Incredible Hulk Movie

[Glimfeather]

In the spirit of the Hulk franchise, I’m gonna try a reboot of this thread. Everyone’s welcome to discuss their likes and dislikes of the movie in a fun and friendly manner. I’ll start.

[clears throat]

Lou Ferrigno is still the Hulk to me. While the CGI in this latest movie was, to my eye, less embarrassing than the last, I take the point raised by many that swapping your lead human actor out for an animated creation once you hit the climax kinda undercuts the emotional investment in the face you’ve been watching up till then.
When Lou burst onto the scene in the TV show, the fitness culture hadn’t completely hit mainstream yet; we weren’t deluged with the bodybuilders, the pro-wrestlers, the gladiators, the personally-trained actors, and other Shwarzenegger-wannabes parading around the screen these days, giving the illusion that everyone must look like that in real life. Nope, Lou was still unique enough to look, well, Incredible, when he strode in amongst those puny humans (and he’s still big enough to be impressive today).
And here’s the other great thing about the TV version of the Hulk. He didn’t kill anybody. I’m sure this was partly because of television standards for violence, but it contributed a unique trait to the character–because he was still David Banner on the inside, and David Banner was a good man, he would never kill, no matter how enraged he became. This may have shaved off some of the anti-hero quality the comic book Hulk carried, but I always liked this aspect of him. It was positive reinforcement for a little nerd like me that you could apply strength to a situation, even to the point of scaring people, without it meaning that you were a monster.

So I loved the TV show, as cheesy and formulaic as it was. I also liked this latest movie, and even the Ang Lee movie. I’m still not a big comic book fan, even after a more than a year at the GWC, but I do own a copy of Return of the Monster that I keep in a plastic sleeve. So, for better or for worse, I like all the major incarnations of the Hulk in different degrees and for different reasons. But I’ve philosophized enough for now, so I shall step aside and let someone else talk.

[Default_Prophet]

>_> They swapped out the main character on the TV show as well man.

Also Hulk doesn’t kill anybody unless he’s mind controlled or some other such plot device

[TheFifth]

For being a gorilla of a man, Lou Ferrigno is also a really nice guy. I had the pleasure of meeting him way back kicking back at the pool at a hotel in Manila.

Norton did do all the mocap, even captured his facial expressions, for the animated hulk so it’s still stayed him in Hulk mode in a way… tho I really didn’t see any connection tying either performance together. They seemed to try really hard to keep the humanity out of the beast.

The hulk was never a very interesting character to me, he’s just Frankenstein meets Dr. Jeykl in essence. I did find the gray hulk very amusing tho.

Norton gave it his all I’m sure, but I never feel that it or the Ang Lee version really came together especially after the hack job they did on this one. The Hulk is probably just too many contradictions to play out in a 2 hour span. I said more than enough on this in the other thread.

[Leah]

In the spirit of the Hulk franchise, I’m gonna try a reboot of this thread. Everyone’s welcome to discuss their likes and dislikes of the movie in a fun and friendly manner. I’ll start.

[clears throat]

Lou Ferrigno is still the Hulk to me. While the CGI in this latest movie was, to my eye, less embarrassing than the last, I take the point raised by many that swapping your lead human actor out for an animated creation once you hit the climax kinda undercuts the emotional investment in the face you’ve been watching up till then.
When Lou burst onto the scene in the TV show, the fitness culture hadn’t completely hit mainstream yet; we weren’t deluged with the bodybuilders, the pro-wrestlers, the gladiators, the personally-trained actors, and other Shwarzenegger-wannabes parading around the screen these days, giving the illusion that everyone must look like that in real life. Nope, Lou was still unique enough to look, well, Incredible, when he strode in amongst those puny humans (and he’s still big enough to be impressive today).
And here’s the other great thing about the TV version of the Hulk. He didn’t kill anybody. I’m sure this was partly because of television standards for violence, but it contributed a unique trait to the character–because he was still David Banner on the inside, and David Banner was a good man, he would never kill, no matter how enraged he became. This may have shaved off some of the anti-hero quality the comic book Hulk carried, but I always liked this aspect of him. It was positive reinforcement for a little nerd like me that you could apply strength to a situation, even to the point of scaring people, without it meaning that you were a monster.

So I loved the TV show, as cheesy and formulaic as it was. I also liked this latest movie, and even the Ang Lee movie. I’m still not a big comic book fan, even after a more than a year at the GWC, but I do own a copy of Return of the Monster that I keep in a plastic sleeve. So, for better or for worse, I like all the major incarnations of the Hulk in different degrees and for different reasons. But I’ve philosophized enough for now, so I shall step aside and let someone else talk.

I liked how Lou Ferrigno had a cameo and was the voice of the Hulk. I think he was the voice. I read credits, but they move fast so I may be in error.

I need your help. What is with the Bruce v.s. David thing. I thought maybe one is his first name and one was his middle. He used his middle name so he could not be found. Or was it a T.V. or comic book change/error. This is a test for all you Hulk fans. Not really, but I would like to know.

[Glimfeather]

In the original comic books (and now the movies), the hero is named Bruce Banner. When they made the TV show, they decided to step back from the alliterative trope of naming characters (Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Peter Parker, Lex Luthor, etc., etc.), and to name the character David instead. There was a nod to this at the end of the Norton movie in which he receives a package from the pawn shop addressed to “D. Banner”.

[Leah]

In the original comic books (and now the movies), the hero is named Bruce Banner. When they made the TV show, they decided to step back from the alliterative trope of naming characters (Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Peter Parker, Lex Luthor, etc., etc.), and to name the character David instead. There was a nod to this at the end of the Norton movie in which he receives a package from the pawn shop addressed to “D. Banner”.

Your have a good eye spotting the D. That was what reminded me that he used both names. Did you notice how they got Bill Bixby into the movie?

I personally enjoyed the person to person conversations more than the Hulk smash. I know many young viewers just like the action.