How dare you attempt to insult me in a language you did not even take in high school? Let me be clearer, then, because you certainly misunderstood me:

This movie was not better than the one Ang Lee made. It wasn’t worse, either. Like Lee’s version, it was equal parts interesting and unremarkable in its own special ways.

First, go read about what Lee got right. Then, recall the good times we had laughing at the stupid parts in Lee’s version, bringing them an almost redemptive value. Frankly, the thing I found most unforgivable about Lee’s wasn’t the goofiness, but the interminable fight scenes with unimpressive mo-cap.

But if we cannot agree (and I suspect we cannot) that one movie is “better” than another—a uselessly subjective position, anyway—let us instead discuss something a little more concrete. How about discussing which is more “memorable”? Leterrier’s was mildly enjoyable for about an hour and a half of my life, and then it escaped me completely. But no matter how far I get from Ang Lee’s version, “unmemorable” will never be a word I choose to describe it.

Oh, and Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark did not belong in this movie. If anything, that scene had me thinking that there’s no way that they could pull off an Avenger’s movie that would stay true to the respective tones of each character’s movie that comes before it.

By Jason on 06.23.08 11:39 pm

Wow I had completely blocked out hulk dogs just like I had forgotten about the CGI prairie dogs in Indiana Jones untill you reminded me…

By tony on 06.24.08 10:46 am

As we discussed in a later IM conversation, Jason and I actually agree that Downey’s cameo would have been better as an after-the-credits scene, like Samuel L. Jackson’s appearance in Iron Man. I would be unsurprised to find that this was a late change, intended to capitalize on Iron Man’s hype, but who knows?

Perhaps Lee’s version is more “memorable” than Leterrier’s—I certainly wish I could wipe Lee’s version from my brain—but I’m not sure that’s a judgment that we can make right now. Time, I suppose, will tell.

By Dan on 06.24.08 11:13 am

I like that, apparently, if you want to insult Jason in a foreign language, you have to have taken that language in High School…Personally, I can’t wait until Tim Burton makes his version of the Hulk in 2014 and we all agree that the Dark, Brooding Hulk dressed in black wasn’t a great idea.

By Chris Collins on 06.24.08 1:20 pm

I like that, apparently, Doombot is now solely a entertainment review site.

By Jordan on 06.24.08 5:44 pm

Don’t forget the shouting matches and sans serif cat faces.

By Jason on 06.24.08 7:51 pm

I appreciate the reviews, haven’t never seen either of the Hulk films, a whole new world has opened up…For example, I don’t know what a Hulk Dog is, but I’m excited at the prospect that someday, I’ll know.

By Chris Collins on 06.25.08 9:55 am