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Forums - Movies & TV - The Marvelous Marvel Rewatch (Now Playing: Avengers: Infinity War)

 

Best MCU sub-series?

Iron Man 1 3.03%
 
Thor 1 3.03%
 
Captain America 12 36.36%
 
The Avengers 9 27.27%
 
Guardians of the Galaxy 10 30.30%
 
Total:33
Doc755 on 07 January 2018
A_C_E said:
I'm typically quite stingy as far as critiquing of movies is concerned so my score won't reflect what is commonly accepted (5/10 being average as opposed to bad) but it is still my score.

I give Iron Man a 6/10.

The beginning 15 minutes was really well done. The character is who the character is and was introduced as such. However, the next few scenes that lead to Tony escaping the cave seem very rushed and you aren't really introduced to a convincing bond between the two stuck in the cave. It's more, "Hey, I feel bad for you and I need to show the audience I have morals" kinda deal. Felt almost forced and could have added a bit of back-bone to the escape. Also, he built Iron Man in a cave with cameras...and got away with it...in a day. Do they not checkup on
Tony's progress throughout that day? I mean, come on, they would have seen zero progress on the Jericho missiles.

The middle frame was spanned out quite nice. A few laughs here and there. I like how SHIELD is popping in every now and then, I can appreciate that. Tony is continuing to play the moral game, as he should but not too much development in the character department other than he begins to fall for Ms. Potts and, of course, the suit. I really liked how he showed up to the base where he was captured and made a statement, enjoyed that scene.

The ending was lacking, other than, "I am Iron Man". Not too much in the way of tensity, if any at all. At the same time though I feel as if this movie didn't necessarily need that big moment to close out the movie, but it would have been a nice addition and raised the bar a little.

The after credits was short but affect my score in a positive manner due to the unveiling of the Avengers initiative. Too cool!!

So overall it was an OK movie but it had that great vibe to it throughout the process of watching it. I enjoyed it. 6/10.

I apologize for being so late! I was not expecting it to take this long to watch but now that I have started, it's onto the Hulk tomorrow.

Just to clarify. Tony says he was in captivity for three months. Obviously he was probably recuperating for some of that time but the montage is meant to convey that the building of the suit takes place over a lengthy period



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Veknoid_Outcast on 07 January 2018
Volterra_90 said:

Yeah, after watching The Incredible Hulk again I can assure this will probably rank in the bottom. Now, it's not an awful movie at all and I find it pretty enjoyable at times. My score will be a 5.4/10, so let's round it to a 5/10. So, unless something changes in my mind, this will be my worst score of any MCU movie to date xD.

Now, about the movie, I like Ross as the villain. Some people consider Blonsky the main villain, but I feel that Blonsky is just a puppet in Ross hands, until Ross noticed he did wrong. But he's to blame for almost everything bad that happened in the movie. He's the reason of Banner's exile, he's the reason about Blonsky's transformation... Decent performances all around the movie, specially Edward Norton. I like the focus in landscapes and the escape section in Brazil, but I feel that the movie drags out a lot in the end.

Now, the bad, some sub-plots are not developed enough. I really don't like the Betty - Banner romance in the movie, I feel that Tyler's acting is pretty stiff and the dialogue doesn't help. Because the dialogue in the movie is, generally speaking, pretty bad. Blonsky is an awful, pretty generic villain. The CGI is abhorrent at times, specially The Abomination, which has an abominable CGI lol. And that's it. I feel that the beginning of the movie was pretty good but once Betty Ross appeared in the movie and they focused on developing their romantic relationship, which doesn't work at all, the movie lost a lot of its steam and turned out being pretty bland in the end.

Yeah I think Hulk will rank toward the bottom for me too — not because it’s terrible but because so many of the MCU movies are in the 6/7 range. 

I do have to disagree about the romance though. I think there was genuine emotional and sexual chemistry between the two leads, and found myself rooting for them.



Veknoid_Outcast on 07 January 2018

Scores updated to this point :)



Doc755 on 07 January 2018

About to start The Incredible Hulk (sneaking in at the end of the window!) so I’ll give my before thoughts. I saw this in theaters and thought it was an admirable follow-up to Iron Man. Not as strong but it also didn’t fumble the ball and helped to provide a strong opening to the MCU. I had been disappointed with Hulk (2003) and was happy at the time to avoid another origin story and to throw us into the action. I thought the cast were all good and it sprinkled enough seeds for future Hulk films (which we are still waiting for almost 10 years on) while also serving at its own story. I’ll save my other thoughts for the after. See you on the other side!



