stevelabny said:
im not saying that the movie should have had igor, rick and plain betty or its mandatory to call gen ross thunderbolt. but i do always think its important to note WHAT they cut out. did they feel rick was too robin-ish? is giving an army general a nickname too "comicbooky?" (although ive apparently been corrected, thanks for the headsup mark, ill check that out in 6 months on the dvd) i understand some of the changes but others i just wonder about...
The movie got streamlined down to it's basic parts. Banner/Hulk is the center of it all, Betty Ross actually has a substantial role in the plot. General Ross is there to try and stop the Hulk. You mention about "complicating" the plot: wouldn't it be complicating the plot by tossing in Russian spies & sidekicks into it? For what purpose other than to stay as close to canon as possible?
That leads to: What's the point of having Rick in this origin story? As a potential victim for Banner to save? What would Rick do afterwards? If it's to "calm" the Hulk down, there's Betty there already. It would be inane to toss in stuff from the comics just because it was in the comics.
The principle characters and the basic plot are there.
if you cut out the russian spy because he'd be dated, make betty a scientist because women cant just be damsels in distress anymore and tell the origin with bomb and rick.... it takes 10 minutes. adding the father in a mad-scientist stopped by gen ross and bruce as an already mutated child who is then givien up for adoption etc etc just makes the backstory MORE complicated and more "silly" . which is exactly what the mainstream movie-goer doesnt like about comic book movies. throw in hulk-dogs, abosrobing-dad becoming a giant jellyfish-like blob and the movie has reached a level of TOTAL GOOFINESS while attempting to be a serious movie.
Russian Spy (or any spy): what's the point? How does that actually add to the story? It's just a needless plotline to "complicate" the plot even more, which is what I thought you were against.
Betty Ross as a damsel in distress: um...yes, the Hulk did save her from the dogs. She is also Bruce's co-worker. We are in the 21st century and there are more women in the workforce, so it's not like it's unbelievable.
I don't think you understand that the backstory WAS the story. Maybe that's why you think the backstory was "complicated" - it's the entire plot of the movie!
there is no way a person who "wouldnt be caught dead at a comic book movie" would 1> go see HULK in the first place and there is no way that they OR the regular non-comicgeek moviegoer would be able to sit through the goofiness of the dogs and the blob. i think hulks "caveman-talk" is less goofy than either of these.
Um, you're assuming that:
1) If you don't like comic books, you wouldn't bother seeing the movie in the first place
2) If you do like comic books, you'll hate the movie because it's not exact to canon.
X-Men and Spider-Man proves you wrong right off the bat. Currently, the best selling comic books generally only sell 100,000 copies a month. With your logic, NO comic book movies will ever do well since comic book movies wouldn't survive if only 100K people show up (even for multiple viewings).
Exposure to these properties comes in a variety of ways.
-Hulk, Spider-Man & X-Men: all three have the current and prior comic book fans
-Hulk has the benefit of a TV show
-Spider-Man has had decades of multi-media exposure: several cartoon versions, Electric Company, etc.
-X-Men also has had a few cartoon incarnations as well.
Buzz that Hulk is not going to be a brainless smashemup might actually help as well.
Oh, and the Hulk in the TV show never spoke. Not exactly a "new" thing there.
and to make my review clear: if youre not a comic/scifi geek you will not like this movie...dont bother. if you ARE a comic/scifi geek you will still NOT like this movie, but you should see it because it comes with the job description, and you have a better chance of at least appreciating SOME of it.
You're still proving the point otherwise.
