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Film

Edward Norton is Toronto's Hulk

Posted by Matt / April 16, 2007

7 Comments

20070416_norton.jpgYou wouldn't like him when he's angry....

Edward Norton has been cast as Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, which is smashing its way through Toronto this summer. Norton claims the role left behind by Eric Bana, who starred as Banner in the 2003 Ang Lee-directed original, which was called simply Hulk.

The blockbuster shoots in Toronto starting in June, with Louis Letterier (The Transporter) directing. It's not yet entirely clear if this is a sequel, reboot, or reenvisioning of Lee's film, which took some nifty dramatic risks but didn't pay off at the box office.

Casting Norton is interesting, given the producers' apparent desire to distance themselves from the quirky, character-driven 2003 film. Norton is, by any estimation, a quirky, character-driven actor. Incredible Hulk will be his first blockbuster lead.

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Chris / April 16, 2007 at 10:08 am
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Doesn't Fight Club qualify as a blockbuster? What definition are we using here?
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Matt / April 16, 2007 at 10:53 am
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Norton didn't headline Fight Club, even though he played the main character. Pitt got top billing.

Maybe they can get ol' Brad to play Norton's furious alter ego in Hulk, too!
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Johnny / April 16, 2007 at 02:13 pm
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Fight Club wasn't necessarily blockbuster at the box office, it gradually developed a cult following, and later became DVD best seller.

I thought Ang Lee's Hulk, despite its artistic spasms, was one of the worse movies of that year and the worse in Lee's filmography. It felt so lopsided -- too smart and too stupid at the same time.

I feel rather indifferent about the new Hulk, if it's better than Lee's version, then great, if it's worse, then Lee's Hulk will look like the Citizen Kane of Marvel movies.
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Matt / April 16, 2007 at 02:34 pm
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Actually, I think Lee's Hulk kinda IS the Citizen Kane of Marvel movies: the one that actually used form inventively to get at its own story and themes, and in doing so made a pass at increasing the common language of comic book movies as a whole. Is it Ang Lee's best work? Far from it, but I'm glad that guy got to make a big-budget studio picture that took so many ballsy chances and retained so much of his signature.

Certainly, other movies from the Marvel stable have worked better as movies (X2 being the gold standard), but I still find Hulk to be in the higher end of the spectrum, especially compared against crap like Fantastic Four and the second Spider-Man movie. And let's not even mention Elektra... oops, I guess I just did.
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Johnny / April 16, 2007 at 03:46 pm
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Yep, X2 for my money is the best Marvel movie (the first X-Men was one of the worse). The writing is crisp, and everything feels balanced. I didn't sense the pretense outweighing the pulp or vise versa (know what I mean), which was what bothered me about the HULK.

Spider-Man was my favourite comic series when I was a kiddo. My favourite thing about Peter Parker in the books was how witty and observant he was, how the thought bubbles were litterly filling up the page. Parker in the movies on the other hand was too flat and angst-ridden for me. If anything I enjoyed Spider-Man 2 for its characterization, even if it's mostly forgetable by the next the day.

What do you think of the new Iron Man movie? And when are they going to make a Namor movie?
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Johnny / April 16, 2007 at 03:57 pm
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Opps, got carried, almost turned blogTO into Aint It Cool News.
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Matt / April 16, 2007 at 04:09 pm
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Iron Man: yay! I mean obviously it's a HUGE sell for an audience that is probably 99% unfamiliar with Iron Man, but everything we're seeing about that movie so far looks like it's on the money. And Robert Downey Jr. as Stark is the most exciting superhero casting since Michael Keaton as Batman. Looking forward to it.
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