Hellboy II: The Golden Army

  Over the last few years Guillermo Del Toro has been building up a real reputation as one of the most visually interesting directors around and for some it appears that he has suddenly arrived but he has been making films for over ten years.  His early films like ‘Devils Backbone’ and ‘Cronos’ were foreign language horrow films that got great reviews but weren’t seen by many. His first break into Hollywood was the monster flick ‘Mimic’, whih did okay business but was his cut was messed around by the studios.  His next foray into Hollywood was the sequel to ‘Blade’, a film that almost out did it’s predecessor and suddenly people started to take notice. The film that really got him noticed though was 2006’s ‘Pans Labyrinth’, a fantasy film about a girl stuck between the horrors of the spanish civil war and a fantasy world full of weird creatures.  It was loved by nearly all the critics and shockingly lost out in the best Foreign film catergory at the Oscars.  before this masterpiece though he made another film that didn’t do a huge amount of business but was pretty well liked, that film was Hellboy, a great little comic book movie with great characters and a lot of humour. Unfortunately the film studion wern’t as sure about the characters popularity so the budget wasn’t massive which held the film back a bit. Now with the success of Pan’s Labyrinth and the upcoming Hobbit movies studios are willing to let guillermo have free reign and it shows in Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

   it’s all change at the The department of Paranormal investigations, after Professor Brooms death Hellboy has lost his mentor, but has now got hsi relationship back on with the Pyrokinetic Liz, though when they have an arguement it’s pretty explosive. Myers has also gone, sent of to Alasaka, so in his place thay have sent Johann Krauss and cloud of gas in a suit, really!  This time they are trying to save the world from Luke goss’s Prince Nuada, who wants to break a ancient agreement between the creatures and the humans that has seen them live seperate lives not bothering each other. To do this he needs three pieces of a cown which when worn gives him control of the majestic Golden Army.  The snag in his plan is that his sister has one piece and refuses to give it to him and heads of to Department for help, but can they really stop him?

   The first thing you will notice in this film is the style. Del Toro has really gone to town with his notebookand created some amazing visuals. This is almost an art house blockbuster, the attention to detail is immense, and anyone who saw Pan’s Labyrinth will see the crossover between the two films.  One thing that Del Toro does well is practical effects and the array of monsters in the film is amazing, and they are nearly all suits. The scene in the monster market is jaw dropping, it’s the kind of scene you will want to watch again on Blu Ray and freeze to take it all in.  He also manages to even make fairies scary.  If this doesn’t win any Oscars for art and costumes I will be shocked.  One scene that shows how daring Del Toro can be, is the scene where a young Hellboy is being told the story of the Golden Army, and rather than have the story be seen in flashabck with actors, he does it with a marionette style which just works so well.

  A few members of the original cast are back, Ron pearlman, obviously returns as Hellboy and really no one else could be, he has nade this character his own and this time we get a lot more of him which is great.  Selam Blair returns as Liz Sherman, Hellboys better half and this time her character is more fleshed out.  Doug Jones returns as Abe Sapien except this time he gets to voice him as well as do the physical acting, he also does the body work for a few other characters as well. Jeffery Tambour is back as Manning, Hellboys frustrated boss who is trying to keep him secret from the world but keeps finding clips of him on Youtube.  Ex Bros man Luke Goss makes his second Del Toro film appearance after Blade II, as the Prince Nuala and surprisingly isn’t bad at all.

  This film does that rare thing of being better than it’s original, and it’s mainly down to Del Toro being let free with his imagination. Also the story is better and the script is funnier as well, there is a scene where a drunk Hellboy and Abe sing along to Barry Manilow, that was one of the funniest scenes in a film all year. If you loved the first film, like I did, then you definitely have to see this, even if you dodn’t see the first film go and check this one out just to give your eyes a real visual feast. my immediate though coming out of the cinema after watching this was, I really can’t wait to see what he will do with the Hobbit. Rating 8/10

Kevin Smith’s porno!

