The Incredible Hulk: "A World Exclusive Trailer" Bows at NYCC
http://firefox.org/news/articles/1412/1/The-Incredible-Hulk--quotA-World-Exclusive-Trailerquot-Bows-at-NYCC/Page1.html
Peter Gutiérrez
Over the past fifteen years, Peter's work in horror and other genres, in the form of short fiction, poetry, criticism, and comics, has appeared in numerous anthologies and periodicals.
Current publications: Rue Morgue (issue #82) ComiPress Dark Territories Read by Dawn Volume 3 Diamond BookShelf Withersin Speaking gig: SFABC
By Peter Gutiérrez
Published on 04/20/2008
The new trailer amplified on themes/images we'd seen in the earlier one and helped confirm several Web rumors. And speaking of rumors, Comic Con attendees finally got to see actual proof of the long-speculated cross-over with Iron Man. The real treat, though, was watching footage of an extended fight scene between ol' Green Skin and Tim Roth--no, not the Abomination, Tim Roth... (spoilers beneath the cut)
U.S. Release Date: June 13, 2008
The new trailer amplified on themes/images we'd seen in the earlier one and helped confirm several Web rumors. And speaking of rumors, Comic Con attendees finally got to see actual proof of the long-discussed cross-over with Iron Man. The real treat, though, was watching footage of an extended fight scene between ol' Green Skin and Tim Roth--no, not the Abomination, Tim Roth...
Well, not Mr. Roth precisely, but his character Emil Blonsky in a transitional stage between human solider (which he still resembles in the sequence) and the bigger-than-the-Hulk monstrosity he ultimately becomes. So now we know the reason behind all the vague but excited talk by the filmmakers re how much action there is in this pic: Blonsky fights the Hulk after his first injection with the super-soldier serum... and it was implied by director Louis Leterrier that perhaps there are additional action sequences involving Blonsky at later stages of his, er, evolution.
Letterier was joined by producers Kevin Feige and Gale Anne Hurd--and a couple of special guests--to unveil the most footage yet made public from this second big Marvel release of 2008. There were plenty of crowd-pleasing moments in the scenes that were screened, but let's start with a rough breakdown of the trailer.
+The setting of Brazil for the start of the story's main action is more obvious this time out, as we see an aerial shot of Rio.
+More intriguing are the brief aerial shots of a lone figure (Banner, natch) in an arctic wasteland: these would seem to confirm the idea that the movie opens with a prologue that shows him trying to kill himself in some remote location at the top of the world.
+The voice-over discusses Banner's life-project of attempting to solve his "problem."
+But meanwhile he's characterized by the media/U.S. Army as a "fugitive who stole secrets" from his country.
+We see the Hulk take down a helicopter, but it wasn't exactly clear to me from which section of the film this came.
+We see the aftermath of the kick that the Hulk delivers to Blonsky, with the latter sailing like a cannonball away from the camera. "What kick?" you ask. Well, keep reading and I'll explain...
The longest sequence unveiled yesterday is also partly quoted in the trailer. So here are more details about the Hulk's battle with the Army and a souped-up Emil Blonsky...
+Banner (Edward Norton) is trapped in an "overpass" that seems to connect two large Gothic buildings in a well-landscaped setting. Troops lock him into the glass-enclosed, greenhouse-like tunnel/corridor while Gen. Ross (William Hurt) orders some grunts on the ground to shoot a couple of tear gas cannisters inside.
+They comply, and in the next few moments Banner tries frantically to avoid breathing while Betty Ross looks on in dismay. Then the interior of the entire glassed-in tube becomes opaque and we get a self-consciously "cinematic" but nonetheless effective shot of Banner's arm reaching for us through the mist-like vapors and cracking the glass... and that's when we get glimpses of his transformation. Finally we hear a roar as he leaps down at his attackers. All of this footage, by the way, is more or less in the trailer, too, but subject to more cuts.
+When the Hulk makes that grand entrance I was a little disappointed by the look-and-feel of the CGI... although the rest of the action is fairly believable, that first mid-air image of the title character looks surprisingly, well, animated. Let's hope they work on the effects here a bit more before release.
