What’s the best thing about comic-book movies? The effects? The anticipation? Predicting the next fanboy dustup/wankfest? Let’s go with the latter and look into some potentially controversial developments.
Hulk: You didn’t like him when he was angry. Will you like him when he’s… persistent? We’ve been told for some time now that a Hulk sequel (or “do over,” as Marvel honcho Avi Arad has called it) is in the works. Somehow, I didn’t really believe it until now. There’s a date, June 27, 2008. There’s a director, Louis Leterrier (Unleashed) and a screenwriter, Zak Penn (one of the large team of scribes who built the X-Men franchise). Marvel says this one will hew closer to the comic, with more action, more Hulk heroism and roughly 100% less Nolte. Let the cheering, sniping, and hulking out begin.
After the jump: More casting buzz on the next Batman…
Batman: In his next big-screen adventure, Batman fill fight Hawkman.Wait… read that wrong: Batman will fight Ethan “The Hawkman” Hawke.Maybe. There’s a rumor going around that Hawke’s being considered forthe role of “a lawyer” in The Dark Knight, Chris Nolan’s follow-up to Batman Begins. Might that “lawyer” be Harvey Dent, the debonair District Attorney fated to become Two-Face?
Not sure how I feel about this one. There’s a part of me that’sstill young and foolish, and wants oh-so-very much for Billy DeeWilliams to return to the Batman franchise. He’s too old? Ha! Thanks toa diet of nutritious sausage, Billy Dee Williams is ageless. And he was the Dent to end all Dents.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I’ve been reevaluating my dismissiveopinion of Ethan Hawke ever since he more than held his own in MichaelAlmereyda’s sleek fin de siecle Hamlet.But with Heath Ledger as young Joker, Christian Bale as young Bats,Hawke as young Two Face… I dunno, is this starting to feel a littlelike Muppet Babies Batman? So many pretty boys, so few… dents.
Ah, but I quibble. I quibble because it’s my job. And I’m enormously heartened by this news: Dark Knight co-composer Hans Zimmer says he and collaborator James Newton Howard wrote an additional leitmoif for Begins,which they intentionally held back. Bats has to earn that theme, saysZimmer. This is an excellent development: If I had one problem with Begins’atmosphere, it was the lack of a clean, unified musical theme. Irealize the original Danny Elfman march wasn’t a good match for Nolan’snaturalistic approach, but I wanted something equally bewitching toreplace it. That didn’t happen, and now I see why: Batman’s stillbecoming Batman. His theme is waiting for him. So are we. With batedBat-breath! And here endeth my morning nerd-out. Please pick up where Ileft off.
Comments (1-28) of 28 Add your comment
What really irritated and disappointed me about this version of the Hulk was that it felt like I was being prepped to buy a video game called Hulk. A CGI version of the Hulk – COME ON – do something real this time!
I’m a huge Ethan Hawke fan, but do admit this casting news makes me a little nervous. I have faith in Hawke’s acting and in Nolan though
The plan, as I understand it, is to make a Hulk movie that can use the licensed depiction of the Hulk in an later Iron Man movie, along with Captain America, the Iron Man Jon Favreau is doing… etc.
That’s a brilliant plan. That’s one that DC, who is owned by Warner Brothers, should have done a long time ago.
I’m ready for a new Hulk movie. More of the desert-fight scene stuff and less of the Nick Nolte.
I can’t wait for The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale did a phenomenal job with Batman Begins. The additions of Heath Ledger and Ethan Hawke (as the Joker and, presumably, Harvey Dent/Two-Face) will definitely work, given what Nolan has been able to do with the franchise thus far. Not to mention a Hans Zimmer score and potential new Batman theme? Given his track record (Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Crimson Tide, etc.), he’s easily up to the task. I dare say I am giddy with anticipation!
Ethan Hawke as a young Harvey Dent!!?
OMG THIS IS SO, SO… ZZZZZZZZ
I think it’s an insult to Ang Lee that Avi Arad considers the new Hulk movie a “do-over”. Okay, so Lee’s version of the Hulk was more cerebral than what most people wanted or expected. That doesn’t mean the Marvel execs need to insult him.