Well that got your attention. No he hasn’t made an adult film with his attractive wife and put it on the web, he has a new film heading our way soon called ‘Zac and Miri make a porno’.  In a story that sounds a bit similar to the Jeff bridges film, ‘The Moguls’, it sees two friends short on cash who decide to make a Porno to raise some funds.  It stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as well as a few Smith regulars like  Jason Mewes.  Today the first ’story’ trailer went up and as a huge fan of Kevin Smiths films, it looks great. Just a warning the trailer has a lot of swearing in it!  Check it out at: http://uk.movies.ign.com/dor/objects/964901/zack-and-miri-make-a-porno/videos/zach_miri_redtrlr_082908.html;jsessionid=13bgcjcokdhxv

DVD Recommendations

  As you can probably tell from the lack of post lately I haven’t been to the cinema a lot, I have been meaning to go and see Kung Fu Panda, Mummy 3 and The Clone Wars but just haven’t been motivated enough.  I have though watched a few fims on DVD that I would recommend highly.

The King Of Kong

   You wouldn’t think that a documentary about people playing and old arcade machine would be very interesting, well you would be wrong. The King of Kong is the story of a battle between two men to get the world record score on the arcade machine of Donkey Kong.  The record holder at the start of the documentray is Billy Mitchell, a man who has become a bit of a legend in the classic game world with records on 5 different machines and he really loves his reputation, with a lot of cronies who adore him.  Suddenly a school teacher frome Washington, Steve Wiebe comes from nowhere and breaks Billy’s record on Kong. Of course Billy isn’t happy and starts to question the validity of his record and so the fun begins. This documentary is amazing, you get so engrossed in the story as you have this normal guy Wiebe who just wants to succeed at something, trying to get his record accepted by the Games record board. But all the time you have Mitchells’ friends trying to discredit him, even while he is trying to break the record in person. The game of Cat and Mouse between Wiebe and Mitchell is fantastic and you can’t look away. If you like games you will love this and even if you don’t it’s still brilliant and definitely worth a rental.         Rating 8/10

In Bruges

This was a film that I wanted to see when it came out earlier this year as it had really good reviews, unfortunately it was only on one local cinema and only for a week, so I missed it. Thankfully the film company have had sense and released it pretty quickly onto DVD.   it is the story of two Hitmen, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Glen (Brendan Gleeson) who after a hit goes wrong are sent to the Belgium town of Bruge by their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes). Glen loves their new setting and becomes the real tourist checking out the old buildings and history of the town. Ray though is bored and starts acting like a bored child dragging his feet and moaning.  While they wait for Harry to phone they try and keep themselves occupied and Ray trys it on with a local girl who’s working on a film set.  Soon it all starts to go strange and very funny with blank bullets and Dwarts.  If you’re offened by foul language and strong ones at that, then is most definitely no the film for you, but if you find swearing funny then you will love it. The chemistry between Farrell and Gleeson is perfect and they play off each other brilliantly, and even Raplh Fiennes shows another side to his bow.  At first it might seem like another cokney crime film , but it is so much better than that, it’s up there with Sexy Beast but funnier. I don’t think I’ve seen Farrell better and I shall be getting a copy of this film  soon to watch it again! rating 8/10

 A Few Others in brief:

Vantage Point: A pretty solid thirller where we see the same incident from different peoples perspective. With Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox and Forrest Whitaker. 7/10

The Savages: Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as siblings brought togther to look after their father, whlst trying to live their own lives. 7/10

The Diving Bell And The Butterfly: Amazing French film that tells the sotry of a Vogue editor who suffered a stroke that left him with only eyelid movement in one eye, but who manged to write his autobiography. A  story of a mans strength though adversary. 8/10

The King Of California: kirk Douglas stars as an eccentric father who has just been released from a mental hospital and returns to live with his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and drags her along in his search for gold he believes is buried in California. A qurky and funny little film that didn’t get a cineama release in the UK. Rating 7/10

X-Files: I Want To Believe

  It’s been six years since Mulder and Scully disappeared of our tv screensand for years there has been talk of another film but it always seemed to be a big NO from those involved so it’s a big surprise that we are now watching the FBI agents on the big screen again. The first film was more like an expanded episode and took in all the alien conspiracies and was a really enjoyable film that stands up on it’s own, i’ve watched it a few times to be fair. So how does this new one fair.

