Iron Man 2 Movie Review

When I think about the impression that Iron Man 2 left me with, it feels exactly the same way that the first Iron Man movie felt.  I was satisfied, but easily went on with life without giving a second thought to the movie. Maybe that’s why, after seeing it twice already, it has taken me this long to write a review on it. It was a fun movie, but left little to no impact on me.  One may argue that popcorn flicks like this do not have to be deep. I disagree. With the actor’s portrayal and the director’s ability to draw you in, they should have you leaving the theater chewing on the themes and talking them up in conversation with your fellow movie-going friends.

HULK SMASH! (Summer Movie Review part 2)

I just got back from seeing the Incredible Hulk tonight and let me just say as the biggest fan of the Hulk that I know, this was the Hulk movie I’ve been waiting my whole life to see. And now I get to type up a bloated review of it which I hope you’ll read. 🙂

Those of you who know me well, know that I am a huge fan of the Hulk. I have well over 100 Hulk comics and own many of the key rare issues.  But, before you think I’m biased let me say that it wasn’t perfect by any means. But the weaker things about the movie did not detract at all from the overall entertainment value.

The first half of this review will be spoiler FREE so feel free to read and I will let you know when the spoilers come up.

Hulk vs. Hulk

First of all, many people were initially confused because they all thought this new Hulk was a sequel to the less-than-stellar 2003 Ang Lee Hulk.  It is not. It has nothing to do with the previous movie. Which is good in two ways. 1) Those who hated the earlier movie can now wipe it from their memory forever and replace it with the new-and-improved Hulk. 2) Those who liked Ang Lee’s Hulk can take or leave the new one.

I prefer to take both. I know why most people hated the first one and I agree with them for the most part. But, what most people don’t know is that there is a LOT of psychological babble in the comic and many story arcs give more of the “monster” rather than “hero” feel to the Hulk. So, yes I timidly admit that I liked the 2003 Hulk.  I treat the two movies like two different story arcs in the comics. They may have nothing to do with each other, but you can still embrace both as part of the mythos.

Okay, enough about the old, on with the new!

The acting:  Hurt as Ross was above average. He’s a real jerk in the comic so that came across very well in the movie. He also LOOKED like Ross does in the comic. However, Sam Elliot played a better Ross in the first movie. Elliot was born to play Thunderbolt Ross. But, since I”m sure they wanted to distance themselves from the old Hulk, William Hurt proved to be a good second choice.

Tim Roth as Blonsky was the best performance in the whole movie. He made you want to hate him and by the end of the movie you’re glad to see him get the beating he deserved. But, along the way there were some HOLY SMOKES moments that came from him that made the ride well worth it.

Live Tyler as Betty Ross. Eh. She didn’t have much to do other than get mad at her father and help Bruce out. She’s an okay actress, but she was suppose to be this scientist and it simply wasn’t believable. The writers did nothing to make us think she was a scientist except to say that she was. Let’s just say I’m glad this movie was about the Hulk, not the inspiring romance of Bruce and Betty. I must say though, her reaction to seeing the Hulk for the first time? Priceless. And having her act as an accomplice/ally was reminiscent of the Peter David run of the Hulk.

Ed Norton as Bruce. He did pretty good. But, see this is where implementing the nuances of the Hulk comic and TV show did him a favor. Norton can be flat at times when he delivers a line. And he too was hard to depict as a scientist. Mostly because he looks so stupid wearing glasses. And I still have Fight Club and American History X in the back of my mind. Yet, there were so many small things pulled from the TV show and the comics that I ended up believing that was Bruce Banner up on the screen. (Another problem Norton had to contend with is that Banner is just not that interesting- comic or film. No amount of acting can change that.)

The CGI: Just amazing. Only one split second shot looked fake to me and it wasn’t even of the Hulk.  Just keep in mind that it doesn’t matter how good the CGI is, a big green guy walking around in broad daylight will never look real. Just suspend your disbelief and enjoy it for what it’s supposed to be.

