Peter Bott Reviews

Hulk (2003)

"My son is unique, and the world will not tolerate his uniqueness."

[22 June 2003]

"My son is unique, and the world will not tolerate his uniqueness." - David Banner

The above quote from the movie accurately sums up my impressions of the feedback this movie is recieving. The Hulk is unlike any other recently released comic book movie in story or tone. There's very little humor, the delivery is as straight and serious as can be, and there really isn't an identifiable big bad for the hero to face for almost the entire picture. It is unique, and I don't think people are ready for how different it is. However, I also think people forget what the Hulk comic was really like.

The Hulk comic, while I was reading it years ago, wasn't like most comic books. Alot of that repressed memory/rage and general mind/dream sequence stuff that you see throughout the movie happened quite frequently in the comic. One of my favorite sequences in the movie is when you see a door open in Banner's mind with the outline of the Hulk stepping into view. The door metaphor was a common occurrence in the comic. Remember how Mr. Fixit or the "fusion" of Hulk and Banner into the "smart" Hulk came about in the comics? It was mostly a cerebral event taking place abstractly within Banner's mind.

My point is that the comic always indicated that Banner was quite screwed up in the head, and this movie chose to focus on this attribute of the character instead of the exploits of the jolly green alter ego. The story here completely fleshes out the reasons why Bruce's psyche is damaged, albeit with some liberty taken from the source material. This aspect of the movie is like the comics in this regard. People that don't like the movie because of this are justified, because they do bring up valid points. Perhaps the director over-portrayed this aspect of the character to the detriment of the viewing audience expecting alot of "Hulk Smash!" and a gallery of super villains. However, this part of the movie isn't from out in left field. It really is keeping faithful with the comic, and the Hulk, especially at this stage, is just a manifestation of Banner's id. With this in mind, I enjoyed the pure exposition in the first half of the movie, and how it resolved itself in the pre-requisite, although short, final battle.

When the Hulk does show up, the movie pretty much turns into an action piece for the remainder of its run. The comic Hulk was an ordinance-proof behemoth who would continue to "hulk out" if he was made angrier, and traveled by leaping for miles. I think these aspects of the Hulk were captured well, and I really enjoyed the lengthy battle with the military, as I think most Hulk fans will. The cgi isn't perfect throughout, but I was able to maintain my suspension of disbelief.

I can perfectly understand why some people aren't enjoying this film. The movie is aimed towards a narrower target audience than most summer blockbusters. It's more of a character study of an emotionally distant man who happens to turn into a giant green monster rather than a movie about a bad guy bashing super hero who happens to be giant and green. It seems to be aiming towards the "Unbreakable" crowd end of the spectrum, although the pace of this is more brisk in comparison with much more payoff. However, like "Unbreakable", this isn't going to satisfy the masses.

3 out of 4.

Queen of the Damned (2002)

As a stand alone vampire flick, it's worth seeing.

[17 September 2002]

Combining The Vampire Lestat and the Queen of the Damned novels into one screenplay was, ahem, damned to suffer massive story cuts because of the intricate and detailed background of a dozen or so characters involved. The amount of detail always was the strength of the Vampire Chronicles, in my opinion, and they were certainly worth the read.

That said, the question remains, without the detail and extra characters, can the basic story of Lestat's re-awakening of the Queen of all vampires be entertaining and sufficient enough to sustain itself? While I can not answer the question with a glowing appraisal, I will certainly admit that it did a decent job of combining all of the basic elements into a stand alone movie. The fact that this movie can stand on it's own without any ties to the prequel, Interview with the Vampire, is one of it's assets. You do not need any fore-knowledge of the characters, books, or prequel movie in order to watch this.

Even though it fits into it's own little package does not mean it was packed very well. There were some plot holes, some of which could have been filled by simply restoring the "Ancients" scenes that were on the dvd. I understand, as the dvd points out, that they were left out because it introduced another subplot and characters that would add unnecessary confusion. While I agree with their reasoning, I do think they should have somehow salvaged the scene so that while the introductions of the ancients would have been left out, Maharet's few lines about Akasha's reign of destruction and the vampire's responsibility should have remained. They would have added a needed sense of urgency and motivation that would have made the final confrontation with Akasha and the ancients a bit more reasonable and satisfying.

The character of Jessie is supposed to be the human link for the viewer to empathize through as they are taken into the world of vampires. In some scenes, this works adequately, but on the whole, Jessie's motivations, while they are explained, seem kind of empty. I am not sure if I can fault the actress or script, but when the movie was over, I still felt ambivalent about the character's experiences.

There were other elements that were not as fleshed out as they could be. The paranormal Talamasca needed a bit more background about their vampire tracking as did the character of Maharet and her family tree. Like Jessie, they were given some explanation, but I think a couple more lines of dialogue would have helped.

As I mentioned, the movie did a decent job of the basic story, but massive changes were made from the source material. Characters were dropped completely, or merged together, and huge sections of character history were removed. Most notably, Lestat's history is extremely compacted and revised. Nonetheless, there are some things that remained that I thought were done pretty well. The character of Lestat in this picture is rebellious and reckless which is more true to the character than he was portrayed in Interview. Lestat's re-awakening and concert scenes were exactly like I had envisioned when I originally read the book. The character of Akasha was also as I pictured and a very good casting choice.

If you are a fan of the books, and you need the twins, Gabriel, Magnus, and crew, you are going to have difficulty sitting through this. If, on the other hand, you can set that aside and view this as a vampire movie of it's own, unrelated to the chronicles, you will probably enjoy this for the stand-alone vampire flick that it is.

In summary, worth the rental.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)

I was told I would write a review. It would be significant.

[7 August 2002]

I rented this last week, and then had to pick up the dvd this week because I found myself quoting the dialogue and couldn't help snickering while simply thinking about the scenes they came from. This movie is so stupid, purposefully so, that it was hysterical.

I was kind of surprised when I went through the comments here to see how much it was despised. Although films like this are not for everyone, I can't help but think that most of the bad reviews here missed the point of the movie. With that in mind, I think I'll recommend some prerequisites before viewing this movie:

First, if you don't like Mystery Science Theater 3000, you will certainly dislike this movie. "Dislike" might even be too polite of a word. Kung Pow is MST3K taken to the next level. They've taken a corny kung-fu movie, and instead of making fun of it and adding dialogue and comments as it runs, they've re-edited it into their own storyline and dialogue. Frequently during the movie, they even have scenes and jokes that knowingly acknowledge this fact. The ventriloquists' scene being a prime example of this, and quite funny too. What they've made is designed to be a spoof of the movie it was based on, and it's hard not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Secondly, a knowledge of kung-fu flicks that would air Saturday afternoons on your local tv station years ago will fuel your enjoyment tremendously. From the bad dubbing, to the over-used revenge storyline, to the "marked" hero, to the needless face-zooming, to the training camp being run by an elderly master, all the staples of those kung-fu flicks are parodied here to great effect.

If you don't like or have possession of either of these aforementioned prerequisites, you're most likely going to have a painful viewing experience while watching Kung Pow. For those of us who do, the experience is 80 minutes of pure comedy that you'll quote for some time to come. Everytime I think of Wimp Lo and his squeaky shoes, or any of his dialogue, I can't stop laughing: "Look at me! I rule, baby!" "I rock.....and roll.....all day long!"

THAT'S ALOT OF NUTS!!!