The Incredible Hulk

Over the past five to eight years, Marvel Studios has made a name for themselves that almost outshines the name they have put on their comic books.  The success of the Spiderman franchise, in addition to the X-Men series, Ironman, and now The Incredible Hulk, has made Marvel Studios a sure bet for a great summer flick.  For whatever reason, however, The Incredible Hulk has been done over and over again, and it never really seemed to catch on with viewers.  It could be that the hero is just too unbelievable, or it could be that people don’t think a giant green muscular…thing is really a superhero.  I have reason to believe, however, that this version of the Hulk, will be different.  Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) is living in exile in Rio de Jinero, Brazil, hiding out from the vicious General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt) after a failed experiment turned him into the Incredible Hulk, a vicious monster who feeds off of his own aggression.  Bruce has lost everything, even his girlfriend and fellow scientist, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler).  Determined to get back what he lost, and return his life to some semblance of normalcy, Bruce contacts Samuel Sterns (Tim Black Nelson), who is working on a cure for Bruce’s condition.  Upon returning to the U.S. Bruce continues to have flare-up’s of his unusual condition.  General Ross and the Armed Forces catch on, and Ross, who knows that the Hulk can not be beat with guns, enlists Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), a soldier, to take a small dosage of the blood that is inside of Bruce’s system, effectively making Blonsky stronger, faster, and more fit to battle the Hulk.  Blonsky, however, gets greedy, and ends up stealing more of Bruce’s blood from Dr. Sterns, making him into a super villain who is just as powerful as the Hulk himself.  Soon, a battle between good and evil will take place, with Earth and its people as the onlookers.  My analysis is below, here are some stills from the film.

Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk

Liv Tyler in The Incredible Hulk

The digital age is here, as evident in The Incredible Hulk

William Hurt in The Incredible Hulk

I have to admit that I was a bit weary about going to see this movie because of the past failures to bring the Hulk to the big screen.  I will say though, that this version of the Hulk was by far the best, and has the biggest potential to be a big time franchise.  I also have to say that I like what Marvel has begun to do.  It started with Ironman, and continued with The Incredible Hulk.  Marvel has begun making references to a probable Avengers movie (supposedly hitting the box office in 2011).  They’ve begun to tie the superhero films together, as evident with Robert Downey Jr. reprising his role as Tony Stark for this version of The Incredible Hulk.  I’d say this movie was strong, getting 4 out of 5 stars, and a nomination for my award for Best Movie of the Summer.  I’m also pondering creating a “Best Production Company or Team” award due to the many great movies that have come out under the same production company name.  Marvel would of course be up for that award, as well as Paramount, Universal, as well as some others.

Get Smart

Even though several mainstream media outlets gave Get Smart low ratings, it still struck well with the fans in its first weekend at the box office.  The film begins before Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell) is an agent for the top secret government force known as CONTROL.  When CONTROL’s top enemy, members of KAOS, break into CONTROL’s main base, the identities of all of the agents working for CONTROL are compromised.  The Chief, (Alan Arkin), decides that it’s time for Max to go out into the field.  With the help of an attractive female partner (Anne Hathaway), the two set out to find and catch the members of KAOS who stole a large amount of nuclear explosives and  gave them to unstable dictators.  There is only one problem, Max isn’t cut out for field work, and more often than not, dumb luck is the only way he manages to stay alive.  This hilarious comedy is definitely worth full price, and it will have you laughing all the way home.  Here is the theatrical one-sheet from the film.

For as much bad press as this film received, Get Smart was hilarious.  When you are laughing about a movie that you saw yesterday, its a really good sign, and that’s what happened after I saw Get Smart.  Steve Carrell is the only person that could pull off the slapstick humor that embodies Maxwell Smart.  This easily gets a nomination for my award for Best Comedy of the Summer.  I give the film 4.5 out of 5 stars.