Reaction & Review | The Incredible Hulk

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a film from 2008. That movie is "The Incredible Hulk".

Now, I've stated this at least once or twice beforehand, I'm not a big fan of the Hulk. Mainly because, he's one of those over-powered characters that I never could really connect with. Whether he was a part of the Avengers or solo, he was one of those characters that I just could never get into. In fact, outside of a few appearances from other shows and movies, I've never seen any piece of Hulk media ever. So, that may give you an idea as to how much I don't care about the Hulk.

Now with that being said, why am I covering this thing? Well, it's pretty simple actually. Even though I'm not really a fan of the character, I have been pleasantly surprised before by other comic book movies featuring characters that I wasn't a huge fan of, and the movies that they were in wound up surprising me. Case in point, the two movies featuring Captain America were really enjoyable. Both the 2011 movie and the 1990 movie, as corny and cheesy as the latter film was. So, there is a chance that this movie could also possibly win me over as a fan, as well as the Hulk himself.

Now as for what I know about the movie itself, well, I've seen the trailer for it numerous times, every time that I pop in my DVD copy of "Iron Man", so I already kinda now what to expect from that trailer alone. I also know that this movie is also one of the biggest blackmsheeps of the entire MCU. One of the reasons being that this is the first and only film that stars Edward Norton playing Bruce Banner/the Hulk, before being replaced by Mark Ruffalo. Now as to why Norton didn't come back for future appearances is something that I don't know. Whether it was a contract obligation or something of a creative issue, I don't know. But the point is, this is the only movie that he's ever going to play as the Hulk.

So with all that said, I'm hoping for this movie to surprise me somehow and end up being really good. On the other hand, this movie could just be another reason I could add on to the pile of why I can't stand the Hulk to begin with. But I'm still hoping for something good here. And the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is any good at all, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "The Incredible Hulk".

2 minutes later

OK, I know this is a very trivial thing to be commenting on, but as I'm watching the opening credits, they're showing all of these sighting reports about the Hulk. And one of them described him as a "Green Sasquatch". I've heard of Hulk being described as a lot of things, but I've *never* heard of him ever being called a "Green Sasquatch" before. That's definitely a new one for me.

11 minutes later

So, the one who drank the bottle with Bruce Banner's blood, that accidentally got into one of the bottles, was Stan Lee himself. I gotta say, that is certainly a creative way to insert his cameo appearance here.

13 minutes later

OK, this is sorta bugging me a bit, and it's part of the reason why I'm not a huge fan of the Hulk. So, Banner has been the Hulk for like, a couple of minutes now, and this Aussie is a part of the U.S. military to secure and capture Banner. And so far, all of the tranquilizers and bullets aren't harming Hulk at all. And yet, this Aussie is *still* trying to shoot at the Hulk! If you already know that bullets and tranqs aren't harming him, then why in the ever-loving fuck are you still shooting at him!? At this point, you might as well just fucking retreat and call it a mission failure, because nothing's working against the giant green monster right now. Just something to consider is all.

10 minutes later

You know, guys, I'm really liking how they're trying to humanize Bruce Banner here in this scene with no dialogue whatsoever. It honestly is the best part of the entire movie so far and I'm really digging it.

19 minutes later

OK, I was gonna ask whether or not those vehicles were gonna use something like ultra sound-wave cannons or something. And, well...it's pretty close to what I was thinking about. Granted, they're not really "cannons" per se, but it's still accurate, regardless.

18 minutes later

Well, lesson learned, New York taxi cab drivers are kinda sexual perverts. I would say that this is shocking, but considering how much of a shithole New York City currently is right now, this is honestly one of the least surprising things to learn about.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "The Incredible Hulk". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, I am gonna start off by saying this. This is easily the best Hulk movie I've ever seen. Now granted, that's a really low bar to pass, considering that this is the only Hulk movie I've gotten a chance to watch in it's entirety. However, given what I've heard and seen from previous attempts of making a Hulk movie, it's probably the best one we're ever gonna get it. And considering how neutered the Hulk has been long after this movie, and that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is on it's deathbed, I don't think we're ever gonna get another good Hulk movie anytime soon. At least, that's how I'm looking at it right now, anyways.

