There are some things you just have to see for yourself whether expectations are great or meager when it comes to movies. Especially summer movies. Last year, when it was announced that 2008 would be the summer of Superheroes; Batman, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hancock and even Indiana Jones (hey, if surviving the Temple of Doom and beating down the Nazis isn’t super, what is?). I was underwhelmed.
Batman in the “The Dark Knight” of course. I wouldn’t have to see one trailer, just give me a release date and I was there. The others? Uh. Why are they doing it to themselves? I thought that in no way would any other hero film be able to compete with Bats at the box office or even in the quality of the product. So much for that. “Iron Man” and “Indiana Jones” both are mega hits despite mixed reviews for one of them (hint: the one I’m referring to wears a hat and rhymes with Shindianna’s Bones). The other night, I caught a early screening of “The Incredible Hulk”. I won’t spoil it for you right now, but below, I’ll give you a brief breakdown of my experiences of my recent run-ins the guys who save the day.
“Iron Man”
Going in: “Ehh.”
I never was a fan of the comic book or cartoon. Tony Stark’s goatee always looked hilarious to me. Almost like some sort of pirate. I will say that the initial trailers did warm me up enough to even take time out to go see the movie although it looked a little too kiddie.
Coming Out: (An enthusiastic) “Damn!”
Tony Stark is probably the first alter ego that is equally as exciting as his Superhero alias. Robert Downey’s swagger was on 10 and the action filled my popcorn flick quota (which is pretty high mind you). I saw “Iron Man” at a screening and enjoyed it so much that I paid to see it a second time, taking my family on take two. I could have went without my mom telling me how handsome Terrence Howard was and later asking if he was going to die…twice…for both.
“Indiana Jones”
Going In: “This really can’t be as bad as everybody says it is … can it?”
I saw Indy a little late. I caught it the Sunday after it came out. All my friends that went to the theaters on Friday and Saturday warned me that it was laughably bad! I couldn’t take their words for it. They were surely being harsh critics. No way the filmmakers were going to make us wait almost 20 years and not deliver a quality night at the flicks…especially on Memorial Day weekend.
Coming Out: “Well. We made it through without falling asleep.”
The flying refrigerator should have warned me to make a swift exit out of the theater and sneak into to “Forgetting Sarah Marshal” but I held out hope that Mr. Jones would finish strong all the way up until I saw his love child “Mutt” ( I can’t wait to hear what his daughter’s name would be) swinging from vine to vine like Tarzan only to start swash buckling. And when Indiana and his family started descending down the waterfalls, I could have sworn I saw Henry Winkler on jet skis in the vicinity. Ouch!
“The Incredible Hulk”
Going In: “At least it’s not a root canal. Let’s try it. Maybe I’ll be surprised.”
I still have nightmares about Ang Lee’s theatrical version of Mean Green. It was horrible. Horrible to the extent that I get angry sometimes thinking of how he almost ruined…no he did ruin the franchise. So when Marvel announced they were going to try and resurrect it, my expectations were not even low, they were non-existent. But leave it to me to get reeled in by Marvel’s hype machine. Even though I thought they still messed up Hulk’s look, judging from the commercials, I started coming around to tempting fate’s cruel hand again. Maybe I could rekindle the fond memories I had of watching Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno every Friday night before “The Dukes of Hazard.”
Coming Out: “I can’t believe they did it!”
It was almost that surreal feeling of glee like watching David Tyree of the Giants make that helmet catch in the Super Bowl. “Did I just see what I thought? That was amazing.” Two for two! Marvel are making comic book flicks smarter by tying multiple franchises into each other and by just giving the people what they want, several elongated action sequences! My brother Ari says the finale of the movie is the best fight he’s seen in a Superhero movie ever. Ummmm. I won’t jump out of the window that far, but honestly, “The Hulk” impressed me. So much so, I’ll be paying to see it again this weekend.