Now on to the spoilers- I mean The Plot:

This, not Iron Man, this movie was totally engulfed in the Marvel universe. Iron Man set  it up, but Hulk knocked it out of the park. Weapon Plus was mentioned. The Super Soldier Serum was mentioned. SHIELD was mentioned. Nick Fury was mentioned. “The serum was put on ice.” is a vague reference to Captain America. And then of course the scene at the end of the movie with Tony Stark. “We’re putting a team together?”   “We who?”  ((I wanted finish Stark’s line so bad: “We as in Nick Fury and SHIELD. You’re through Ross. I just came here to make you hand over everything you know about the Super Soldier Serum and the Hulk.”))

Also, there things that were right out of the old TV show AND the comic. Many of you may remember the line “You’re making me angry. You wouldn’t like it when I’m angry,” well that’s in there- sort of. Lou Ferrigno was in the movie in more ways than one. Once as a security guard and you probably didn’t notice, but his voice was used for the hulk. The old gamma radiation machine from the TV show is in there. The THEME SONG FROM THE TV SHOW is in there!! Bill Bixby is even on a television screen in the opening scene in Brazil.

Dr. Sampson is in there, but his part was edited out big time (he played Betty’s love interest before Bruce showed back up). In the comic Sampson is a psychiatrist that helps Bruce figure out what’s wrong with him. He then later experiments on himself and gets a mild Hulk dose, but keeps his mind and looks.

And the Mr. Blue/Mr. Green segment was straight out of Bruce Jones’ run in the comic. Samuel Sterns by the way is known in the comic as the Leader, who ends up being the Hulk’s arch-nemesis. The metrinome is straight out of Jone’s run in the comics, too. The scene where he’s dropped out of the helicopter is very much inspired by the Ultimates.

The fights were exactly what I want out of a hulk movie. He thunderclaps. He does his quake stomp. He uses every single piece of material around him as a weapon. And when he gets a villian on the ground, he pounds the snot out of him. Bad guy gets in his face? Gets a kick to the chest and ends up wrapped around a tree! And what about Blonsky’s scenes pre-Abomination. It makes me want to see Capt. America NOW.

My only complaint about the Hulk was also what I liked about him. He seemed much more vulnerable. This is good because it creates tension (something Superman always has a hard time doing). This is also bad because if this hulk went up against Ang Lee’s Hulk the latter would win hands down. The new Hulk is severely powered-down. He had to climb up the buildings to get to the roof. In the comics Hulk would get there in one leap.

Also, even though the movie made me have some respect for A-bomb (Abomination), I still think he’s one of the Hulk’s worst villians. He’s big, green, and muscular. How original. At least the movie made him look more like Doomsday and less like this:

One last thing: the editing was shotty but no worries, the director plans on adding a whopping 70 minutes to the DVD: director’s version. That is the most I have ever heard of being added to a movie.

And that wraps up my review of the Incredible Hulk.

I give it only an 8.5 out of 10 due to shotty editing and some flat acting. (Just so you know, very few films would get a 10 out of 10 for me and none of them are super hero flicks.)

Iron Man, Prince Caspian, and Indiana Jones (Summer Movie Reviews Part 1)

As I said last month, there are quite a few movies this summer that I am looking forward to seeing. Now that they first month of the summer movie season has passed, how do my movies fare?

I saw three movies this month: Iron Man, Prince Caspian, and Indiana Jones. I will not do a plot synopsis of each movie (that’s always the part of a review I skip), but there are serious spoilers, so be warned.

Iron Man

What worked: The cast was almost perfect for their roles. Gwyneth Paltrow played the bubbly, but practical secretary. Terrance Howard played the understanding and supportive best friend. Jeff Daniels played the creepy bad guy. And Robert Downey Jr. played the playboy turned superhero. The only flaw with their performances had nothing to do with acting ability or dialogue and everything to do with RDJ stealing. every. scene.

What didn’t work: RDJ was having too much fun playing the hero and you know what? I was right there along with him. But, it was a bit too overpowering in some scenes, leaving a film that was out-of-balance in areas.

Weakest Scene: The secretary, Pepper Potts, was given no motivation to make a move on Tony during the benefit dinner.  Why would she want to kiss a man who she thought was a womanizer? She really didn’t have any reason to think better of him until much later in the movie. This scene was only salvaged by the fact that she came to her senses later.