So, with all that said, let's finally get into the movie itself here and actually talk about it. I'm gonna start with writing, and I first need to talk about the film's tone. Now, I'm not gonna repeat myself about why I dislike the MCU's usage of humor in their movies, because I've done that at least 2 or 3 times now, and I don't want to feel like a broken record here. So instead, I'm gonna first tell you straight up that this movie is mostly a drama. And for a character like the Hulk, it works beautifully. Because you really can't get away with telling a story about Bruce Banner controlling his rage and anger by forcing in awkward humor at the most unnecessary moments. It just doesn't work for him here. *Maybe* you could get away with that in an animated film aimed towards kids, but even then, it would still feel really out of place there. Here though, it works great. There's only, like, two moments in the movie where they try to do humor here. But for everything else, it's a straight-up drama. And again, a very well done drama at that.

I want to touch upon the characters next. And specifically, I want to mainly focus on Bruce Banner. Because, similar to what I covered in last week's Reaction & Review on "Conan the Barbarian", there's a couple of moments here where the movie tries to convey a story with no dialogue. The best moments of the film has to go to when Banner is at the university that Betty attends at. He sees the love his life, Betty, sitting on a bench, and her new boyfriend soon approaches her and gives her a kiss as they leave together. And throughout the whole scene, you get to see the look on Banner's face, where it's just *eating* him up inside that he may never actually get to see Betty again in the same way. Not that he was totally against the relationship, mind you, but the feeling of just holding her in his arms, for example, is something that he may never get to do again. And that whole scene was played out beautifully, and it demonstrates the humanity in Banner's character. And you really do feel for him, too, throughout the entire movie, because his character is written incredibly well here.

And I'll even include Betty here, too, because the same goes for her. Because when she first sees Bruce hiding out at a pizza joint that Banner was secretly working at, because he knows the owner there, she gets a sense of shock and surprise to know that Banner is close by. And then later asks Stanley, the owner, that if what she saw was actually real. And the relationship between Banner and Betty is really strong here because of how well written they both are together. Our other characters, unfortunately, are kinda shallow. the colonel, who's also Betty's father, is rather stoic and sort of an asshole. And the Aussie, who's also the antagonist of the film, is also rather bland and under-developed. Fortunately, our main characters hold this movie together, and it makes the film worth watching. So, in this case, I can accept strongly written main characters over the sorta weak writing that our antagonists get.

Now with that being said, let's go straight into the acting here. The acting in this movie is great. Everybody here turns in a strong showing, whether it's from Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, to the weakly written antagonists, all of them turn in an excellent showing for their characters. There is one actor, in particular, who I need to make mention of. It's during the scene where Banner, who's working as a pizza delivery guy, is inside the university, and he comes face to face with a security guard. And for a long time, the actor playing the security guard really bothered me because he looked *so* familiar, and it was just nagging at me as to who he was. Well, it wasn't until I decided to look up the actor's name, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was Lou Ferrigno. And for those of you who don't know, he was the star of "The Incredible Hulk" series that ran from the late 70's to the early 80's. Now even though I said that I have never seen any Hulk media, I do remember Lou Ferrigno being in that show. And I gotta say, he looks great, both in this movie, and even to his current age of being in his early 70's. So yeah, that was a nice cameo appearance from him here. But beyond that, guys, the acting here is great from everyone in this entire cast.

Special effects here are really good, for the most part. Most of the CG here, at least by 2008 standards, as well as it being from an early MCU film, is really good. Although I have to admit, some of the CG is a little bit dated here. Plus also, some of the shots here look really kinda fake. The biggest example I can recall is when Betty and the Hulk are under a rock during a thunderstorm. And while Betty's getting him to calm down and trying to get him to come under the rock, this shot looked like an obvious green-screen effect. Which, yes, I'm pretty sure that's what it's suppose to be, but I honestly felt like that shot, in particular looked kinda terrible. Now granted, it's a very minor scene, and perhaps it's just me that noticed it, so you really just have to take it for what it's worth. All I'm saying is that it could've used some slightly more polish here and there to make it look less obvious. But still, the scene, content wise, is really good. So I can't really complain too much about a somewhat dated green-screen effect.