Ang Lee’s HULK had one of the most thrilling action sequences I’ve ever seen — the desert rampage — surrounded by the most painfully boring Freudian BS storyline of any superhero movie. Plus, Jennifer Connelly is a snore (why is she so acclaimed?!). I, for one, am psyched they’re giving the HULK franchise a do-over.
As for Ethan Hawke as Harvey Dent… see my above comment about Jennifer Connelly.
Are you guys on drugs? Lee’s HULK was boring, over-the-top, and the HULK looked like a mound of JELL-O. I remember seeing it in the theater and laughing at how bad it was and I wasn’t alone.
I get irritated everytime someones complains about a CGI hulk. Honestly, is there a real person with the sheer physical immensity to play the role of the hulk? No. No there isn’t. We don’t want the cheesy 1970s t.v. hulk, we want the one we always wished we would see when David Banner would turn into the hulk. The new movie could be good, but I must admit I was way more excited when I found out Ang Lee was directing the first one. This new director? I don’t know if he’s any good so that taints my excitement. Can’t be worse than Daredevil, The Punisher, Fantastic Four or X3, can it?
Exciting news all around! I think the casting for Batman is inspired; it’s already been proven that, on the “young” front, Bale and Cillian Murphy worked. Why not Oscar nominee Ledger (which is a choice that’s more and more inspired the more and more I think about it) and Hawk? It’s not like either is a callow, fledgling actor, or even that young, really.
As for Hulk…God bless you Ang, but let’s put that movie waaaay behind you, okay? I’m just happy that you didn’t kill the franchise (though by all rights, if your contribution is a foreshadowing of things to come, it should’ve been put out of its misery). Now, let’s see what Hulk can REALLY be.
I dont know why people didnt like the Hulk. I thought it was great. As for Batman, sure would be tough to mess that one up.
bring back Billy Dee!!
Hulk sequel, who cares! The Dark Knight….wont even stress on this one. As long as Christian Bale and more importantly Christopher Nolan are on board it’s all good. I seriously doubt Mr. Nolan would or could screw this up. I will even go out on a limb and predict that it will be better than Batman Begins. Comic book-movie tallies 1. Superman (1978) 2. Batman Begins 3. The Dark Knight…..we shall see.
The problem with the first one was the gay director. He prefers directing gay cowboys than action.
To ihateukfans:
Your comment is obviously intended to piss people off. Unfortunately, it only shows what a royal ass you are.
I have to disagree with Dre’s saying “We don’t want the cheesy 1970s t.v. hulk, we want the one we always wished we would see when David Banner would turn into the hulk.” I recently watched the original 1978 TV-movie, and watch the show occasionally on SCI-FI. The original movie had WAAAY more involving story and drama than the 2003 movie did. It was much more realistic. It was far easier to believe that a radiation experiment gone awry could turn Bill Bixby into a pumped up, snarling Lou Ferrigno than that Eric Bana could turn into a 15′ tall StaPuft Lime Jello Man. I always wished that the TV show had brought in a few more elements from the comic, though.
Make no mistake, Ang Lee is a great filmmaker. And his Hulk is an interesting compromise between what a big screen demands, what nostalgia for the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno version demands, and what Marvel and the studio creatively wanted to produce.
They all missed the most important factor– what makes The Hulk fun? It’s seeing him battle something worthy of him… while being chased and attacked by police and military who don’t understand that what every child does– the Hulk is good. The T.V. show had a great formula, watching Banner go from place to place in search of a cure… but there’s no reason the Hulk couldn’t be closer to the comics and fun again.
Seeing a hulked-out poodle was… stupid. We wanted the Leader; we wanted the Abomination. Instead, we got a weird synthesis of Banner’s dad and the Absorbing Man. Choosing what the Hulk is up against is important.
I only pray that the movie is not 2 hours of origin. We don’t need two hours of origin– and any actor who needs lengthy backstories for his character included to sign on to a comic-book movie needs to find another movie.
On the subject of Batman, take a moment to compare the two villains of Batman Forever: Jim Carrey’s Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face. The Riddler got a lot of unnecessary origin. Two-Face got it perfect– he came out shooting and his back story was less than a minute on a television screen.