Doc755 on 07 January 2018

The Incredible Hulk still holds up for me. I think (like Iron Man) it definitely has some third act problems and looking back you could also say that it’s because of underdeveloped elements in the first two thirds. Tim Blake Nelson is game as Dr. Sterns (who would have probably been the villain Leader if we ever got a sequel) but he’s vastly underdeveloped and we have to rely on the mad scientist trope and some bits of dialogue to understand his character. The same goes with Tim Roth as Blonksy/Abomination. We get a few lines about a yearning for youth and power and that’s supposed to be enough. I can understand what they were going for but both definitely leave more to be desired in their final products.

The ending is certainly a “must go out with a big monster fight battle” but it still works in an almost schlocky way. Again, like Iron Man, the interesting antagonist from the first half of the film falls into typical super villain territory. Being evil for evil’s sake and causing mass destruction while spouting off lines from old Saturday cartoon shows. You have actors with real ability. Don’t be afraid to use them more!

What did work for me: I loved the opening act in Brazil. Not only does it slyly wink at the end of Hulk (2003) but it shows us everything we need to know about Bruce Banner. It’s a great juxtaposition to Tony Stark. Banner is on the run, living off the grid, having to keep every impulse of his in check and wracked with guilt from when he cannot. Compare that to Stark, who has a total lack of impulse control and is free to do whatever he wants. Their journeys have a rear inverse quality to them. Stark learns that his actions have ripple effects and works to mitigate the cost to others. Meanwhile Banner learns that by cutting himself off, he may only be delaying the inevitable. It’s only when he reconnects with Betty that he learns it is possible to control (or aim) the Hulk. That he’s still in there. He shouldn’t be afraid to lose control.

Speaking of Betty, I know a few people here have called it out negatively, but, for me, the Bruce/Betty relationship feels very real. Their chemistry flies off the screen and fills in their history without us being told what it is. There could have been a lot of exposition but this film is strong is showing and not telling. Her pleas to her father and Bruce resonate emotionally. Standing in front of that tank, screaming “Dad!”, you feel the pain of betrayal and anguish.

I don’t want to ramble on too much but all in all I think this is still a stronger entry in the MCU. Not one of the greats but definitely worth seeing and better than the standard by the numbers initial entries we’ll start to get. I’m going to give it a 7/10. I think it’s about a 6.5+ so I’ll round up.

Current rankings (best to worst):
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk



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Smartie900 on 07 January 2018
Veknoid_Outcast said:
Smartie900 said:
The Incredible Hulk: 5/10 (Rounded up from 4.5/10)

Positives:
- Surprisingly decent music
- Pretty even pacing
- Main cast is pretty good. I really liked Ed Norton
- Some good looking landscape shots
- Diverse amount of locales. Leads to good visual variety
- Very violent. There's a bunch of stabbing, shooting, smashing, and choking involved in this movie and they all have a good amount of weight to them. There's even a scene where the Abomination smashes the army guys with a tax cab. It is refreshingly violent for a Marvel movie.


Negatives:
- Horrendous dialogue. There's literally a scene where a character says to the villain, "It will turn you... into an ABOMINATION!!!". The rest is sappy and cliche.
- Awful CGI. I noticed this during the university fight especially but the filmmakers tried their hardest not to show Hulk's face during the fight because he looks awful. He just clashes with the rest of the movie because his muscles look so over the top fake. The helicopter crashes also look like something out of a PS1 FMV cutscene.
- Banner and Ross have absolutely no chemistry what so ever. They're both blander than planks of wood and neither of them have a personality or character quirks that make them enjoyable to watch. Any emotional scene they have together is carried by the music.
- Emil Blonsky is not a very good villain. He's just some army guy that wants to fight the Hulk because he's "looking for a fight". The Abomination's CGI also looks awful.

Anything else about the movie is just average. It's such a middle of the road movie that I really don't know how to respond to it. I really liked Ed Norton as the Hulk and he along with the music are the only things that stood out as well done. I would have liked if he could have stayed as the Hulk for longer but I guess that's not a possibility now. Personally I still think this is better than some Marvel movies like Thor 1 and 2 but it's still one of the weaker entries in the MCU. This movie had a darker tone and a good concept that could have produced something special. Unfortunately, it was executed in a sub par manner. Will add more if I can think of anything else.

After watching it again I feel like Ross is the true villain, and Blonsky just kind of the muscle. And Ross is something of a compelling villain — manipulative, obsessive, so loyal to his military career that he’s willing to throw out his relationship with his daughter. Even his decision to release Bruce at the end isn’t an act of heroism; it’s an act of cowardice. He’s attempting to cover up the “Abomination” he helped to create by sending, as he’s done several times during the movie, a soldier in to battle to do his dirty work.

