Marvel Studios has released their second film of 2008, and while not as highly anticipated as Iron Man, there is a lot of buzz surround The Incredible Hulk.

Marvel has decided to reboot the Hulk franchise, ignoring Ang Lee’s Hulk movie which was not well received at all.  This time around, Louis Leterrier (The Transporter 1 and 2) is at the helm, and there is much more action as a result.

This film is very much an homage to the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferigno TV series from the 1980s.  Many images in the film are straight out of the show, as well as the Hulk’s origin.  Even the theme music makes an appearance.  But there are also a lot of comic book references as well, including the Mr. Green/Mr. Blue exchange from Bruce Jones’ “Return of the Monster” storyline, and cameos by some familiar comic characters.

Banner is in hiding after his first Hulk-out, where he nearly killed his girlfriend, Betty, and her father, General Thunderbolt Ross.  But he’s slipped up, and now the General is closing in, which gives the movie a Fugitive-type feel.  To help hunt Banner down, General Ross assembles a team of specialists, including Emil Blonksy, a life-long soldier who loves a challenge.  After Blonsky sees the Hulk first hand, he wants to do whatever it takes to bring him down, including being injected with the Super Soldier Serum (hinting at the upcoming Captain America film).  This gives him enhanced strength and speed, but it’s not enough for Blonsky.  So he’s infused with some of Banner’s blood and becomes the Abomination, and monster bigger and badder than the Hulk.  This sets up the film’s final confrontation between the two monsters.

All of the roles from the first film have been recast, with Edward Norton playing Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, and William Hurt as General Thunderbolt Ross.  Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs) plays the Emil Blonsky/The Abomination.  Marvel has done it again with the casting, and everyone plays their roles perfectly.  Norton really shines as Banner, and it’s great that he gets a chance to strut his stuff in an action/comic book movie.

The Hulk looks like he’s supposed to this time – Nine feet tall, green and mean.  The film makers were able to capture more emotion in this Hulk which should make him more acceptable as a CGI character.  The CGI Hulk didn’t bother me at all, but the Abomination was a bit much.  He really looks nothing like his comic book counterpart, and more like a mini-Godzilla crossed with something out of a horror movie.

The best parts of the film are when Banner is on the run.  That’s not to say that the Hulk scenes were bad – most of them weren’t – but one of the things that made the Hulk TV show work well was the Fugitive aspect of it, and it works well here, too.

The weakest part of the movie is the big Hulk/Abomination battle.  Maybe it was the CGI, maybe it was that seeing two monsters beat the tar out of each other can only go so far, but it just didn’t work for me.  The final scene of the movie also seemed forced and out of place.  I think that it would have worked better a little earlier than where it showed up.  Despite that, it’s a great scene for the fans.

Since I’m a movie score nut, I’ve got to deduct points again for the music in the film.  Much like Iron Man, the music has no themes for any of the characters, nothing that you walk away from the film humming, (except a few bars from the Hulk TV show).  It would be nice to see a recognizable name composing music for future Marvel films, because so far, they’ve been pretty lame.

Overall, The Incredible Hulk is far superior to the Ang Lee Hulk movie.  It’s faster paced, more engaging, and just plain fun.  Fans of the TV show will like it, fans of the comic books will like it, and even casual fans should enjoy it.

I’m giving the Incredible Hulk a B rating.

Thanks for reading.

Marc Bowker
Sideshow Movie Collectibles

The team that could do no wrong in the 1980s (George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford) have reunited for the sequel that we never thought would happen – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  It’s been a long time since any of these guys have had a bona-fide hit, (the Star Wars prequels don’t count because most fans of the original films really don’t like them), but did they return to greatness with Indy IV?

Let me preface this review by stating that Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie of all time.  I’m also a huge Indiana Jones fan.  Despite this, I had relatively low expectations for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull due to the lackluster films that the guys mentioned earlier have made in the last 15 years.  Still, the Indy fanboy in my was pretty darn excited when the Lucasfilm logo appeared on the screen last night and the movie began.

