Fandom: The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Jan. 20th, 2019 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
escritoireazulMy MCU (re)watch continues! This time with The Incredible Hulk, one of the parts I'm watching for the first time. I'm a little torn on this one; I love Banner and the Hulk (in part because the Hulk is a great metaphor for bipolar), and I've enjoyed some of Norton's work, but I love the hell out of Ruffalo's version and I don't know how this is going to work for me.
Spoilers for The Incredible Hulk, of course, but also brief talk of Ragnarok and Infinity War. (And this turned into slightly more stream of conscious live blogging than I intended.)
I did not realize that the origin story would take place completely in the credits! All this time, I thought this was an origin story! I'm delighted by that. It's nice not to go over the same origin ground over and over again.
Banner working on his anger control made my heart sing. Fighting, breathing hard, using the body to ground, getting slapped around, it's all great. And the way he tracks his heart rate made me grin, though that beeping made my heart rate go up. Way to keep things chill, dude.
I'm pretty sure his dog is an Australian cattle dog, and I am utterly charmed. I love ACDs so. (My dog is part ACD.) I'm sad the dog's not around in any other movies, though it makes perfect sense as to why.
The bit with the blood in the factory was actually kind of chilling, and I love it. What a great way to drive home how he is understandably terrified. (Though real damn sloppy for him to miss it dripping down the fucking bottle. You should be better at this, Banner.) And Martina is gorgeous. Why isn't she around later? (Does she die? I'm going to be real damn mad if she dies.)
YOU WON'T LIKE ME WHEN I'M HUNGRY OH MY GOD.
...I'm pretty sure Fast Five had this same damn Brazil chase scene across rooftops. Inspired by this? Who knows.
Tyler plays Betty Ross way too breathy and timid for me in the beginning. I'm hoping that goes away as we get into even more action. (I'm writing some of this up on a quick break from the movie since dinner is almost ready. I'm not liveblogging it. Mostly.)
I did not expect to have so many Bruce Banner feels in this movie, but I have them. Norton plays Banner more sinister than Ruffalo does, in part because Norton is just more sinister, period. He can come around a corner and I don't think he means for it to look sinister, but it does. I prefer that mild, worried thing Ruffalo pulls off, but this isn't as off-putting as I worried.
It's amazing to me how far we've come, looking at this Hulk and thinking about Ragnarok. Not the special effects so much as the design itself: how he moves, how he talks (or doesn't), the expressions he makes. Hulk farther on into the MCU has so much more personality, and I like that we can see that grow. Here, he's new to it and angry; later, he's angry and dragged into something with aliens and looking forward to smashing things, and in Ragnarok, he's settled and crowd-worshipped, and interesting. And then he's afraid.
I can see the glimmer of that Hulk in this one, and though I'm not sure how much of it is actually intentional considering all the changes and directors and vast group of writers, etc., I like it a lot.
May or may not have shrieked a little when I recognized Ferrigno. (Definitely shrieked a little.)
Isn't Culver University where Darcy attends and Jane works? (Worked?) Or is that some bit of fanon I osmosed? (I guess I'll see when I get to Thor, which I have seen a couple of times, but not for awhile.)
UGH even though I don't like Tyler's portrayal of Betty, I ship the hell out of her and Bruce and her and Hulk. He's so gentle when he saves her! He wants to take on the fucking storm to keep her safe. I love them. The haircutting scene! He can't get too excited, but maybe a little excited. (I think he totally went down on her. Surely he can keep his heart rate low enough for that.)
I spent a great deal of time in this movie clutching at my chest wanting Bruce to have a safe place with friends who are family oh my god my heaaaaaaaaart. (And Hulk! People keep calling him an it and I get why, but it sucks.) Bruce's PTSS makes a ton of sense, too.
Betty's road rage at the cab! Bruce offering her techniques to control her anger! I laughed out loud.
Oh, random thought here, I did not expect to see Tim Roth as Blonsky. And I love the scene where he's staring into the mirror and his spine changes. Very werewolf imagery. Very monstrous. I love it. And I love his obsession with becoming more.
The technology in this compared to what I just watched in Iron Man! It's such an interesting juxtaposition, and a great way of (possibly unintentionally?) showing the difference in what regular people (scientists, schools, etc.) have access to and what a Stark has access to.