   Scully has left the FBI and is now working in a catholic church looking after a very sick child which she seems to using as a replacement for her lost child which I’m not sure what happened to it!  Mulder still wanted by the FBI is living in a house in the middle of nowhere working in his little office which looks a lot like his old FBI office, cutting himself off from the world.  Meanwhile in the middle of a giant snow field Billy Connolly, as paedophile priest Father Joe who claims to have Psychic abilities is leading the FBI to something he has seen in a vision. Soon an FBI agent goes missing in what seems to be a related case and the FBI, stucj for answers call in Scully to try and get Mulder to help. Reluctantly he agrees and joins the new FBI agents played by Amanda Peet and ‘Pimp My Rides’, Xzibit. Soon they are hunting for some dodgy Ruyssian scientists aided or hindered by Father Joe’s visions.

  The weird thing about this film is that it could really be just a normal crime drama, the whole X-Files tag seems to be a real waste. The director said that they wanted to move away from the Alien conspiracies of the TV show and do a monster movie but this isn’t one either. It does feel like a dragged out TV episode but not one of the good ones like Toombs.  It’s not the cast fault or even the director’s, it’s just the story is a bit bland. Duchovny and Anderson have fitted back into the roles perfectly and he chemistry is back, though the fact that the characters are now back together helps. Billy Connolly seems a bit miscast, he’s okay but not great, not up to the standards we saw in Mrs Brown or The Last Samurai.  Amanda Peet is pretty good and so surprisingly is Xzibit.  For fans of the TV show there are a lot of little nods to them with lots of site references and a funny use of the X-Files theme. Overall though it is a disappointment from what we hoped for as a fan, it’s not terrible but not special. If they are gonna do another film, lets have a real monster next time. Rating 6/10

The Dark Knight

  With Batman Begins, director Chiristopher Nolan set a new standard in the comic book movie, he manged to erase the painful memories of Batman and Robin and brought a new sensibility to the genre. This was a new darker more realistic Batman, more in tone wth the graphic novels it came from. Since it’s release in 2005 we have seen this change follow on into other comic book movies, such as the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man even Spidey went a bit darker last year, but still begins stands atop of the pile. Well now we get the very eagerily awaited follow up, The Dark Knight, a film which has garnered buzz both on and off the screen, but can it match it’s predecessor?

  Batman has taken control of the streets, the criminals are running in fear, if they see the Bat symbol in the sky they go back into the shadows. All exept one. This new criminal, a man with a scarred face and clown make up has started running riot throughout Gotham robbing banks leaving his calling card, The Joker. At the same time a new hero has arrived in Gotham looking to clean up the streets, District Attorney Harvey Dent who wants to bring down the remains of the Falcone gang now being seen over by Maroni.  At first skeptical Bruce Wayne realises this man could be his chance to give up the cape and have a normal life so starts to help him in anyway he can. The only complication for Bruce is that Dent his dating his ex Rachel Dawes, a love that he believes he can get back if he leaves the Bat behind.   Throw into this mix Lieutenant Gordon now promoted and Batmans’ only friend in the Police Department who still want him arrested.  Soojn the Joker is causing chaos throught Gotham and pushing Batman to the limit’s both physically and emotionally.

  Following Begins was going to be a big ask for Nolan but it seems despite this pressure he went out and made a film as good if not better.  In the build up for it’s release over the last few years I heard one comparison that really interested me. it was said that The Dark Knight was going to be the ‘Heat’ of comic book movies. thats Heat the film with Pacino and De Niro, not the trash magazine!  The ultimate crime movie, and it seems they weren’t far off. If you discount the Superhero element of The Dark Knight it is a real top notch crime movie, the good guys versus the bad guys. You have your top criminal who wants to bring down the city to chaos or as Alfred says “Some men just want to watch the world burn”.  then you have the Law side who want to bring him down. This is a serious film that is sort of looked down on by the fact it has a man in a cape in it.  Like ‘Heat’ the film isn’t just about one or two characters, this is a real ensemble piece with great charcters throughout Nolan has done is bring in a great cast to fill these roles.