Favorite scenes: *When Rhodes looks over his shoulder, sees the other iron man suit and says, “Next time”.(In the comic, Rhodes ends up becoming a suited up superhero himself called War Machine.)* Or at the end when Tony Starks bumbles over his words then decides on a whim to reveal that he is Iron Man. * Of course, the best scene came after the credits when Samuel L. Jackson made a cameo appearance as Nick Fury- which will set up a chain of events that eventually leads to an Avengers movie in 2011 (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America will get their own movies before then and will tie it all together). Look for Samuel L. and RDJ in the upcoming hulk movie.

Nathan’s rating: 9/10

Prince Caspian

What worked: I have read two Narnia books, but never read Prince Caspian, so everything in this movie was fresh to me. Because of that, some unexpected twists kept things moving.  I also have to admit that I didn’t think the first one was all that great. Caspian, however, more than made up for what was lacking in the last movie. The acting performances from all the Pevensie children and the villains received a serious upgrade. In the last movie, I thought the only performances that delivered were the White Queen and a CGI Aslan.

What didn’t work: Choppy plop points. I kept thinking that a child was narrating the story “And then this happened and then this happened…” *Confusing elements like Aslan’s appearance. Aslan did virtually nothing, but was still given a triumphal entrance… at the end of the battle when it didn’t really matter. I also felt they could have trimmed the movie about 15-20 minutes and not lost a thing.Oh, and the mouse,Reepicheep, was the most fun to watch- a CGI character was the most fun to watch… hmm…

Weakest Scene: The battle between Peter and the evil king. Why would you give respite when you’re about to win? That didn’t make any sense to me. Of course, my problem could be with the book itself at this point, I don’t know.

Best Scenes:* When they pulled the rug out from under the attacking army and let them literally fall into the Earth.* The tension during the White Queen scene (best in the whole movie). *The initial raid on the v illian’s castle was clever.

Nathan’s Rating: 5/10

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

What worked: Every scene with Indiana fighting was gold. Ford has shown he still has what it takes. Also, when Jones is bickering, the dialogue works and is pretty funny at times. In fact, the movie overall is hilarious. I like to see action movies that don’t take themselves too seriously. And Kate Blanchette plays a creepy villian that makes you really dislike her in a good way.  Finally, they did a good job of keeping the good guys good and bad guys bad. No grey areas, no blurred lines. No ethical quandries. Jones is good, the Ruskies are bad, and it makes sense.

What didn’t work: The Ruskies replaced the Nazis and nobody noticed.. because they played out exactly the same. Other than Blanchett, they were pretty bland. When Jones is not bickering with someone, the dialogue comes to a screeching halt. This took me out of the movie at times. And w hat was with all the super soft lighting? It looks like they tried too hard to make this movie look old. Hey Speilberg: it worked in Saving Private Ryan, but didn’t here.

Weakest Scenes: The giant ants were neither creepy, nor realistic and reminded me too much of The Mummy. Also, the wedding scene at the end- where was the romantic build-up? And I think George Lucas has an obsession with Tarzan. Did anyone else see the comparision between Mutt swinging through the trees and Chewbacca doing the infamous tarzan yell?

Fav Scenes: Sheesh. Too many to count. Those of you who saw the movie will know what I’m talking about: the blowdart, the motorcycle switcheroo, the swordfight, quicksand… and snake (Call it a rope!), “When I get loose the first thing I’m going to do is punch you in the nose!”,the refrigerator, and the fedora at the end (take that Shia! No passing of the torch for you!)

One more thing: Some people complained that Indy didn’t fit in to the sci-fi/nuclear age genre of adventure. I disagree. I think the movie portrayed EXACTLY how Indiana Jones would react in this situation: A smart-aleck sceptic who loves America but hates the current government scare tactics. He was in character the entire time! And, think about it: Ford definitely looks older, so they have to place him in historical context. And what ELSE would be better for Indy to tackle in the 1950s than the Ruskies going after alien artifacts stored in, of all places, Area 51 and El Dorado!

Nathan’s Rating: 8/10

Hope you enjoyed the first of my summer movie reviews. Stay tuned at the end of June for more.