With LAN over, all we had left to do was drive home, deliver our belgian friend to the authorities at the airport, then turn back the car to the rental folks. Had an interesting time renting the car, being quoted lots of different prices. We ended up on a semi-ok price, with included 700km roadtime. We were glad to find that we could make it all the way there and back again on 3/4 of a tank. Economic car for sure. But we did exceed the km amount with about 30 due to the airport run. But what the hell. It was like 2 kroner per extra anyway, and I wanted to give the foreigner a ride out there.
Anyway, having turned in the car, and no LAN to attend, Bense and I were standing outside the rental place, eyes glaring at the busy street life we had been removed from, for a full week. 'Now what', was the question that presented itself most urgently. And the reply: why the hell not just catch a movie. We're in town anyway. It's sunday and neither one of us have anything to do. It was 10:45 in the am, and most movie theaters had their matinees about to start. We went in, and after a bit decided upon Hulk. I've heard decent things about it, and while the 2004 version by Ang Lee absolutely sucked, I had confidence that not only would Edward Norton to a better job than Eric Bana, but the makers of the new one would have learned from the disaster run of the older version. Before the movie we had a good 45 minutes to kill, and since it was early, and neither one of us had had breakfast, we decided we'd grab a bite. McD is usually the only choice in town unless you wanna go to a sit down restaurant and order from a menu. So McD it was.
And then, the movie. And it didn't suck. I was well impressed with it actually. While the first movie spent a lot of time with how the hell Bruce Banner got himself into the Hulk predicament, this new movie got that whole deal over with before the beginning credits had finished rolling. At first I was a little bewildered. "Is this it for the pre-story" I found myself wondering. But when the next 5-10 minutes didn't present itself with further explanation, I figured it was. And I was pleased. Because, to be honest, it's pretty boring. Bruce Banner isn't an interesting enough character to carry a lot of movietime without Hulk backing him up. Not like Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne can anyway. But here, it did get interesting. Even though it took a fair amount of time before we got a look at the Hulk himself, the movie had a good drive and a fair amount of suspense.
I guess you could say that this movie, as opposed to the 2004 one, does require the viewer to have a certain knowledge of the story. As I mentioned, the whole prelude explaining how Bruce Banner got himself into trouble, is dealt with in images only, during credits. Granted, some more explanation can be gathered during the movie itself, from dialogue, but even so. Didn't bother me tho, and as I had expected, Edward Norton was pretty friggin good. Also, I enjoyed how they dealt with the inevitable lovescene between him and Liv Tyler (who is as stunning as ever). William Hurt lived up to his usual standard as the war mongering general, and of course... the Stark cameo in the final moment of the movie. Gives you the feeling that something big is being cooked up for us down at Marvel Studios.
All in all, I enjoyed the movie a whole lot, and I doubt I'm alone on that front. I never understood why they'd want Ang Lee to make a Hulk movie (he did the 2004). I mean, if you look at his resume, he is well out of his usual genre. For that matter, I dunno why he'd even wanna do it. I guess he wanted to try something different. He does good movies usually, so I don't doubt his abilities as a director. I'm just saying, sometimes it's best to stick with what you know. But of course, if everybody did that, where would we be. Kudos for trying, Ang. You did get bested though.