Camerawork here is really good. The lighting here is great. The sound-mix is mixed perfectly. The score here is also really good, as most of it is just orchestral. But again, for a movie about the Hulk, I think it works perfectly here. So overall, all of the technical stuff works fine.

So, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "The Incredible Hulk"? Most certainly, yes. Like I said earlier, this is probably the best Hulk movie we're ever gonna get, especially coming from the MCU. Now, when compared other films I've seen from the MCU, it is by no means the best, but it is certainly nowhere near the worst either. It's perfectly balanced in the middle. I'm not putting it up any higher than that because, well, my anti-bias against the Hulk is still kinda there. But still, I can recommend this movie to you guys, overall. It is a really good movie, and for Edward Norton's only appearance as the character, he nails it perfectly. And to be perfectly honest, I'm kinda happy that this is his only appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Otherwise, he would be forced into the dumbest shit possible involving the Hulk, but that's neither here nor there. As for myself, I may end up watching it again at some point, though whether or not it will be good enough to hold onto is something that I'll have to decide for myself. For now, though, I'm gonna go and watch something different. And by something different, I'm probably just gonna rewatch "Iron Man" again. Because, well, it's my favorite film from the MCU. So I'm probably just gonna go do that next after I get done with this review.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Conan The Barbarian

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox", here on Reaction & Review. Yes, guys, it's the start of a new year and this is my 5th annual "Tales of the Longbox" marathon as well. So, why don't we start things off with something a little bit different that isn't the usual kindle from DC or Marvel? Well...the latter is sort of a lie, but I'll get to that in a second. So anyway, tonight's movie, to kick off the new year, is a fantasy film from 1982. That movie is "Conan The Barbarian".

Now, I'm gonna be sort of bending the rules for this one. See, my usual method for selecting these movies for this marathon is that I would space things out between the comic book films that are published under different companies. Basically, I would pick out 3 movies from Marvel, 3 movies from DC, and a couple of independent ones. That way, everyone gets a fair chance rather than just one publisher over-saturating the other ones.

Well, this time, I'm unintentionally gonna have to slightly bend those rules for this particular marathon. I say "unintentionally", because when I picked out the Conan movies, I did not know that the Conan comics were mostly published under Marvel Comics. Yeah, apparently, the Conan comics have a *long* history of being published under Marvel. And that's probably my fault for not noticing this until the moment I started doing the minimal amount of research on this movie. But, I am still gonna count Conan as being independent, because the comics were also published under Dark Horse for a time, before bouncing back over to Marvel, followed by the rights being acquired by Titan Comics. Who, at the time that I'm writing this anyway, still currently own the rights to publish Conan comics.

So anyway, now that I've gotten that little snag out of the way, let's actually talk about tonight's movie. From what little I know about it, I do know a couple of things. First of all, I know that this movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger. And it's been quite a while since I last covered anything starring the man. The only two movies I can ever recall covering that he starred in were "The Villain", which was a Western comedy that I really enjoyed, and that god-awful "Red Sonya" movie that I reviewed a couple of years ago for one of my previous "Tales of the Longbox" marathons. So...yeah, Arnold's presence in this series has been rather lacking. So to make up for that, I've decided to not only cover this movie, but also it's sequel, which will be covered later in the first half of this marathon.

As for what else I know about this movie, it's honestly not a whole lot. I'm gonna take a wild guess here, though, and say that I'm probably gonna be watching an origin story about Conan the Barbarian. Which might prove to be interesting, though how it will actually fare out is a-whole-nother thing altogether. But that's what we're here for; To see if it will be entertaining at all. And I have heard mildly good things about this first movie, so the chances of it being good are, well...pretty good. But anyway, I'm just stalling here. Let's just see how this movie will turn out, shall we? So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Conan The Barbarian".

12 minutes later

So..,James Earl Jones just offed Conan's mothers head off, just like that. If that's not gonna fucking traumatize a kid, I don't know what will, honestly.

