Some challenges the movie faces:

1) Already mid-March and I would venture a guess that most humans who aren’t Hulksters even know an Incredible Hulk movie is coming out in June (insufficient marketing to date)

2) The overall failure of the most recent Hulk movie may turn people off to seeing The Incredible Hulk movie in June

3) Caught in the long dark shadow of the Iron Man Movie and its well-oiled marketing machine and huge budget

4)  Buzz that there are script problems and that Edward Norton is not happy with some of the cuts of the film which as a fan of Edward Norton makes me a little concerned about the movie

5) Giggle factor of the Incredible Hulk (will take one heck of an acting job by Edward Norton to get people to take the movie seriously)

The Incredible Hulk has always been challenging for me to visualize a movie translating the character from comic to big screen without laughing a little.  I’ve never considered that a live action comic book movie needed an Academy-type actor to pull it off, but the Incredible Hulk movie is an exception. 

When I heard that Robert Downey Jr. had accepted the part of Tony Stark aka Iron Man I thought it was awesome of course but a little overkill.  I consider Robert Downey Jr. to be one of the most underrated actors out there today and of course he’ll have us all walking away from the film happy with yet another outstanding performance.  That said, there are lots of non-Academy types that could have done a nice job as Tony Stark too; fully capable to do the job nonetheless. After-all, Tony Stark embodies our perception of Hollywood-type actors so they only need play themselves:  Arrogant, self-absorbed, drug dependent, promiscuous, rich and spoiled…on and on. 

Enter the Incredible Hulk Movie.  Laugh if you will at Bill Bixby in reference to the old Incredible Hulk TV series, but that team really had the right idea behind a sincere attempt at making the Hulk a good story.   There was something about the series that made you forget you were watching a show about a guy who turns into a big green muscle guy.  Admittedly, I even teared up once during the end of, ”The Death of the Incredible Hulk”.  (yah laugh it up, Fuzzball).  I’m hoping the new Incredible Hulk movie this time around focuses on more of the tragedy of becoming and being the Hulk rather than so much emphasis on special effects otherwise it’s just an Ang Lee redo.

In the end, all eyes will be you Ed, but no pressure even though it may as well be “The Incredible Edward Norton Movie.” The Incredible Hulk movie will take a caliber actor like Edward Norton to pull off right and fans should be thanking their lucky stars he took the role because at least it has a chance to be successful.  Kudos out to Norton for braving the role of Bruce Banner in the Incredible Hulk movie.  (Hope you were leery of the transformations that as an audience don’t make us laugh).  By the way, whoever made the decision to release the photo of Edward Norton in agony obviously wasn’t sensitive to the giggle factor this film brings to the table. 

In conclusion, I have to say that more than even seeing the movie itself, I’m very curious how all of this will work out.  I feel like I’m sitting all by myself at a table having ordered something new from the menu.  I have a feeling it’s going to have all the right ingredients of a good dish and I’m anticipating it but I can’t help but be concerned that the cooks are arguing loudly in the kitchen about a redo. 

 Loading …