Day 28: Hulk Vs.

Day 28: Hulk Vs. (2009, Dir. Frank Paur, Sam Liu)

It’s Hulk Smash time in this Marvel animated movie of two halves. And it’s quite literally a film of two halves with half of the action revolving around Hulk taking on the mighty Thor and one half dealing with Hulk fighting everyone’s favourite mutant, Wolverine. This pretty much sums up most of what you need to know plot wise for the features and you’re half expected to just sit back and watch the carnage. However from the get go Hulk Vs. seems to feel like it will undoubtedly be a weird mish-mash of quality too.

First off it’s Hulk Vs. Wolverine. What surprised me is how violent this film was. It’s definitely not just another typical Saturday morning cartoon, limbs fly, blood splatters, arms are graphically ripped off in some truly exciting fight sequences. Then there is Thor. This story arc is seemingly more complex than that of Wolverine but it again seems to boil down to a series of punch ups, only this time with a less enthusiastic and a mock-Shakespearean script. However despite some story shortcomings, by the end of both sections you do become hooked and genuinely interested to see the respective outcomes. Of course seeing both segments on screen seems like a bit of a fanboy dream. And in regards to the fight sequences it pulls it off, with all the epic potential of these classic characters going at it in these big bouts. Plus there are enough geeky references from the iconic recreation of the wolf taking a drink next to Logan in the lake to the X-23 experiment to keep die hards happy.

Stylistically this film is a mixed bag, whilst being sleek in production providing some interesting interpretations of classic characters the animation used has some limitations. In Vs. Wolverine some of the cartoon like representations just look a bit peculiar whilst in Vs. Thor the visuals of Asgard never looks as epic as you’d hope. The other main problem with this is that it never really feels like it’s about The Hulk; whilst the big guy might not be the most interesting character in the Marvel universe you’d expect the story to feature him just a bit more. For this character development fans may have to look towards the recently released Planet Hulk animated feature.

This animated feature really highlights a lot of what is being done in current Marvel live action movies; in many ways it shows off the great potential these characters have and what stunning visuals we have to look forward to in the Thor movie, but it also makes you wonder about the chances Marvel are squandering. From last years devastatingly bland Wolverine live action film to the turbulent future of the Spider-man series, Marvel have got to be careful in delivering that not only appeals to fans but works too. Plus it shows that Deadpool can be a really funny and really effective character if done well, sorry Ryan…

Overall Hulk Vs. is a great double-bill; epic, exciting and quite literally smashing fun. In a way the two sequences are polar opposites of each other, but they are effective because of it, juxtaposing the Hulk in these two completely different stories works as an explosive animated adventure, whilst not being the strongest of narratives there is plenty action and scrapes to keep you interested for newbie’s and comics fans alike.

6.5/10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325753/

Extra: Avengers… Assemble!