17 minutes later

You know, guys, I'm kinda surprised by how little dialogue there is in this movie so far. And we're only a half an hour into the film, mind you, but I'm actually sorta surprised that it found a way to tell it's story without using a whole lot of dialogue. That's actually really impressive.

5 minutes later

O...K...so apparently, the woman Conan was humping actually turned out to be a...succubus, I think. I'm not totally sure what the hell she's actually suppose to be, but I will say that honestly took me off guard a little bit. I honestly was not expecting that.

6 minutes later

OK, there is something genuinely hilarious about Conan punching a camel in the face, knocking it's lights out. I never thought I would see that kind of thing in a movie, especially about Conan the Barbarian, but I got it, and it was funny as hell.

11 minutes later

Well, guys, I am gonna say that the score here has been really good so far. There is a lot of music here, and it's overtaking the scenes where there isn't any dialogue. Mind you, I'm not saying that as a knock at the movie, I'm just saying that it works really well to it's advantage. So yeah, I can definitely add the music as a big positive.

17 minutes later

You know, I don't know what it is, guys, but seeing Conan wearing a robe's outfit like that looks goofy as shit on him. Like, so far, most of the costuming here has been really good, but then I see Conan wearing that outfit, and it just looks fucking goofy as hell on him. Just wanted to make mention of that.

14 minutes later

I am gonna say, guys, that these ghostly creatures here look really fucking cool. And the way that our heroes are battling them while trying to save Conan from, well, I guess, being taken into the astral world or something. I'm not totally sure about that part, but the effects for the ghosts look really cool, so at least I can say that much.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Conan The Barbarian". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, where to begin with this one...? Well, I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised by it. I mean, I sorta went into it, thinking that it was going to be some cheese-fest fantasy movie. And while there are a couple of moments of cheesiness to be found here, for the most part, this movie is really solid. I definitely enjoyed this movie a lot more than I should have.

So, why don't we just go right into it here and start off with the writing. And I want to start off with the dialogue. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that this is the best dialogue ever written to film or anything like that, but how exactly it's handled here. You see, this movie does something that I don't really see much of anymore, in which there's very minimal dialogue here. The best example I'm gonna bring up is the first 30 minutes of the film. Most of the dialogue in that first half hour is narrated by Mako's character, who's basically just a wizard, although you don't really get to know that until much later on. But anyway, the first half of the film is basically chronicling Conan's fall and rise, where he started off in child laboring after his entire village was killed off, save for him as a young boy. And from there, it's told through narration that Conan basically just became a warrior who killed so many people that his name became more well-known, to a point where he secretly gets freed by one of his captors because he was just held prisoner for so long ever since he was a child.

Now, what makes this first half hour really good is that, even though there is narration explaining some things, they don't do that throughout the whole thing, you actually get to see Conan's rise for yourself. It basically did something that I don't really see a whole lot of movies do anymore, in which they showcase "less is more". You aren't being told every single bit of detail throughout Conan's early years, you are basically seeing it for yourself as to how things play out. And it's honestly really refreshing to see that from a movie like this, where I hear a ton of movies nowadays that try to explain every little piece of detail about a story to you that you're not given the chance to see and learn things by yourself. This movie, at least the first half hour of it anyway, does a really good job in showing you how to tell a story with as minimal dialogue as possible.

Now that's not to say that the rest of the story isn't solid at all, it really is a solid story. It's very episodic, which is to be expected from a fantasy film, but it still works. Our characters here are very fleshed out, although, this is gonna tie into the only weak part of the writing. Namely, that I don't think any of the characters got any actual names. I know of Conan, because he's the lead character and all, but everyone else, I can't recall a single name that was uttered, if it all. I know of Mako's character being a wizard, one of Conan's friends is a thief, and the blonde woman being his girlfriend. And, of course, there is James Earl Jones playing our lead villain, but again, I don't recall his name whatsoever. It might've been uttered once or twice, but I honestly don't remember what it was. Again, the only name I know of is our titled character Conan. But beyond that, names are kinda non-existent here. Perhaps maybe when I watch it a second time, I'll try and see if I can pick up on any character names that I potentially missed, if there were any other names at all.

