Just finished watching The Incredible Hulk. I give it a 4/10.

Not a bad movie overall. It had enough to keep the coals going with a few sparks here and there. It was a seemingly messy movie with a few unnecessary scenes that literally had no use being in the movie.

The casting choice of Tim Roth wasn't a good one at all. He played little more than just another guy on the screen who just so happened to be in the middle of the shot. He wasn't funny, intimidating, clever, or superior in any way; just played into the end roll of becoming Hulk's fight. Honestly what is there to remember of that villain? What is there to talk about? Lot's of people like to fight, so what!

The beginning felt like the movie was aware a previous Hulk had released just a few years before. What a rush job. Oh boy. Would have been better to start off with having on-screen development of an actual villain instead of rushing through the previous Hulk movie. We know who the Hulk is, show us the badass villain before you do anything else. Make it interesting and show us the challenge that Hulk is going to have to face!...or don't.

The fight scene at the university was what stood out in the beginning of the middle frame, to me. Some cool moments there. The connection between Bruce and Betty is convincing at least although the acting isn't all that great, it's good, just not great.

The ending was meh... Abomination was at least a little fun.

The whole movie was heavily predictable but I can't fault it completely. Edward Norton was at least good in this.

Incredible Hulk is odd going back to as I haven't watched it recently while I have seen Avengers 1 & 2 and recent Thor so that Hulk is fixed in my mind. Ignoring that it is sort of clear why there were no sequels and Hulk has been used as a guest or team character, they didn't really know what to do with him. Personally, I would have loved a stand alone Planet Hulk and then World War Hulk, but that doesn't seem likely.

It's not terrible, but it is simple, which may be a reaction to the Ang Lee Hulk movie that was not received well. I don't mind watching it, but then I have no desire to rewatch it.

5/10 - Okay, but doesn't much for me to elevate itself.

Doing Planet Hulk as a stand alone would always be hard. Ignoring licence rights (as Universal still technically own Hulk individual films), Hulk on another world just like that? No Banner, just Hulk? Could Hulk carry a film on his own? They didn't even explain how he got there in Thor 3, without the Illuminati and their original plan the reasons why would be a little far fetched to me.

There's an animated Planet Hulk and I enjoyed it.  I think audiences have become increasingly accepting of super hero concepts.  A decade ago Rocket and Groot would have seemed too far out there coupled with being C-List characters.

I will admit forgot about rights issues.  Hulk doesn't get mentioned like Spider-Man or X-Men do in that conversation.

I've never seen the animated film properly, only the Beta Ray Bill bit (Surfer was his part in the comics) but you are right on that the idea of the general populace being more open to certain characters and concepts and it was GotG that helped that. Having a 'human' face to things helps however. Film with only Hulk?

That's because Universal aren't stupid, their Hulk films didn't make the same kind of money Marvel's 2 biggest franchises (at the time) did when comic films were first making the big bucks. Why bother giving up the control when you make enough money from every entry anyway? (Sony and Fox) Things might change in the future due to the 'thing', while Sony are basically just allowing Marvel to use Spider-man. They still own Spider-man's extended roster and line.

Scores updated to this point. Let's get some more Hulk scores/commentary!

Edit: also, congrats to us on 200+ posts!

Watched Iron Man 2.  (I think weekdays are better Marvel movie days for me.)   Anyway, this post contains lots of spoilers so don't read if you haven't seen the movie yet.

Plusses:

Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man.  I always enjoy seeing him portray Iron Man, and this movie is no different.  I do have complaints against this movie, but I can't fault Robert Downey Jr. in any way.

The plot about the palladium core poisoning Iron Man's blood was interesting.  It was definitely the most interesting part of the plot to me.

 The scene where Black Widow fights infiltrates Justin Hammer’s HQ is cool.  (Unfortunately Iron Man doesn’t get actions scenes that are nearly this cool.)

The most interesting parts as a whole for this movie involved how it expanded the MCU as a whole: introduces Black Widow, first time Rhodey becomes War Machine, we learn that Howard Stark helped found Shield.  One really cool thing is seeing Senator Sterns (Gary Shandling).  I remember his character from Winter Soldier, but I forgot he was in Iron Man 2 until I rewatched it.  Now that I know his role in Winter Soldier, I see him in a different light in this movie.  That is a nice touch on Kevin Feige's part (who is the one paying attention to continuity stuff).

Minuses:

Weak villains following a weak plot.  I do not believe that these villains are threatening, referring to both Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer.  When people complain about Marvel villains, I am starting to think they are mostly referring to Iron Man villains.  Loki, Red Skull, Baron Zemo, Vulture…these are all villains I really like.  Iron Man has really sucky villains, and this movie is the worst culprit.  The only real threat to Iron Man is the blood poisoning which is why it is the most interesting part of the plot.

I really hate Ivan Vanko.  This may seem like the same as point #1, but I cannot overstate how much I really hate Vanko as a character.  He just has a couple of whips.  Iron Man has flight, super strength, lasers, an AI, etc....  Vanko should not even be the slightest challenge for Iron Man.  The fact that they show him as a challenge during the racing scene is just so irritating to me.  I’m like, “Hey guy, just fly up in the air a few feet and shoot him!”  Also Vanko has a dumb motivation.  He wants to ruin the Stark family name, which is kind of weak, but then he never gets even remotely close to doing this.  Everyone loves Iron Man all of the time throughout this movie except Hammer and Sterns who already hated him.

The writing for this movie is exceptionally weak.  For example, how does Vanko know that Tony Stark is going to be in the formula 1 race?  Pepper and Black Widow are surprised, but somehow Vanko knows exactly where to go.

Overall, I can only recommend Iron Man 2 to people who want to experience the whole MCU (like us).  The movie expands the overall MCU plotline in interesting ways, but it cannot really stand up on its own.

4/10

I'm gonna watch Hulk a little later today. Didn't have time before

I’ll be adding my own thoughts once I watch it (probably Saturday) but wanted to clarify that the suit he wears in that first altercation with Vanko at the race is not capable of flight. This was possibly a trade off for its mobility. It’s not clear in the film. So the mistake is totally understandable. That fight scene did kind of work for me because it was about Tony’s vulnerability outside the suit. The tension comes from getting to the suit. Once he puts it on, he handily defeats Vanko. It’s a nice comparison with the scene in Iron Man 3 where Tony doesn’t have his suit and he needs to use his own skills to get inside the Mandarin’s compound

I did not get this detail at all.  Did they mention this in the movie, or is this something a person would only know from comic books?  The formula 1 scene is my least favorite part of the movie, although it may be more the director's fault for not clearly communicating the important details.