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 Read the full post.
Nov 7
2006
04:14 PM ET
Hulk, Batman, and my morning nerd-out
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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.
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