Hulked up
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- June
- 16
After deconstructing “The Incredible Hulk” in a previous blog, I am pleased to report that the new “Hulk” lived up to my expectations. (I was half-inclined to like it, though, since I’m such an Edward Norton fan.)
Norton does his usual excellent job of inhabiting a character. But what particularly impressed me is the way he emphasizes the tremendous psychological cost of Banner’s physical transformation into the Hulk. In that sense, his performance has much in common with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde.
Meanwhile, many of the reviews have been comparing Norton’s Banner unfavorably to Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, who makes a much blathered-about appearance at the end of “The Incredible Hulk.”
There seems to me little room for comparison. Norton’s scientist is a tormented idealist done in by the limits of his own imagination. Stark has his issues, but he’s basically a smart-aleck billionaire. And as I’ve said before, while money can’t buy happiness, it can sure make misery comfortable.
It’s all a a matter of taste, of course. Still, I’ll take Norton’s wicked green-eyed grin over Downey’s smarmy smugness any day.
This entry was posted
on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 4:50 pm by Georgette Gouveia.
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I thoroughly enjoyed both films, with a slight preference for “Iron Man.” Better overall casting and performances (Paltrow over Tyler, especially) and more genuine laughs in “Iron Man” as well.
Both Downey and Norton did a remarkable job bringing integrity to their roles. And “Hulk” has no fewer than three fantastic cameos that I won’t give away here. (Hint: Bruce Banner’s pizza delivery scene.)