of 'extended' DVD version.
I didn't mind so much the Brazilian segment. It was pretty clear it was there just as background for a good chase scene, which is perfectly fine with me, and the bad Portuguese seem to have been dubbed in the copy I saw to reduce the appaling accent, which was somewhat comic.
In comparison with Ang Lee's Hulk, it's easier to number where both movies are similar* than where they are different, the main which (IMHO) are as follows.
I find Ang Lee's Hulk to be a pretty decent movie. The problem with it, other than the gamma-poodle, and I believe the cause for its limited success, was that it was not really a super-hero movie. It was a monster movie with tragic overtones. You know, like King Kong or Frankstein. Complete with tragic flaw and everything. And, cleverly, the tragic flaw was not simply "anger", as one would first assume (anger is the consequence of the flaw, the "curse"), but, in the case of Banner, was "ignorance" -i.e. he did not know his own origins, which is very bad from the greek classic point of view. Very much like Oedipus, actually. But with lots of things to say about hubris and child abuse (as reflected in General Ross and Banner's crazy scientist father), which is fine. The only real reference to the super-hero ethos, other than the obvious giant green man, evidently, was the much awesome comic book-like split-screen editing, which reminded me from those old static Marvel cartoon and I frakking loved. This Hulk, on the other hand, is a super-hero through and through, with all the right cues and clichés for the genre. It was even an origin movie, though it was the origin not of the main hero, but of his nemesis(es?) Abomination and, more discretely, the Leader. It was simple, direct, adolescent, with no real innovation in story-telling. But it was also fun thanks to the action and visual effects. In those senses, I liked the first Hulk better, but the new one was not at all unpleasant.
The Hulk design in Ang Lee's movie was completely different from the Incredible Hulk. Ang Lee's reference was obviously the comics, with the Shrek-shaped body, the changing of size according to level of rage, the stretchy pants, the leaping miles at a time-level of power. This Hulk reference was the old TV series, including the more human-shaped body, the ripped clothes and the not-so-far fetched leaping. Ang Lee at least had his Hulk face tailored after Banna, while this Hulk looked more like Lou Ferigno than Ed Norton. Both Hulks had a child-like feel to them, expressed in their innocence and body language (Ang Lee's more proeminently so) which I found endearing in the movie as I did in the TV series and and do in some of the comic books. After all, nothing like a "pre-educated" child to display unrelenting, unabridged anger. Overall, I like the new Hulk better, but the old one is cool too.
General Ross' character was also completely different. In Ang Lee's version, he was more honet, more honorable. He did do nasty thing, but only to fix the mess caused by others, and to protect both his country and his daughter, not one over the other. He was thus much more likeable, which was ok, because there was another guy who could play the all-out villain instead of him. In this movie the man was not just responsible for the Hulk creation (birth?), he did so on purpose and is willing, even if only subconsciously (but then again, maybe not so subconsciously) to endanger his own daughter to catch his weapon back and salvage his career. Not so likeable at all (we can even take the "look for the only white guy there" comment to include racism to his list of shortcomings). They are so different characters I can't even tell which I like better. As a person, the answer would be Ross the 1st, duh, but as fictional characters, they are both interesting in their own way.
In short, I like both movies in very different ways.
Oh yeah, and Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky (the man, not the CGI monster) was aces. In some senses, this movie was as much about him and his freaky powertrip-y search for self-damnation as it was about Hulk/Banner and his desperate search for purification
* which is zero, except maybe for the Elisabeth Ross character, who in both movies has the sole function of being there to provide Banner with a reason to actively seek a cure and, ocassionaly, to 'calm to beast'. All very meh, unfortunatelly. They could have done better with this character. |
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