   As the returning Batman is again great in the dual roles of Wayne and crime fighter, though his devil voice for Batman seems to have got darker!  There does seem to be less of him in this film but thats due to the amount of charcters in this  film. It’s not like Batman Returns where he was over shadowed by the villains, but he is there when he needs to be.  Michael Caine is his usual high class as the ever reliable Alfred not just a Butler but this time more like Waynes therapist.  The forgotten hero of the film like in the first film is Gary Oldman, he really becomes the character and is a real lynch pin of the film, the only truely honourable person in the Gotham Police force. one of the other cast members is currently geting all the plaudits (more on that in a bit) but Oldman deserves a lot of praise.   Maggie Gyllennhaal has a hard job in filling someone else’s shoes, that of Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, childhood friemd of Bruce and also his love interest, she does a good job but you can’t help remembering the previous actress.  Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent has found the role that will get him more recognition after supportinmg roles in many films. As Dent he has that slightly slimy and cocky side to his personality as you would expect as a lawyer, but as the film progresses we see that he really wants the best, until,later in the film where his good intentions are sorely tested. Eckhart has got the good and bad side down perfectly.  So to the big part and pull for many people, the late Heath Ledgers performance as the Joker. Immediately upon it’s release the press have been rabid with calls for him to get Oscar nominated, are they right?  Well yes but it would have to be in the supporting catergory. He obviously has the Nicholson role to follow but what he’s done is create not a funny villian but a complete nutjob. ledger has inhabitated the character with so many ticks and mannerisms that you really think this man has mental problems, and then theres the voice which sounds like he dug it up from the bowels of his body and as for the laugh pretty chilling. The only problem is due to his untimely death you do spend a lot of time thinking about the person and not the character and that does distract a bit from the film. His performance though is that good that most of the time you are drawn in.  For me I was personally very happy to see Anthony Michael Hall from the great series ‘The Dead Zone’ getting a reasonably large role as the reporter for GCN news, hope he gets a few more higher profile roles.

  Despite it being a crime thriller it is also a summer movie so there are plenty of action sequences, with Batman going global on one mission, a great tumbelr chase sequence and Batman shows of a new toy with the Batbike. There’s also a pretty good sequnce involving two passenger boats which truely shows what the Joker wants to prove about the people of Gotham. Be warned the film is a 12a certificate but in really should be a 15 it’s quite violent and very dark in tone. The film is also very long at nearly two and half hours but there is so much story that it never drags, there are multiple oints where you think it might end but it carries on, but it’s no way as dragging as the end of The Return Of The King. I really enjoyed this latest instalment of the bat franchise and really want to see it again to take it all in, as it is definitely a film you need to see a few times, and given chance I will. The best Superhero film yet? Might well be. Rating 10/10

Wall-E

  Every year Pixar bring us a lesson in how to make great animated movies and great movies in general, so far they haven’t made a single bad movie, even Cars which I loved. Now they have just blown me away with Wall-E!

  It’s been 700 years since the humans have left an earth destoyed by pollution and rubbish. All they left behind were little robots called Wall-E’s (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earthclass) who take the rubbish and crush it into little cubes which have become the new skyscrapers. But they have all gone now apart from one, who is now alone on the planet. Our Wall-E is carrying along with his job and picking up objects that he finds interesting, with his only friend a cockroach. After a long day cleaning up the planet Wall E returns to his lorry home and watches a old video of ‘Hello Dolly’.    This is the everyday life of Wall-E, until whilst out working a giant spceship lands and a sleek robot appears.  Eve is on Earth looking for something and at first is not interested in this relic of a robot, but soon she finds it hard to resist his charms and a romance starts to blossom.  It’s all going great until Eve finds what she looking for and closes down but Wall-E still stays with her. Soon the Ship comes back to return Eve back so Wall-E hitches a lift. Soon this old robot is on a shiny clean starship full of new robots and the remains of the human race who are now just fat blobs who have everything done for them and only communicate through screens in front of their faces.  Despite not fitting into his new surroundings the little robot with the big heart is about to change things.