+Once the Hulk landed and the troops started spraying him with machine gun fire, everything looked much better. Soon Ross ups the ante and calls in the .50 caliber guns. Still no effect, though, and the Hulk smashes a jeep that gets too close.
+Then Ross sends Blonsky in with a rocket launcher, with the same result. However, Blonsky won't stop coming and suddenly we're witnessing some mano a mano stuff. Ross tries to call off his top gun but Blonsky pops out the earpiece and takes matters into his own hands--which basically amounts to hopping around evasively, much like Daredevil or Spider-Man might in a similar situation.
+He's too fast for the Hulk so finally he just approaches the big guy directly and taunts him. "Is that all you got?" Long two-shot held on the two combatants at rest. And then the Hulk lashes out with a front kick to Blonsky's mid-section, the follow-up shot to which is shown in the trailer and described above.
Also shown was the sequence where Blonsky volunteers to become Ross's next "bioforce" weapon and starts receiving his treatments. The pain of the process, with multiple dosings over time, is emphasized. While this segment hardly blew anyone anyway, it did demonstrate some solid storytelling and editing, not to mention acting from Hurt and Roth.
Of course folks really went crazy for the scene in which Tony Stark waltzes into a bar to confront Ross. The second that Robert Downey, Jr.'s voice/image crystallized in the audience's recognition, the crowd went wild. Very good news for Iron Man's opening weekend: fans treated Downey's appearance as if this he were a beloved figure in this role--a Christopher Reeve or Harrison Ford--rather than someone whose initial outing in his franchise hasn't even debuted yet.
+True to the rumors, Stark offers to help Ross deal with his "problem."
+Also true to the rumors, Ross is shown as sloppy drunk--and not as if on a temporary binge, but as if his life is starting to circle the drain in an alcoholic spiral.
A few more interesting revelations/factoids in no particular order:
+Gale Anne Hurd: "We promised 'Hulk Smash,' you get 'Hulk Smash." So, yeah, the character's signature line will be in the movie.
+Tim Roth was on hand to field questions and accept fanboy kudos for Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. He revealed that he had long been a casual Hulk reader/fan but that he'd been unfamiliar with the Abomination prior to his involvement with the movie.
+Lou Ferrigno also showed up to flex and deliver a couple of practiced one-liners ("Look what I started..."). Leterrier said that he planned to use Ferrigno to record some of the Hulk's battle cries.
+Kevin Feige gave an encouraging response to a query about an Avengers movie: "I'd certainly like to see that happen." He also drew attention to the bluish hue of the bioforce serum... hinting that the color foreshadows a Captain America origin tale.
So on that promising note...
Well, not Mr. Roth precisely, but his character Emil Blonsky in a transitional stage between human solider (which he still resembles in the sequence) and the bigger-than-the-Hulk monstrosity he ultimately becomes. So now we know the reason behind all the vague but excited talk by the filmmakers re how much action there is in this pic: Blonsky fights the Hulk after his first injection with the super-soldier serum... and it was implied by director Louis Leterrier that perhaps there are additional action sequences involving Blonsky at later stages of his, er, evolution.
Letterier was joined by producers Kevin Feige and Gale Anne Hurd--and a couple of special guests--to unveil the most footage yet made public from this second big Marvel release of 2008. There were plenty of crowd-pleasing moments in the scenes that were screened, but let's start with a rough breakdown of the trailer.
+The setting of Brazil for the start of the story's main action is more obvious this time out, as we see an aerial shot of Rio.
+More intriguing are the brief aerial shots of a lone figure (Banner, natch) in an arctic wasteland: these would seem to confirm the idea that the movie opens with a prologue that shows him trying to kill himself in some remote location at the top of the world.
+The voice-over discusses Banner's life-project of attempting to solve his "problem."
+But meanwhile he's characterized by the media/U.S. Army as a "fugitive who stole secrets" from his country.
+We see the Hulk take down a helicopter, but it wasn't exactly clear to me from which section of the film this came.