What I hope for the next Batman movie is a light touch. Scenes of Wayne talking to Dent as a campaign contributor. Wayne finding out that Dent was attacked in court.
I have this feeling that the Joker will be the one who creates Two-Face this time, and that’s okay, as long as it’s a *light* touch and not a broad stroke.
The most important thing for the next Batman is to get rid of Bale showing RAGE. Batman’s scary as hell because he says little, judges those he encounters, and disappears without a sound. He’s the world’s greatest detective and he’s meant to scare people by how little emotion he shows– not by how much.
The challenge of Batman is to have Bale perform emotion only when Batman is in-between being Bruce Wayne and Batman… but not when he is one or the other.
I’m wiping the drool off my keyboard as this is written, so excuse any typos. The next Batman will be Awesome! SO long as they keep the same brooding Bruce Wayne (they FINALLY got it right) and the same director, it’ll fly. As for old and ugly dudes on the cast, hello, my main man Gary Oldman’s still in it right? He’s not pretty and dude can act!
The last Hulk was a real disapointment. And the video game was fun until you got stuck playing the Bruce Banner parts, then it started sucking big time. So I’ll stick around for this next one, but only if we get some real elements of Hulk. How about a fight with Wolverine and the Wendigo? A reimagined Hulk 181 would make for a great movie. Hulk smash puny human!
I, for one, and tired of origin stories. Even SUPERMAN RETURNS (which I liked) was a re-origin story. Let’s have a new HULK story, a new SUPERMAN story, a new BATMAN story etc. And let Superman fight someone who isn’t Lex Luthor.
Being such a big Batman fan, I was so worried about Batman Begins. Everything I saw and heard didn’t seem right about the movie. Then I saw it and it was the best film of the year! Yet I’m worried again about The Dark Knight. It actually is very easy to screw up a good thing (X3, Superman Returns) and Heath Ledger movies really suck. No one can be better than Jack Nic as the Joker. I would rather see some fresh villains like Clayface, the Mad Hatter or Scarface. I hope Nolan and Bale’s lisp can prove me wrong (again).
As for the “Do Over” Hulk? It is kind of an insult to the hundreds of people who worked hard on the first project. If this works, will we see a new trend in Hollywood “Do Overs”? If so, they should get started on Superman Returns and X3 (with Bryan Singer’s original Gambit draft)
As far as Ethan Hawke being considered for the possible role of Harvey Dent, I gladly say, BRING IT ON! Fans of the Spider-Man franchise were up in arms when the equally awkward casting of Topher Grace as Eddie Brock (aka Venom) was announced. They were all like, NO WAY! HE’S TOO SKINNY! If critics can swalllow Topher as Venom, I’m sure Ethan can be equally accepted & believable as Two-Face!! Besides, What if somewhere down the line, Uma Thurman decides to reprise her role as Posion Ivy? It’ll bring the family back together! At least now their kid will have action figures of BOTH Mommy & Daddy!!!
Ethan Hawke is 36. Since when is that young? Or are you just that old? He’s 4 years away from being over the hill!
Robert, what do you think the new Batman franchise is? A “Do over”. Granted, it’s been considerably longer between the Batman franchises, than the Hulk. But the Batman franchise started all over and said, those campy Batman movies from yester-year have nothing to do with this.
While I think Ang Lee should be a little peeved about this move, it’s not like he called dibs on the Hulk franchise and now no one can ever touch it again.
Say it ain’t so! The Hulk was pure garbage! The story was completely changed. It really was a stinker.
As long as Bale and Nolan do their thing on Dark Knight, I think it’ll turn out all right. Heath is growing on me for the role of joker, but I just can’t see Hawk in the role of Dent/Two Face. He’s too…scruffy/hippie/poet. Dent and Two Face are a little more cool and suave–Clive Owen would be an awesome Dent. I also hope they bring in Harley Quinn for the Joker. Rachel McAdams would make an awesome Quinn. And please get rid of Katie Holmes–she can’t act.
mwyj lxtrz qaiy tiqkpmhy ynrokw ohetgqsbr txfmw