Planet Hulk - A Familiar Story in Shades of Green  
| I don't know about you, but when I hear "Planet Hulk," I think of an epic sized You-wouldn't-like-me-when-I'm-angry adventure, that involves a whole lot of HULK SMASH on a global scale. Or maybe it's a story about a planet full of Hulks, where there is a whole lot of ass-kicking (and rubble). Or perhaps it's a story about Hulk becoming a planet and kicking other planets asses! Lots of cool options leap to my fertile mind. What I didn't expect, when watching Marvel's newest animated feature, was essentially Gladiator with aliens. Seriously, I looked for Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe in the credits.
The movie begins on a spaceship where Hulk awakes to find himself imprisoned. Once awake a message is played for Hulk from Iron Man and bunch of other heroes who tell him that his endless destruction has gone too far and that for the good of the Earth Hulk is being banished to a distant, uninhabited planet to peacefully live out his days. Hulk, naturally, freaks out and his tantrum causes the ship to go off-course and land on another planet, this one full of people. Once there the weakened Hulk is captured and forced to become a gladiator for the amusement of an evil Emperor. Sound familiar yet?
Hulk is a loner, and despite beating the living tar out of everything he is forced to fight he doesn't bond with his team until some tragic deaths spur him into action. Hulk's presence on the planet also signals, to some, that a prophecy is being fulfilled that will end in freedom for the oppressed peoples. Predictably it ends up in a showdown between Hulk and the Emperor, just like a great movie whose name escapes me at the moment...
Despite the rather formulaic story the film really isn't that bad. The animation, while part of the current vogue of anime-inspired design, is well done, with some fun action sequences and a couple of unexpected cameos from the Marvel pantheon. Unfortunately the action isn't enough to distract us from the story (which is heavily cribbed from comic storyline of the same name) we've seen done before and done better.
Similarly the voice-acting is good, but not at all great, which is a real shame. One area in which cartoons and video games have begun to excel as of late is voice direction, which takes a very talented voice actor and a good director. I recognize some of the voices used in the film, and there is a lot of experience there, which leads me blame the director for not getting more out the actors. With a little work the film could have stepped up its emotional impact by having more engaging dialogue.
Like most comic-book based animated features produced today (most of which come straight to video) the film definitely will appeal to its intended audience: the fan-boys and girls who love the character, the Marvel Universe, or just super-heroes. And if you're a fan of gladiator films you'll probably like this story as well, as the story is strong, just formulaic and heavily abbreviated. Otherwise can probably find better things to do with an hour and a half - like write your own story about a big green planet that kicks the crap out of other planets... no wait, that's my idea, don't you dare! You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...
| |