+We see the aftermath of the kick that the Hulk delivers to Blonsky, with the latter sailing like a cannonball away from the camera. "What kick?" you ask. Well, keep reading and I'll explain...
The longest sequence unveiled yesterday is also partly quoted in the trailer. So here are more details about the Hulk's battle with the Army and a souped-up Emil Blonsky...
+Banner (Edward Norton) is trapped in an "overpass" that seems to connect two large Gothic buildings in a well-landscaped setting. Troops lock him into the glass-enclosed, greenhouse-like tunnel/corridor while Gen. Ross (William Hurt) orders some grunts on the ground to shoot a couple of tear gas cannisters inside.
+They comply, and in the next few moments Banner tries frantically to avoid breathing while Betty Ross looks on in dismay. Then the interior of the entire glassed-in tube becomes opaque and we get a self-consciously "cinematic" but nonetheless effective shot of Banner's arm reaching for us through the mist-like vapors and cracking the glass... and that's when we get glimpses of his transformation. Finally we hear a roar as he leaps down at his attackers. All of this footage, by the way, is more or less in the trailer, too, but subject to more cuts.
+When the Hulk makes that grand entrance I was a little disappointed by the look-and-feel of the CGI... although the rest of the action is fairly believable, that first mid-air image of the title character looks surprisingly, well, animated. Let's hope they work on the effects here a bit more before release.
+Once the Hulk landed and the troops started spraying him with machine gun fire, everything looked much better. Soon Ross ups the ante and calls in the .50 caliber guns. Still no effect, though, and the Hulk smashes a jeep that gets too close.
+Then Ross sends Blonsky in with a rocket launcher, with the same result. However, Blonsky won't stop coming and suddenly we're witnessing some mano a mano stuff. Ross tries to call off his top gun but Blonsky pops out the earpiece and takes matters into his own hands--which basically amounts to hopping around evasively, much like Daredevil or Spider-Man might in a similar situation.
+He's too fast for the Hulk so finally he just approaches the big guy directly and taunts him. "Is that all you got?" Long two-shot held on the two combatants at rest. And then the Hulk lashes out with a front kick to Blonsky's mid-section, the follow-up shot to which is shown in the trailer and described above.
Also shown was the sequence where Blonsky volunteers to become Ross's next "bioforce" weapon and starts receiving his treatments. The pain of the process, with multiple dosings over time, is emphasized. While this segment hardly blew anyone anyway, it did demonstrate some solid storytelling and editing, not to mention acting from Hurt and Roth.
Of course folks really went crazy for the scene in which Tony Stark waltzes into a bar to confront Ross. The second that Robert Downey, Jr.'s voice/image crystallized in the audience's recognition, the crowd went wild. Very good news for Iron Man's opening weekend: fans treated Downey's appearance as if this he were a beloved figure in this role--a Christopher Reeve or Harrison Ford--rather than someone whose initial outing in his franchise hasn't even debuted yet.
+True to the rumors, Stark offers to help Ross deal with his "problem."
+Also true to the rumors, Ross is shown as sloppy drunk--and not as if on a temporary binge, but as if his life is starting to circle the drain in an alcoholic spiral.
A few more interesting revelations/factoids in no particular order:
+Gale Anne Hurd: "We promised 'Hulk Smash,' you get 'Hulk Smash." So, yeah, the character's signature line will be in the movie.
+Tim Roth was on hand to field questions and accept fanboy kudos for Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. He revealed that he had long been a casual Hulk reader/fan but that he'd been unfamiliar with the Abomination prior to his involvement with the movie.
+Lou Ferrigno also showed up to flex and deliver a couple of practiced one-liners ("Look what I started..."). Leterrier said that he planned to use Ferrigno to record some of the Hulk's battle cries.
+Kevin Feige gave an encouraging response to a query about an Avengers movie: "I'd certainly like to see that happen." He also drew attention to the bluish hue of the bioforce serum... hinting that the color foreshadows a Captain America origin tale.
So on that promising note...