One other thing that I wanted to quickly comment on is the tone of the film. Now, being that this is a story about Conan the Barbarian rising to fame, and for anyone who has read the comics, it is a rather dark-based story. And while this movie does have it's dark moments, it doesn't lean too heavily into the darkish tone. It's not like, say, "The Dark Knight" where almost everything in that movie is about as dark and edgy as possible. It still has enough breathing room to fit in some light humor here and there, and it doesn't feel out of place at all. It sorta leans on being a bit cheesy at times, but like I already stated, it doesn't feel entirely out of place for a movie like this. I mean, you have Conan laughing and smiling at times in this movie, and it shows that he's not exactly the grim and gritty character like he was shown at the beginning of the flick. And if the movie had kept that tone throughout his character for the entirety of it's run, then I think it would've hurt the movie a little bit. I prefer it when a movie knows when it wants to have fun and didn't stick into being dark for the entire run of it.

So yeah, guys, the writing here is really good. And the acting here is also really solid, as well. There are two actors, in particular, I want to make mention of. The first is, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is quite possibly one of his best performances I have seen from him in quite a while, and what makes his acting really good here is the fact that he doesn't have a whole lot of dialogue to work with. Most of his acting comes from his fight choreography, in which he will basically let his actions do the speaking for him. It's great, and it's one of those examples of actors who work better when given minimal lines, Another example would have to be Jean-Claude Van Damme, in case anyone may ask. But yeah, Arnold's acting here is surprisingly good. The actor I have to mention is James Earl Jones. While I don't remember the villain name for his character, the acting from him is also spectacular. But then again, we are talking about James Earl Jones here, a man who can take almost any script, good or bad, and turn it into solid gold. There is one bit in the movie that I wanted to mention about him, which was during the first 30 minutes. When you first see him, he says no dialogue, but it's the intense stare he gives to young Conan's mother that makes it all the more powerful. The man was a master at his craft, and when you see him give out that stare, it would send chills down your spine. That's how good he really was. And the rest of the acting is still great, too, of course. But Arnold and James easily makes this movie worth watching for their performances alone.

Special effects here are also really good. I'm talking about everything involving the blood effects, the costuming, makeup, and our sets. All of that is perfect here. The fight choreography is also really good, too. And also, remember those effects I mentioned earlier involving the ghosts? Well, I was wondering if it was possible that they used some hand-drawn animation, since CG wasn't a thing yet at the time. And sure enough, that is partially true. They were made by George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic, which gave the effects of our ghosts here. And they look amazing! They seriously do. The on-set locations also look great, too. Guys, there's nothing more positive I can say about the special effects without beating a dead horse, other than that they are great.

Camerawork here is really good. The lighting here is lit rather well. The sound-mix is, admittedly, kinda muffled in about a couple of scenes, and it's mainly scenes where we see Conan and the male thief, when they first get together and they talk. It's those scenes that are kinda sorta muffled and you really can't hear much of their dialogue. But everything else involving the sound-mix is all right. The score here is amazing. Most of the score here was done by Basil Poledouris, and a lot of it is just orchestral music. And like I said, it's fucking amazing, and it definitely makes the movie stand out a whole lot more, especially in the more quiet scenes where Arnold doesn't have very much speaking dialogue. Now whether that part was intentional, considering Arnold's limited acting ability, or not, it still works really well. So regardless, the music here is fantastic.

Overall, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Conan The Barbarian"? Oh, absolutely. This thing was definitely a surprise to me. Which is really saying something, because I had heard only mildly good things about it. Well, I don't know what exactly they said, but I can assure you guys, this movie is a hell of a lot more than mildly good, it's almost great. This is definitely one of Arnold's better movies, in my opinion. And I'm curious to see what he can do in the sequel, which again, I'm gonna review later on in this marathon. But I'll just have to wait and see for now. In the meantime, I think I'm gonna go and play some more of "The Legend of Dragoon" on my PS4. It's a classic RPG game in my eyes, and I'm still kinda in the beginning of phases of my 3rd playthrough of the game. So that's what I'll go do once I get done typing this review.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.