— by BEN FOWLER —
On first impression, this might seem like my sort of film. I will geek out over pretty much any superhero-related movie or DVD release. I loved all the recent animated superhero DTV flicks. But “Planet Hulk” just does nothing for me. The trailer below is only two minutes long and I was bored halfway through it.
The newest film to come out of the Marvel Animation Age studios is based on the graphic novel series of the same name written by Greg Pak, who is back on writing duties for the jump to DVD.
To be fair, I’ve always been a DC guy more than a “make mine a Marvel,” but I still have love for some of the Marvel lineup.
I just think this seems to take out everything that makes the Hulk appealing. At this point in his life, Bruce Banner (the Hulk’s alter ego) has gained control of his transformations into the big green smashing machine, so in the entire film, Banner does not make an appearance once. Bad idea. The appeal of the Incredible Hulk is the fact that we want to see his human side struggle or get beat down on before he goes all not-so-jolly green giant.
I want to see eyes turn green, clenched fists swell and shirt rip. To rob us of that for the entire film just strips away the humanity from the character. We are just watching a goon smash things up. And no, giving the Hulk his “Banner” voice — letting him talk intelligently — doesn’t make up for that.
The other problem is that when you stick the Hulk on an alien planet, in alien surroundings with aliens, he stops being so … Incredible. He becomes the Just-About-Average Hulk! I want to see him throwing cars and standing over some “puny humans,” not going toe to toe with a hundred other similarly-sized bad guys or monsters. I understand he needs a similar-styled bad guy to face off against, but when the weird aliens are the ENTIRE cast of the film, it takes away what makes the Hulk great.
Anyway, I’m sure some Marvel fanboy will tell me that I “just don’t get the character,” but sadly this trailer isn’t going to be making me Hulk-out any time soon …
Planet Hulk will be released Feb. 2 on DVD and blu-ray.
Hulk art by Guisadong-Gulay
Follow Ben Fowler on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Localboy99.
I definitely share your concerns about this one, Ben. Having said that, I am quite sure I will be buying it on blu-ray tomorrow. I have bought all of the recent DC and Marvel DTVs except “Young Avengers.”
I definitely prefer the DC movies, but the Marvel ones have been OK for the most part. “Hulk vs.” was OK and that’s about what I expect this one to be.
I was bored during the trailer too. Never a good sign.
It looks OK.
I’m going to wait until the price goes down. It doesn’t look like something I would watch over and over.