And the scene where they're trying the cure is all very Frankenstein! In fact, this entire thing has way more nods to horror movies than I ever expected. (I MEAN COME ON THAT FULL MOON SHOT WITH THE HELICOPTER?!) I'm sad I didn't watch this sooner! (And Betty flinging herself on top of Hulk to stop him from breaking away from the cure Bruce wants. My heaaaaaaaart. So fucking brave.)
This end fight is so much fun! And oh my god, full of terrible decisions. Especially this:
Ross: Damn that man for putting my daughter in danger.
Ross: *flies a helicopter with Betty inside at Abomination and pisses him off*
Me: WTF Ross. What. The. Fuck.
Ross: Hang on, helicopter's going down.
Ross: *has no one actually strap into safety gear so everying, including Betty, is thrown all over*
Me: NO SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN DOING RIGHT NOW.
(Also, with all of this building up at the end of the movie, I keep expecting Ross to be much different in later movies. Still driven for success and creating a better weapon (so many men driven to create better weapons, even Tony many many movies from now), but not so driven to control Hulk and the Avengers. It seems like he's having some character growth here but that, it seems, is gone fast. Huh.
I always see people talking about how Captain America jumps out of planes all the time, but so does Bruce Banner! And now that scene in Ragnarok is a delightful callback for me.
Tony Stark, WTF are you doing going to Ross with some sort of team you're putting together? That you're not actually putting together at all, because that's Fury and also you're not suitable for it anyway, though Iron Man's pretty great. (Oh, hey, is this little end scene supposed to come after Iron Man 2?)
I loved this movie way the hell more than I expected! Still not a huge fan of how Tyler or Norton played their roles, but I am completely besotted by both characters. And what I wouldn't give for stories about Banner and Hulk each living it up in the Canadian wilderness.
Spoilers for The Incredible Hulk, of course, but also brief talk of Ragnarok and Infinity War. (And this turned into slightly more stream of conscious live blogging than I intended.)
I did not realize that the origin story would take place completely in the credits! All this time, I thought this was an origin story! I'm delighted by that. It's nice not to go over the same origin ground over and over again.
Banner working on his anger control made my heart sing. Fighting, breathing hard, using the body to ground, getting slapped around, it's all great. And the way he tracks his heart rate made me grin, though that beeping made my heart rate go up. Way to keep things chill, dude.
I'm pretty sure his dog is an Australian cattle dog, and I am utterly charmed. I love ACDs so. (My dog is part ACD.) I'm sad the dog's not around in any other movies, though it makes perfect sense as to why.
The bit with the blood in the factory was actually kind of chilling, and I love it. What a great way to drive home how he is understandably terrified. (Though real damn sloppy for him to miss it dripping down the fucking bottle. You should be better at this, Banner.) And Martina is gorgeous. Why isn't she around later? (Does she die? I'm going to be real damn mad if she dies.)
YOU WON'T LIKE ME WHEN I'M HUNGRY OH MY GOD.
...I'm pretty sure Fast Five had this same damn Brazil chase scene across rooftops. Inspired by this? Who knows.
Tyler plays Betty Ross way too breathy and timid for me in the beginning. I'm hoping that goes away as we get into even more action. (I'm writing some of this up on a quick break from the movie since dinner is almost ready. I'm not liveblogging it. Mostly.)
I did not expect to have so many Bruce Banner feels in this movie, but I have them. Norton plays Banner more sinister than Ruffalo does, in part because Norton is just more sinister, period. He can come around a corner and I don't think he means for it to look sinister, but it does. I prefer that mild, worried thing Ruffalo pulls off, but this isn't as off-putting as I worried.
It's amazing to me how far we've come, looking at this Hulk and thinking about Ragnarok. Not the special effects so much as the design itself: how he moves, how he talks (or doesn't), the expressions he makes. Hulk farther on into the MCU has so much more personality, and I like that we can see that grow. Here, he's new to it and angry; later, he's angry and dragged into something with aliens and looking forward to smashing things, and in Ragnarok, he's settled and crowd-worshipped, and interesting. And then he's afraid.
I can see the glimmer of that Hulk in this one, and though I'm not sure how much of it is actually intentional considering all the changes and directors and vast group of writers, etc., I like it a lot.
