The Incredible Hulk

[jason]

Not as good as Iron Man, but better than Ang Lee's Hulk from a few years ago.

I enjoyed it a lot.

[Nybling]

Well, any Hulk movie had to be better than that Ang Lee version.

[Blackguard]

I actually walked out of the previous Hulk movie. It should have ended several times before it did. I left when they got to the lake, and to this day I have no idea how the movie ended. It's one of exactly two movies I've ever walked out of, and the first wasn't even my idea to leave (House on Haunted Hill is the other, I believe, because it was too gory for my wife [then girlfriend]).

If jason liked this one, I may go check it out.

[jason]

Which lake are you talking about? The cabin? If you left at the cabin, you need to see the movie again, if only for the comedy of... Hulk-Poodles.

[Nybling]

Saw this yesterday.

Loved the small reference to Cap America ("trying the super soldiers before") and loved the action and the final battle.

Liv Tyler I think was a little miscast. Edward Norton was great. Tim Roth was fantastic, and well, I like William Hurt in anything he does.

Cameo by Tony Stark was freaking awesome as well, and I'm also glad that Iron Man looks like it will nail $300,000,000 domestically. That movie deserves that good of a box office. I only hope the Hulk can score $160-$175 million domestically to bolster Marvel's coffers. I like what they are doing with their franchises. Even if I'm worried about the upcoming Punisher sequel.

... which reminds me...

How can these people keep fucking up the Punisher? HE IS THE PUNISHER. He was like my favorite guy when I was growing up just because he was a regular dude who blew away everyone. His battles with superheroes and villains alike made him one of the most badass characters ever.

Frankly, the Punisher should have had cameos in some of Marvel's other movies just to be more true to the old school universe.

edit: Cool tidbit -- http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic.htm -- Iron Man could bust into the top 25 All-Time domestic grossers by the end of this upcoming weekend. That'd be pretty cool for Favreau and Downey Jr.

[jason]

If you weren't aware... the Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movies are part of Marvel's initiative to bring the Ultimates to the screen. It was a mini-reboot of the Marvel Universe a while back and tried to tie everything together...

In the Incredible Hulk, when they go get the Super Soldier Formula you'll notice the container is marked Weapon Plus. Captain America is Weapon I, the Hulk is the result of an offshoot of the Weapon Plus program, and Weapon X is Wolverine...

The upcoming Thor movie, as well as Captain America and Iron Man 2, are all going be related, eventually leaving to the Avengers/Ultimates movie in 2011.

The Punisher: War Zone and a few other Marvel titles are not part of this movie continuity.

[Nybling]

Still, it pisses me off that the Punisher can't get a glorious movie. The last one wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I would do for a Punisher movie.

[jason]

If they were smart, they would have done the Punisher as a trilogy... the first one, similar to the one we got (although I would not have set it in Miami). The second one would be more of the same but set a few years later, however would involve him actually infiltrating a crime organization and burning it down from the inside. The third movie would be the "Suicide Run" story line from the comics... in that one, Frank, being wanted by just about every law organization and crime family, not to mention every bounty hunter and assassin wanting to make a name for himself, gets stopped in a small town for a traffic violation that gets blown out of proportion... he's arrested, the sheriff keeps asking who he is, but he won't say... finally the sheriff decides to run Frank's prints, Frank warms him not to. This triggers everyone wanting to kill him knowing that he is in jail in a small town. They descend on the town and a huge fire fight ensues... I would change the end though, either a) Frank gets killed, or b) Frank realizes that after all he has done he is actually more of a danger to innocent people than he is helping them, and quits after saving the town.

To me, that would have been a perfect arc... it will never happen though, because, well, they couldn't even do that in the comic... Suicide Run ended with Frank heading back to New York to continue fighting crime.

[Nybling]

Well, the whole Frank Castle quitting thing won't happen because they like to leave openings for "future sequels" to milk profitable franchises. I only hope Norton agrees to do a Hulk sequel, because I think the opening they gave for the one guy (won't mention names) leaves a good sequel possibility.

I also need to point out that they better not gay up Captain America. That movie NEEDS to be set in the 40s and he NEEDS to battle Red Skull, otherwise it will more than likely suck balls.

[Nybling]

Iron Man used this week to cross $300,000,000 gross domestically. Indy 4s at $282,000,000 domestically, but it's also #1 for World-Wide Gross because internationally it did a bit better than Iron Man. Hulk is cruising with $75,000,000 domestically now, I can see it crossing $150 million and being another solid movie for Marvel Studios. With IM doing so well though, you know IM2 is going to be incredibly huge especially since they are saying Mandarin is going to be the villain.