  As you can see this is not your typical Pixar film, for at least the first half of the film there is almost no dialogue at all. The scenes of Wall-E wandering earth are amazing like some old art film with the lone stranger in the wilderness. It is amazing that you feel such a connection to this character even though he doesn’t talk. Wall-E just charms you from the first minute to the last. it would seem to be the sort of films that kids will hate but thy have been very clever and there are a lot of slapstick moments which will get a laugh from kids of all ages. The film is also pretty biting of our society now, which you definitely wouldn’t expect in a so called kids film. In this future world everything is owned by a company called Buy N Large, bit like Tescos! and after they have destroyed the earth they leave on the BNL ship. The humans who live on the ship as mentioned have become blobs who don’t even have to walk anymore and the way our world is going this isn’t far off, communicating through computers rather than face to face. I’m amazed that Pixar did this but good on them, if this subliminally gets the idea into young kids heads that we don’t want to end up like this then good. It takes a brave comapny to do social commentary in a kids film and it seems Pixar are that brave. 

  Of course with a Pixar film you go to see the amazing visual effects, to see what they have accomplished this time. My god they have outdone themselves, Ratatouille looked amazing, but this is on a whole other level. The attention to detail is stunning, the opening shot as we fly through this desolate city with towers of rubbish is breath taking. If you look at the towers you can see the tiny bits oif rubbish in each cube with little bit of paper sticking out flapping in the wind, and dust blowing everywhere, it takes realistic animantion to a new standard. Wall-E looks great a bit like a smaller Johnny 5 from Short Cicruit (an 80’s film fr those not old enough to remember!) and who shows his emotions through his binocular eyes and little beeps is astounding.  The contrast between him and Eve is huge but the fact that they can fall for each other is believeable. 

  If I had to desribe this film in one word is heartwarming. I’ve never seen an animated film with such warmth and emotion.  You’d have to have a cold heart to not get a tear in your eye during the scene of Wall-E and Eve in space flying around together, or when he is protecting her on earth while she is shut down scared to leave her side.  This film remindered me of some old 1940’s type romance film with the two charcters who shouldn’t work but do, there’s even old tunes throughout the film but of course it’s set in the future with robots. I just absolutely loved this film and I think on repeated viewings this could become my favourite Pixar film. In some weird horrible way this is not at the top of the charts in the UK, being held off by Mama Mia! What is the world coming too, go see Wall-E not some stupid film with Abba songs in!  Rating 10/10

Hancock

 

  Following the two Marvel Superheroes we have already seen this summer, Iron Man and Hulk, and two more big heroes to come, Batman and Hellboy, we have Hancock an almost anti hero, filling in the gap quite nicely.

  Will Smith plays John Hancock a drunken superhero who would rather lie on a bench with a bottle of bourbon than save the world. Everytime he gets called into action he does the job but badly causing millions of dollars of unnecessary damage, making him an unpopular figure with both the police and the public. After he saves the life of PR executive Ray  he is welcomed in Embry’s house where he meets his wife Mary and son Aaron and is given a proposal by Ray to let him revamp his image. This first involves him doing time for the warrants issued by the Los Angeles council. So Hancock reluctantly agrees and starts to sort his life out with AA meetings and Ray trying to teach him how to deal wth the public and police better. Soon the city needs him again and he’s back on the street fighting crime but politically correctly.

   it’s at that point that the film takes a wild twist and changes completely. I won’t give anything away but you won’t see it coming! The first half of the film is all about the comedy and as usual Will Smith is on good form as the lovable drunk. Jason Bateman continues to increase his standing in Hollywood with another good performance as the PR man with a seemingly impossible job and the chemistry between him and Smith works really well. Chalize Theron as usual looks stunning and does a good job as Ray’s nervous wife who doesn’t really want her husband working with this reprobate.   As I said the film changes dramatically in the second half and it sort of ruins the film. The film is only about 90 minutes long and it seems like they didn’t want a sequel so have tried to cram as much in as possible in that short time and this stops the story and characters developing and also dries up the humour. I would have actually liked to see this film longer. Director Peter Berg, who was last behind the lense for ‘The Kingdom’ does an amiable job with good action sequences and  brings his distinctive Michael Mann (who produces) style into a new genre for him. As I said it just tries to put too much in, a  bit like last years summer offering Spider-Man 3.   Like last years film I did enjoy Hancock but there was always that sense that there was a better movie waiting to come out. For the few weeks we have to wait for ‘The Dark Knight’ this makes an enjoyable distraction. Rating 6/10