May or may not have shrieked a little when I recognized Ferrigno. (Definitely shrieked a little.)
Isn't Culver University where Darcy attends and Jane works? (Worked?) Or is that some bit of fanon I osmosed? (I guess I'll see when I get to Thor, which I have seen a couple of times, but not for awhile.)
UGH even though I don't like Tyler's portrayal of Betty, I ship the hell out of her and Bruce and her and Hulk. He's so gentle when he saves her! He wants to take on the fucking storm to keep her safe. I love them. The haircutting scene! He can't get too excited, but maybe a little excited. (I think he totally went down on her. Surely he can keep his heart rate low enough for that.)
I spent a great deal of time in this movie clutching at my chest wanting Bruce to have a safe place with friends who are family oh my god my heaaaaaaaaart. (And Hulk! People keep calling him an it and I get why, but it sucks.) Bruce's PTSS makes a ton of sense, too.
Betty's road rage at the cab! Bruce offering her techniques to control her anger! I laughed out loud.
Oh, random thought here, I did not expect to see Tim Roth as Blonsky. And I love the scene where he's staring into the mirror and his spine changes. Very werewolf imagery. Very monstrous. I love it. And I love his obsession with becoming more.
The technology in this compared to what I just watched in Iron Man! It's such an interesting juxtaposition, and a great way of (possibly unintentionally?) showing the difference in what regular people (scientists, schools, etc.) have access to and what a Stark has access to.
And the scene where they're trying the cure is all very Frankenstein! In fact, this entire thing has way more nods to horror movies than I ever expected. (I MEAN COME ON THAT FULL MOON SHOT WITH THE HELICOPTER?!) I'm sad I didn't watch this sooner! (And Betty flinging herself on top of Hulk to stop him from breaking away from the cure Bruce wants. My heaaaaaaaart. So fucking brave.)
This end fight is so much fun! And oh my god, full of terrible decisions. Especially this:
Ross: Damn that man for putting my daughter in danger.
Ross: *flies a helicopter with Betty inside at Abomination and pisses him off*
Me: WTF Ross. What. The. Fuck.
Ross: Hang on, helicopter's going down.
Ross: *has no one actually strap into safety gear so everying, including Betty, is thrown all over*
Me: NO SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN DOING RIGHT NOW.
(Also, with all of this building up at the end of the movie, I keep expecting Ross to be much different in later movies. Still driven for success and creating a better weapon (so many men driven to create better weapons, even Tony many many movies from now), but not so driven to control Hulk and the Avengers. It seems like he's having some character growth here but that, it seems, is gone fast. Huh.
I always see people talking about how Captain America jumps out of planes all the time, but so does Bruce Banner! And now that scene in Ragnarok is a delightful callback for me.
Tony Stark, WTF are you doing going to Ross with some sort of team you're putting together? That you're not actually putting together at all, because that's Fury and also you're not suitable for it anyway, though Iron Man's pretty great. (Oh, hey, is this little end scene supposed to come after Iron Man 2?)
I loved this movie way the hell more than I expected! Still not a huge fan of how Tyler or Norton played their roles, but I am completely besotted by both characters. And what I wouldn't give for stories about Banner and Hulk each living it up in the Canadian wilderness.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-21 03:36 am (UTC)Also, this and Thor and the end of Iron Man 2 all are supposed to have happened together or right after each other--Coulson leaves IM2 to go deal with the hammer falling out of the sky and Natasha leaves to go observe Banner and the Hulk. Also, I think this is about when they find Steve's plane, if not Steve himself. There's a tie-in comic (I think it's Fury's Big Week, but I might be wrong.)
Also, yes, everyone goes to/works for Culver. :D It's a Marvel institution. There's a comment in Thor about a colleague who worked with gamma radiation who got on SHIELD's radar and just disappeared. Et voila: Banner. :D
(I spent a summer weaving one of my Darcy/Clint fics in and around canon so I was watching/reading every single thing I could find. Clearly, my brain does not let things go.)
no subject
Date: 2019-01-21 11:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-21 02:40 pm (UTC)Not a flea. Fleas have too much empathy for General Ross.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-15 01:29 am (UTC)Remember, a father can endanger a daughter, but not her boyfriend in a way Daddy doesn't Approve.