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Compiled by: Jack Foley
ANG Lee's eagerly-anticipated blockbuster, The Hulk, has opened
in America to largely positive reviews.
IndieLondon took in a sneak preview of the film earlier this
week and found it to be a very good movie - one which supplies
the wow factor, as well as the human element (and emotion) so
often found lacking in movies this time of year.
But while we will deliver our verdict when the movie opens in
the UK on July 18, here to whet the appetites still further is
what the US critics thought...
Leading the way is the Hollywood Reporter, which said
that it's 'filled with visual energy, genuine artistry and compelling
human emotions'.
Likewise, The Chicago Tribune, which wrote that it is
'a corker - big, exciting, opulently designed, gorgeously shot
and blessed with a top cast'.
LA Weekly referred to it as 'an articulation not only
of the struggle between father and sons, but of our most current
topical fears', while Slant Magazine felt that 'The Hulk
has enough super-sized thrills and surprisingly affecting dramatic
weight to make it the year’s most profound popcorn extravaganza'.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer, meanwhile, felt that it is
'a terrific, great-looking movie that's rich and memorable and
almost as huge as its mighty green star'.
CNN opined that 'fans of the comic book will probably
be pleased and thrill seekers in general will get plenty to chew
on', while Reeling Reviews wrote that 'not since Tim Burton
resuscitated the genre with 'Batman' has a director so managed
to put his own stamp on a superhero film and make the old seem
new again'.
And the accolades keep on coming with the likes of JoBlo's
Movie Emporium, which felt that it 'definitely worked as a
impressive achievement in combining the darker sides of humanity
to the lighter sides of comic books'.
E! Online simply stated that it is 'a spectacular achievement
in filmmaking and, perhaps, the most consciously stylistic comic-book
movie yet'.
However, there were those who were disappointed. Entertainment
Weekly, for example, said that 'a big-budget comic-book adaptation
has rarely felt so humorless and intellectually defensive about
its own pulpy roots'.
While the New York Times found it 'incredibly long, incredibly
tedious, incredibly turgid'.
And the Boston Phoenix warned that it 'swells beyond any
recognizably human proportions into a huge, pretentious, CGI-rendered
cartoon'.
Variety, meanwhile, felt that it is 'a noble, shrewd,
and skillful still thwarted try at upgrading one of the preferred
genres of the moment'.
However, the negatives were few and far between, with the final
word going to Reel Views, which wrote that The Hulk is
'the most involving superhero motion picture since Superman soared
skywards in 1978'.
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