Summer o' Movies 5 & 6: Incredible Hulk & WALL-E

[woodwardiocom]

The Incredible Hulk

While this movie's beginning follows from Hulk's ending, in that Bruce Banner is on the run in South America, apart from that they decided to ditch quite a bit of Ang Lee's film. The complex backstory involving his father is gone, and the origin gets swapped for one more reminiscent of the original TV show. Indeed, the homages to the TV show fly thick and fast, and bravo, I say. Norton does a fine job of portraying Banner as a smart, kind guy in unbearable circumstances, tormented by an alter ego he can't control. I do wish they'd played more with treating the Hulk as a separate character. They seem kind of afraid of even saying the word "Hulk".

However, they're not afraid to give us big fancy fight scenes, with the one against the military being the best. Plus, guest appearances and origins for a lot of the Hulk's supporting cast from the comics, most notably Tim Roth as the Abomination, trying to reclaim his youth, and not getting what he bargained for.

Bey considers this only one notch below Iron Man. I wasn't quite that delighted (hey, I'm a technophile), but I'd happily see it again. Highly recommended.

WALL-E

Pixar can pretty much do no wrong by me, and this is another note-perfect movie in their canon. Our protagonist trash-compacting robot is left behind on Earth, after humanity has abandoned it to the cockroaches, and spends a few centuries building skyscrapers out of garbage, while quietly developing a personality. Then a strange harbinger appears from the sky, looking for something . . .

The first half of this movie proceeds without dialogue or humans, and is rich and well-realized. The second half is a bit more traditional, but still a constant flurry of beautifully conceived and rendered scenes. The anti-consumerist message is heavy-handed but, in this era, perhaps necessary. There are rumors of a Best Picture nom for this film, and I think it deserves it. Highly recommended.

Comments

[inthatoneway.livejournal.com]

Question about the Hulk. During the big fight scene towards the end, there was a bit where Abomination was pounding Hulk's head into the pavement. (perhaps visa versa) All of a sudden, the Abomination was crashing through chain link fences, and the Hulk was pulling himself out of a dumpster. Did they chop 15 seconds out of the copy I was watching, or was that how the movie actually goes? If the later, someone on the editing team needs a severe wrist slap.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

I genuinely don't recall, sorry.