Wanted

  All the publicity about this film seems to about Angelina jolie and specifically kissing her. Every Interview with James McAvoy has done, he’s been asked the same question, “What’s it like to kiss Angelina Jolie?”, i’m sorry but there’s a lot more to this film than that.

   james McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson and office drone just going through his miserable life, being bullied by his boss and his best friend shagging his girlfriend. He takes the misery away buy loading his self up woth anti depressants and it’s while picking up his percription that he meets Fox (Angelina Jolie) who tells him that she nknew his father a world class assassin who died that morning, in a spectacluar opening sequence. This is news to Gibson as he thought his dad died when he was a baby, but is brought home to him when the same man who killed his father turns up to try and kill him. Fox gets into a fire fight with the assailant in the store and then continues into what is an unbelievable car chase.  Soon Gibson is introduced to Sloan (Morgan Freeman) who explains to Gibson about his ancestary and ability he doesn’t realise he has to become a member of ‘The Fraternity.  Soon we enter the usual movie montages as he start to become what he didn’t believe was possible including the fraternity’s special move of bending bullets. He is then told about the Loom that produces a cloth which from the missed weaves give a name through binary of the person they must kill, (yes Seriously!). So Gibson sets off on his new career as an assassin and soon finds himself facing off against the man who killed his father, but what will he do, well that would be telling!

   It’s nice to see after the PG friendly Die Hard 4.0 somebody making an action film for adults and the 18 rating is thoroughly desrved, it is vert violent and bloody. But what really makes this film is the visuals of the action sequences. This is Russian director Timur Bekmambetov’s first Hollywood film following the international success of his films Nightwatch and Daywatch. They were films applauded for their visuals and he has brought that same style into this one. Some of the sequences are so over the top that you can’t help but smile, but it’s fun , the Limo hit especailly made me giggle at how stupid it was but also how genius it looked. The shot of Gibsons father breaking through the glass window, which was in the trailer, is amazing and remindedme a bit of The Marix. I think the words dumb and fun desrcibe this movie perfectly. As for the cast, they do a good job, McAvoy is fine as the lead pretty believable and not a bad accent, Jolie is her usually sultry self and Freeman is as always the elder statesman who even makes the whole loom thing sound almost sensical!  If you are after a couple of hours of gunplay and stunning visuals then it’s worth checking out. rating 7/10

The Happening

   

In 2000 M Night Shyamalan followed up the hugely popular ‘The Sixth Sense’ with a very subtle Superhero film called ‘Unbreakable’. I absolutely loved this film , in fact it would probably be in my top 20 of all time. He followed this with hit films, ‘Signs’ and ‘The Village’ Everything looked rosy for Manoj then ‘The Lady In The Water’ came out a modern fairytale about a nymph entering our world. It was a critical and finacial flop, it wasn’t his best film and there were calls of ego as he made himself a big character in the film. So now a few years later we waited to see if he can get back the success. Well unfortunately not!

   In Central Park, New York, something weird ‘happens’ as everyone suddenly stop dead in their tracks then start killing themselves, on a building site on the outskirts of the park, the workers start throwing themselves off the roof of the building. The media immediately start to suspect terrorist strikes. In a Philadelphia school, Science teacher Elliott Moore (Mark Wahlberg) is talking to his class about missing bee’s when he is called out and the head teacher explains to them about what is happening in New York. The school is dismissed Elliott, his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and friend Julian, (John Leguizamo) and his daughter decide to runaway to the countryside to avoid the expanding disaster. Soon the terrorist threat seems to be wrong but what is it thats making people kill themselves and will the stars make it out alive?