I would have liked it more if Ross was the only villain.



 

 

Veknoid_Outcast on 07 January 2018
Smartie900 said:
Veknoid_Outcast said:

After watching it again I feel like Ross is the true villain, and Blonsky just kind of the muscle. And Ross is something of a compelling villain — manipulative, obsessive, so loyal to his military career that he’s willing to throw out his relationship with his daughter. Even his decision to release Bruce at the end isn’t an act of heroism; it’s an act of cowardice. He’s attempting to cover up the “Abomination” he helped to create by sending, as he’s done several times during the movie, a soldier in to battle to do his dirty work.

I would have liked it more if Ross was the only villain.

I can appreciate that. However, I do think there was promise there for Blonsky. That scene in that hangar is really good, and points to a potentially great arc for him.

I'm a fighter, and I'll be one for as long as I can. Mind you, if I took what I had now, and put it in a body that I had ten years ago, that would be someone I wouldn't want to fight

The idea of Blonsky, a (relatively) physically weak man who wants more than anything to fight, contrasted against Hulk, a powerhouse who wants desperately not to, is rich in dramatic potential.



The_Liquid_Laser on 07 January 2018
Smartie900 said:
Veknoid_Outcast said:

After watching it again I feel like Ross is the true villain, and Blonsky just kind of the muscle. And Ross is something of a compelling villain — manipulative, obsessive, so loyal to his military career that he’s willing to throw out his relationship with his daughter. Even his decision to release Bruce at the end isn’t an act of heroism; it’s an act of cowardice. He’s attempting to cover up the “Abomination” he helped to create by sending, as he’s done several times during the movie, a soldier in to battle to do his dirty work.

I would have liked it more if Ross was the only villain.

 

I totally agree that Ross is the main villain, but I think there needs to be some sort of muscle.  It is cool to see the Hulk take on tanks and helicopters, but you kind of know he is going to crush them all.  I think the Hulk needs some sort of super powered villain to challenge him in order to make the final conflict worthwhile.  So I think they had the right idea in this movie, but they executed it poorly.  



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The Fury on 08 January 2018
Veknoid_Outcast said:

 Roth’s super-soldier storyline evolve into something more interesting than dollar-store Doomsday

Doomsday, first appearance 1992. Abomination, first appearance 1973. Emil Blonksy will only ever be one thing... Abomination.

Veknoid_Outcast said:

After watching it again I feel like Ross is the true villain, and Blonsky just kind of the muscle. And Ross is something of a compelling villain — manipulative, obsessive, so loyal to his military career that he’s willing to throw out his relationship with his daughter. Even his decision to release Bruce at the end isn’t an act of heroism; it’s an act of cowardice. He’s attempting to cover up the “Abomination” he helped to create by sending, as he’s done several times during the movie, a soldier in to battle to do his dirty work.

This has always been the case in the comics. Only a few of Hulk villains are 'clever' enough to formulate plans but Ross has a bigger part due to Banner's relationship with Betty. His is a personal grudge, while say The Leader is more jut trying to eliminate that which is in his way. Ross has teamed up with Ross at times too showing Ross' desperation over the situation. The latter evens of Ross' life and his path to redempetion when he was a hulk himself was really well done and one of the better plots in modern Marvel (there aren't many).



Hmm, pie.

AnmolRed on 08 January 2018

I hadn't seen the Incredible Hulk since i was a kid and remembered very little of it, so seeing it today was like watching a new movie, which felt good.

There are some glaring continuity issues after this,with only Ross ever seen again due to Civil War but that isn't points off for this movie.

Pros:-
- First off , all the actors are great and after seeing this I wish Edward Norton had continued as the Hulk(Mark
Ruffalo is great too) and the references and connectivity to the other movies is very subtle, which I liked.
- The first hour of the movie is really great and its an origin story without really being one, which is surprising for
an early Marvel movie, the scenes in Brazil especially are really well done and the Hulk's CG looks great.
- I really liked the romance as well and it feels far better than with Black Widow later and it's weird how Betty isn't
mentioned later.

Cons:-
- The 3rd act of the movie is bad, while the monster fight is fun on a schlock level , nothing else works.
- What was Tim Roth's motivation anyway? He wants to fight Hulk but why does he turn on Ross?
- The CGI for the explosions and Abomination is bad, even for a 2008 movie.

P.S No consequences for Ross? He's fine in Civil War.

Overall,I'd give this movie a 5.4/10 rounded out to a 5, that 3rd act really knocks it down.