Reviews by johanlefourbe

I already saw this movie but, since in 10 days, I will finally see the sequel 13 years after this movie, I was quite eager to check it out again. I remember it very well though, many years before this movie was even released , there was a huge hype surrounding it. Eventually, it became the biggest box-office success ever. Nowadays, pretty much like ‘Titanic’ , the views concerning this flick are pretty extreme and basically, many love it but also many people really hate it so much. So, according to many viewers, it is really overrated but, personally, after seeing Avatar, I realized that 3D movies could be great and not a complete swindle. The story was maybe not original but was still entertaining and, above all, the visuals were just so amazing (and they still are, even when you re-watch it more than 10 years later). Coming out of the movie theater, I had probably the same feeling when people just saw Star Wars back in 1977. I was indeed just blown away... By now, I have seen it a couple of times on Blu-Ray, I still think it is really good. Ok, it may not be as mind-blowing as the first time, in theater, with the 3D and all, but it is still a gorgeous flick and basically a milestone in motion picture history. Coming back on the story, many believe it is just a rehash of ‘Pocahontas’ and even though it is partly true, I still think there is an extra dimension to it. Indeed, the main character finally was able to walk again and suddenly becomes another being and on a psychological and a metaphysical level, it was quite intriguing. Unfortunately, Cameron is no Kubrick and this aspect of the plot was poorly developed and James Cameron preferred to focus on the whole ‘Pocahontas’ intrigue. Anyway, to conclude, even though a lot of people trash this movie, I think it is an amazing Science-Fiction flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released, but I was quite eager to check it out again after all these years. I have to admit it, I was actually slightly worried about re-watching it. Indeed, when I first saw this movie, now almost 20 years ago, the twist at the end really blew my mind. But, then, since I knew beforehand what would eventually happen, how was I going to enjoy this movie? The fact that Roger Ebert, my favorite critic of all time, really didn’t like it at all didn’t help either. Well, I always thought that it was a movie you could really enjoy only the first time and, obviously, before watching this flick, you should be completely unaware of the twist occurring at the end but, fortunately, I was wrong. Indeed, this movie had a lot more to offer and, after all these years, I still really enjoyed the damned thing. In fact, even the first time around, you can sense that there is something fishy going on. What triggered me at the time was the fact that Pete Postlethwaite was playing a character called ‘Kobayashi’ which didn’t make sense since there was obviously nothing Japanese about Postlethwaite. Of course, at the end, you realize that what you saw was just some complete nonsense or, at least, a good chunk of it but isn’t it actually the case with most of the movies that you watch? Eventually, some viewers like Ebert argued there is actually nothing to understand in this plot and, therefore, it all felt really pointless but I think that’s exactly the point of the whole thing, its pointlessness. I know, it does sound really cryptic but there is no denying that this flick really impressed me, especially the first time around, I think it is a classic and it is definitely worth a look.

I already saw this movie but since I have it on DVD and since I just bought an awesome brand new TV, I thought I might as well check it out again. First of all, once again, 5 years later after Ang Lee made his 'Hulk' which is still considered as one of the worst super-heroes ever made (I think I is actually one of the best movies in this genre but that's a different story), they tried again to launch a franchise around the big green guy and once again, well, they pretty much failed. I mean, in spite of casting Edward Norton, one of the best actors around at the time, and even though it did receive some better reviews than 'Hulk', it didn't become the massive success they were hoping for. Eventually, even though I did like this movie when I saw it in the movie theater when it was released, each time I re-watch it, I find it less and less impressive. First of all, even though it seemed awesome at first that such a respected actor like Edward Norton would play Bruce Banner, he wasn’t amazing after all and, above all, he didn’t look anything like the Hulk, especially if you would compare him to Eric Bana or Mark Ruffalo. A bigger problem was the fact that the story was actually rather weak, even weaker than in ‘Hulk’. I mean, sure, the action scenes were badass, the Hulk looked much better than in Ang Lee’s movie, I’ll give you that, but I really had a hard time to care about this tale and I think it is even more obvious if you watch this movie a couple of times. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is a decent blockbuster though and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Even though this movie has a rather lame reputation  (it is even considered by many as one of the worst super-hero features), I always had a weak spot for the damned thing and, in fact, I would even go as far as saying that it is one of my favorite movies in this genre. Indeed, even though Marvel has been incredibly successful with its MCU,  most of the movies in this franchise always follow the same generic and rather boring template and Ang Lee followed a different path which was, in my opinion,  much more interesting. Basically, he went for some kind of Greek tragedy as Bruce Banner got his powers from birth after his father did some experiments on himself and, to amplify the drama, his father killed by accident his mother in front of Bruce who became highly traumatized in the process. That was some heavy stuff and Marvel would afterwards always focus on some much ligther material staying away from such dark tales in the future which was just too bad. Furthermore, Eric Bana was actually pretty decent playing this conflicted character and, at least, he was physically not such a huge stretch from the Hulk, especially compared to Edward Norton who looked nothing like the green monster. Eventually, the only major issue with this movie and the major reason why this movie was widely dismissed was the fact that Ang Lee clearly didn't care much about the action scenes. Indeed, there were only a few of them, they were not really convincing at all and, to make things worse, the Hulk looked very often pretty ugly which was considered like a major offense for all the fans of the comic-book. Well, like Ang Lee, I didn't care much about these action scenes,  I thought he gave a really interesting portrayal of this character and, in my opinion, this flick must be the most underrated super-hero feature made so far.