The first half of the movie is the answer to the prayers of all Indy fans.  Action, drama, well-placed humor, nods to the previous films, and an older, but maybe not wiser, Indiana Jones.  I totally accepted Indy in 1957 and the storyline had me curious.  The intro of Mutt Williams, (played by Shia Labeouf), works well, too.

But, the second half of the movie was a bit of a let down.  The action/fight scenes are drawn out too long, the humor is overplayed, and the whole crux of the movie just doesn’t hold up to any of the previous films.  Cate Blanchett’s villainous Irina Spalko, is pretty lame, too, compared to the baddies in the first two films, but on par with Walter Donovan from the Last Crusade. Bottom line is that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has the weakest overall story of the four Indy films, and the mystery in this one is just so-so.

Having said all of that, it’s Indiana Jones!!! Go see this movie in the theater.  As with all of the previous Indy movies, it’s got a huge scope, and I liked a great deal about it.  First and foremost, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) is back!  The best of Indy’s love interests from the movies, Marion could hold her own with Indy in Raiders, and she fares pretty well in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Harrison Ford has been in slump for the last 15 years, but he hits it out of the park here.  His portrayal of Indy is nostalgic and refreshing at the same time.

John Williams’ score is excellent.  He weaves elements from the three previous films into a new tapestry of music for the film and it does what all good scores do – it enhances, and becomes part of, the movie.

With one viewing of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I would rank it just about even with, or slightly better than, The Last Crusade, but not as good as Temple of Doom and nowhere near as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark.  But it’s a solid sequel that most fans of the series should enjoy.

It gets a grade of B/B-.

Thanks for reading.

Marc
Sideshow Movie Collectibles

I was never a big fan of Speed Racer growing up.  Looking back, I can probably connect that to the fact that I’ve never liked Anime.  Having said that, I’ve seen at least of couple of episodes and know the theme song by heart, which was enough to qualify me to see the big screen version of Speed Racer.

The Racer family revolves around racing.  Pops Racer designs and builds the cars.  Rex Racer, (Speed’s older brother), races them, and young Speed idolizes his older brother and is totally preoccupied with racing.   When Rex is killed in a cross country rally, the Racer family almost falls apart.  But they pull it together and Speed grows up and fills his brothers shoes as the racing Racer of the family.

When an evil racing sponsor offers the Racers the opportunity of a lifetime and Speed turns him down, we are introduced to the seedy underbelly of the racing world.  Races are fixed and racers are eliminated all in the name of big business.  The mysterious Racer X is waging a one-man war against the racing bosses and recruits Speed to help.  Which brings us to two thrilling race sequences – the earlier mentioned cross country rally that killed Speed’s brother and the Grand Prix.  Will the good guys defeat the racing profiteers?  Will Speed win the ultimate race?  You’ll have to see the movie to find out.

I was excited to be able to take my two boys, (ages 6 and 8), to see Speed Racer since it is rated PG, (unlike most of the summer fare which is PG-13), and they loved it.  My six-year-old wanted to see it again as we were leaving the theater.  Aside from some minor foul language, a middle finger, and some possibly scary situations for really young kids, the movie is a winner in the family feature genre.

Directed by the Wachowski brothers, (the Matrix), the film has a truly unique look and feel to it – one that may not work for all viewers, but I found it very cool to watch.  The racing scenes are thrilling, and you want to stand up and cheer for Speed in the final race.  The fight scenes are fun to watch, but you really need to suspend your disbelief before walking into the theater.

The ensemble cast helps make the movie work so well, with John Goodman and Susan Sarandon and Pops and Mrs. Racer.  Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights) plays Rex, LOST’s Matthew Fox is Racer X, Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow) plays Trixie and Emile Hirsch is Speed.  Comic relief is provided by Paulie Litt as Speed’s younger brother Spritle and his simian companion, Chim Chim.

Speed Racer has humor, drama, action and, of course lots of racing.  It’s a fun, family film that mom and dad should like just as much as the kids do, which is a rare thing, and it gets a solid B rating from me.