The Incredible Ed Norton...

[fajrdrako]

There has been interesting talk about the upcoming movie about The Incredible Hulk ever since San Diego Comic Con, when Ed Norton surprisingly and unexpectedly announced that he was the writer. Here's an item about it.

Now, if you saw the last movie version of The Incredible Hulk, starring the talented Eric Bana, you'll know that it was (a) the worst movie Ang Lee ever made,¹ and (b) nothing like the comic.

If you saw X-Men: The Last Stand, you'll remember that the script was not the strong point of that movie. It was... pretty bad. I haven't seen Elektra, because she's a Marvel character I love and I've heard nothing good about the movie. So getting Zab Penn off the script is probably a really good idea. Why not get Bruce Jones as scriptwriter? Or Peter David? Both are writers whose skill and experience - not to mention knowledge of the character - would bode well for a movie script.

I am so tired of seeing bad movies made about good comic book characters.

But... Ed Norton. He's also starring in the movie as Bruce Banner - it's a good sign they aren't renaming him David. If he can write as well as he can act, we'll probably get a good movie.

I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for all this.

Or... maybe not.

~ ~ ~
¹ Or a contender to be one of the worst movies anyone ever made. Part of a long list of 'movies that just don't work'.

Comments

[majkia.livejournal.com]

How sad that I completely missed out on the whole comic book scene. I was just too busy reading books...And we were far too poor for me to be buying comics, although quite honestly, I don't remember ever feeling deprived on that front, at least....

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Not many people have been the comic book addicts I have always been! I love them... but I have already read books a lot, too. These days, when possible, I get my comics from the public library as well - something that used to be entirely impossible, but which is now sometimes possible. Comics have become appallingly expensive, but the quality has increased as well.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Elektra, as a movie wasn't terrible. Much better than The Incredible Hulk anyway (not that that's saying much). Nowhere near as good as Daredevil, especially if you've seen the director's cut of that movie. Peter David would write an excellent screenplay for a Marvel Comic movie, which is why it'll never happen. They seem to want flash and effects, not plot and dialogue.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Elektra, as a movie wasn't terrible.

Damning with faint praise? Actually that's one of the more enthusiastic comments I've heard.

Nowhere near as good as Daredevil, especially if you've seen the director's cut of that movie.

Yes. I liked Daredevil, though the movie still wasn't as good as the comics.

Peter David would write an excellent screenplay for a Marvel Comic movie, which is why it'll never happen.

Big sigh.

They seem to want flash and effects, not plot and dialogue.

Sadly that seems to be true, and as a fan, I find it very frustrating. It's as if they want to play to the worst of what's in comics, not to the best.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

If you haven't seen the director's cut for Daredevil you really should try to find it at the video store. Or the F/X channel shows it occassionally. It's a much better movie. I still can't fathom why they rewrote Matt's back story for it (how he got blinded and when his dad died) but that's the backstory they wrote when they revamped the comic... *sigh*
Hellboy is my favorite comic to movie adaption. Marvel hasn't seemed to be able to do it quite right yet.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

If you haven't seen the director's cut for Daredevil you really should try to find it at the video store.

Will do.

F/X channel shows it occassionally.

We don't get that in Canada, unfortunately.

Hellboy is my favorite comic to movie adaption.

That was very good, though I also liked Ghost Rider well enough - not a great movie, but a competently unpretentious one. None of the adaptations has been as good as Unbreakable or Heroes in dealing with the superhero genre.

[kimsrants.livejournal.com]

I don't know how he is as a writer, but he's filming at UofT. I went for a walk after work on friday and saw the crews. If i were a bigger fan of ed norton or that particular comic I would do some stalkery. I'ts a shame that i can't seem to care...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I guess we'll find out how he is as a writer! Though I think Norton's acting is excellent, it's a technical excellence - I can't think of any role in which I have actually loved him or his performance. Even though I actually love the historical Baldwin IV, and I think he portrayed him magnificently in Kingdom of Heaven, I didn't love the performance or the movie. Norton's best role was, in my opinion, in Fight Club. A movies whose oddities were both its strength and its weakness.

And no, I'm not a huge fan of The Incredible Hulk, either, though I've read some excellent Hulk stories - like the latest rewrite of his origins in Hulk: Gray by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Or the Hulk story arcs written by Peter David and Bruce Jones. But generally the concept is a little too Jeckyll & Hyde to draw me in.

But I always live in hope of good comic book movies. It's bound to happen some time, right?