  I don’t know what Night was trying to do with this film but what he has done is make a very underwhelming movie that doesn’t really seem to know where it is going. There are a few scaryish moments but nothing on the level of his previous films. The writing something thats always been pretty good, is almost amateurish, and is a real problem along wth the story itself. There never feels like there’s a real menace. Mark Wahlberg who has proved what a good actor he is in many films recently seems really lost with what his character is supposed to be doing. He seems like he is talking to children all the time even when talking to adults. Zooey Deschanel, who I quite fancy, and loved in Almost Famous, spends the whole film looking like she is on some sort of drug staring off into the distance wth her beautiful eyes (sorry I’ll stop the fawning over her!) In ‘Signs’, M Night played the world in peril story really well showing a huge event from a small perspective, and there are moments in this almost as good especially where people get the videos on their phones of incidents. Overall it just doesn’t seem to work at all, famous film Critic Mark Kermoude also made a really good observation in his reveiw which when you see the film, brings it all down, “What is making the wind blow?”  As a fan of Shyamalan’s I’m hoping he can come back from this and make another great film, personally I would like to see the second of the planned ‘Unbreakable’ trilogy, here’s hoping. The ‘Happening’ really wasn’t happening for me. Rating 5/10

The Incredible Hulk

  I am in a very small minority of people who really liked Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’ which was released in 2003. I loved the style of the film and the tone of it which was a lot more serious than some comic book movies. Okay the leaping around parts were a bit stupid and it was too long but i still really liked it. So it was with a slight bit of trepidation that I oooked forward to ‘The Incredible Hulk’. 

  This new version (as it isn’t a sequel) is directed by French director,  Louis Leterrier, who is known for his two Transporter films so it seems that this will be a big leap up the ladder for him and he handles it pretty well. The film starts with Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) on the run in South America trying to stay below the radar and learn how to control his anger. He is also communicating with a msyterious Mr Blue who thinks he can help him.  Back in the US General Ross (William Hurt) is still trying to find Banner to use his biology to make the ultimate soldier.  When Banner has an accident at the factory and his blood ends up in a bottle of drink heading for the Us , his cover is blown. Soon Ross and his troops including Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) who after witnessing Banners alter ego in full attack mode becomes obsessed with getting his power.  After evading the army , Banner makes his way back to the States to try and get hold of his previous research and runs into his former love, Betty Ross and soon it all hits the fan with a Souped up Blonsky taking on Banner in the streets of New York as Abomination.

 So how does this bear up in the year of Superheroes? Well not bad, Ed Norton brings a real seriousness to the character, with the odd little moments of humour and is pretty believable.  Tim Roth gives the power hungry Blonsky an  air of gravitas, you can see how desperately he wants to be Banner but for the wrong reasons. The rest of the cast are pretty much background. William Hurt is as usual pretty good though I found Sam Elliot’s previous incarnation more dangerous and Liv Tyler as usual looks stunning but doesn’t really have a lot to do.  Unlike the previous film this one makes a few more nods to the TV series. At one point Bill Bixby appears on a TV show, and original Hulk Lou Ferrigno has a nice cameo as a Security guard like the last film, though this time he has more to do! There is as always a Stan Lee cameo which is good but cuts away just at the wrong moment.

Of course the whole film hangs on the CGI of the Hulk, and it’s impressive. This time his size doesn’t depend on how angry he is, he’s a set size a bit smaller than Ang lee’s one. Also there’s no super jumping this time, it’s more about his power which is shown in the three main action sequences. As always you know that it’s CG but he looks pretty real and the big fight off with Abomination is well done with lots of trashed buildings and car half boxing gloves!

  So how does this compare to the 2003 effort? Well I really enjoyed this new film, the action is better and the visuals are impressive, but it didn’t click with me as well as the other one. it could be that I have watched the Lee version quite a a lot so I shall wait till I have seen this a few more times before picking a favourite. it’s not as good as this summers other Marvel film, Iron Man, but if like me you love superhero movies then you will enjoy this. Rating 7/10