“All that said,
there's something... off about this movie. I'm not sure what it is.”
It’s only the second entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
so perhaps we can excuse The Incredible
Hulk for not finding its feet very well.
It’s not a bad film by most stretches of the imagination, but it isn’t
very engaging; the supporting cast is rather unmemorable (though I wouldn’t
mind seeing William Hurt’s Thunderbolt Ross show up somewhere else in the MCU),
but the biggest disappointment is Edward Norton’s turn as Bruce Banner, a tepid
and wiry character who pales in comparison to Mark Ruffalo’s more intriguing
portrayal. There’s a disjunct between
Norton and his gamma-sized alter ego, one that makes Hulk and Banner feel more
like separate characters. Perhaps it’s
the story, focused around eliminating the Hulk persona – but only insofar as
he’s not needed for an obligatory action sequences. The special effects are gee-whiz, a step up
from the Ang Lee film five years earlier, but even with an RDJ cameo this Hulk is not quite incredible.
“The film thrives
because of Downey's personality; he's impeccably cast here in a character who's
larger than life.”
Loyal readers may be surprised by how low on the countdown Iron Man 2 lands, and in spite of how
much I’m enamored of Robert Downey Jr. I put Iron Man 2 just above Incredible
Hulk mostly on the grounds of narrative unity. As engaging as RDJ is as Tony Stark, as fun
as the movie can be, it feels very much like a friend with an ulterior motive. As much as I admit to being a Marvel shill,
there’s a degree to which I resent how much of Iron Man 2 is devoted to teasing The Avengers. I love Samuel
L. Jackson as much as the next guy, but I can’t help but wonder if an Iron Man 2 sans tie-ins might have been
as strong as the first; the glimpses we get of that film – in which Tony Stark
wrestles with his legacy while facing a competitor – is fantastically fun, but
it feels put on hold whenever the S.H.I.E.L.D. crew stroll in.Come back Wednesday for the next installment of this sure-to-be-controversial Top 10 list!
4 comments:
Well, I'd say your assessment of Iron Man 2 is correct, that it's a so-so narrative made watchable because of Downey. But I enjoyed it more than a few of the other Marvel pics. I'd put it in the 7 spot.
As for The Incredible Hulk, I think the movie is very underrated. I thought Norton was good as a more driven and desperate Banner (and the reason he's not as interesting as Ruffalo is because the character's arc hadn't developed to that point yet). And the brawling between Hulk and Abomination was so entertaining, and quite satisfying after we got barely any in the Eric Bana Hulk. Admittedly, it's pretty obvious it was just meant to reset the story for the new Universe, but it didn't feel like that at the time; it felt like they were doing it right to atone for the last Hulk. It's not the best Marvel Universe film, but among them, I probably had the most fun seeing this in the theater.
Hulk would be my number 6.
Who do you put at the bottom, Bill? You can tell a lot about a person by their least favorite Marvel movie. (And their favorite, for that matter.)
Very bottom? Definitely Thor. The next two would be Thor 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy, though I'm unsure of which would be lower. Thor 2 was adequately fun but nothing special, while Guardians was not a very good movie but had characters that were a lot of fun.
That's five movies down for me. The remaining five are harder to pick.
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