The trailer for the new Incredible Hulk movie has been released, and what it lacks in destructive abstract wads of emotion it makes up for with SMAAASH!
However, let's not get too excited about The Incredible Hulk because reports are coming in that Incredible Hulk star Edward Norton and Incredible Hulk studio Marvel are clashing over the final edit, and things are getting so frosty that the movie's success might be jeopardised by the feud.
We don't know the details, but given that it's an Incredible Hulk movie, we hope the winner is the side who wants to do away with dialogue, narrative, female characters and feelings and just have two hours of the Hulk headbutting petrol tankers into fleets of exploding helicopters. And we think we pretty much speak for everyone here.
It's hard to think of a film more disappointing than Ang Lee's Hulk. Honestly, if we wanted to waste two hours watching a brainless thug look a bit sorry for himself we'd just watch one episode of Jeremy Kyle twice and be done with it. At least that way we don't have to put up with sitting through any sodding mutant poodle fights.
So when it was announced that a new Incredible Hulk movie was being made it was hard not to get excited, especially since the director was Louis Leterrier who did Jet Li Unleashed. Finally, we thought, we'd be getting the Incredible Hulk movie we deserved – one where a massive green monster does nothing but punch down burning skyscrapers and javelin them through the eyes of giant mutant monsters.
Now The Incredible Hulk trailer is out, and it looks like our wish has come true. Take a look…
Well, OK, our wish has come half true. The first part of that trailer? With all the speaking? And the normal-sized humans? Bleurgh. Hopefully that's not indicative of the actual film.
And the truth is we don't know if it is. And nor does anyone else, because Incredible Hulk actor Edward Norton and Marvel can't agree on how The Incredible Hulk should be edited, and if the disagreement carries on much longer, it could mean that two Hulk films in a row will get flushed down the crapper. According to Deadline Hollywood Daily:
Norton and Marvel are clashing over how to cut the pic. Insiders say Norton was "promised tremendous involvement and access" after Marvel invited him into the core team to rewrite Zak Penn's script. Says one insider, "There's a lot of posturing going on between Edward's camp and Marvel over how you edit the final version." Sources also tell me that, starting last night and continuing at least throughout today, the actor will be holed up with Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel, Marvel Studios president of production Kevin Feige, and director Louis Leterrier to try to "reach an amicable resolution" to this $150+ million film feud.
Although we don't know anything about this fight apart from the fact that it allegedly exists, we're just going to go ahead and blame it on Edward Norton. He seems like an intelligent chap, and that's exactly the problem. This is an Incredible Hulk movie! Nobody's looking for intelligence! They're looking for scenes of the Hulk eating an elephant alive and then farting out the shattered bones into a crowd of people like a dirty machine gun!
Chances are if Edward Norton got his way The Incredible Hulk would be about a repressed man's search for internal peace that's echoed through his external rites of passage journey through colonial Papua New Guinea. Or, at the very least, a film that – urgh – makes sense and isn't just a collection of lowest denominator explosions.
We feel sick. Shame on you, Edward Norton. Shame!
Read more:
Ed Norton And Marvel In 'Hulk'-ing Feud – Deadline Hollywood Daily
Cary Lee Baker says
Marvel should have never given Norton to much say-so. Did they learn nothing from the first film?
Beth says
You remind me of an idea I had back when companies like CleanFlicks were getting in trouble for editing the profanity/violence/sex out of movies and then renting the resulting crap out to people who want to pretend the world is a happy place.
Someone needs to start editing the crap attempts at plot out of all the action movies. I would prefer 20 minutes of shooting and car crashes to 90 minutes of bad dialogue and setup. I think I could even watch a Steven Seagal movie if you took out all the talking bits.
john paul says
you don’t speak for everyone, so please don’t suggest you do. My two favourite super heroes are Hulk and Batman. that is because of how intelligent they are as characters. they speak to people as symbols, they are the great anti-heroes and lone misunderstood warriors who face not only dark side of the world but the dark side of their innerdemons. batman and Hulk are the externalised expressions of the respective heros tormented psyche. That is why the Hulk 70’s show related to people and the darker comic series in the later comics related. I really hope we see a balance of action while cultivating a narrative that can explore the inner turmoil and duality of one of the most interesting alter egos to a superhero Bruce Banner. a dark intelligent action movie like darkknight and the matrix the two don’t have to be exclusive. it just takes some talent to pull it off. by the by Ang Lees movie didn’t fail because it was to emotional or psychological and focused to much on Banner, it failed because it was crap. the story was utter nonsense and they should have been ashamed to ever have concieved it that way. I hope Norton wins this struggle, because from the sounds of it he has the right idea. and I seriously hope marvel doesn’t listen to trite opinions like yours, believing you speak for everyone.