DVD
REVIEW: HULK VS
01/25/09
If you were, or are, one of
those Marvel kids who loves to read their comics, I am sure
that you have entered at least once in one of those endless
discussions of which is the strongest Superhero, in these
discussions the heroes are always measured and compared
against the villains they defeat, and usually that is how
conclusions and sides are taken. Well, that is all good and
fun, but villains as strong as they can be they are always
meant to lose. But what happens when two heroes ,who are
always meant to win, face each other in a no rules smack
down? What side will you take? Marvel comics frequently has
issue books where different heroes join forces together to
face a greater evil, also it is a characteristic of Marvel
to describe as specifically as possible each character’s
personalities and to depict the rivalry between each one of
them, even if they are fighting in the same side, sometimes
in a few pages they get to interchange punches between them
but usually the fight is left inconclusive. In Marvel’s new
DVD Hulk VS we have three of the most powerful and popular
world wide characters, The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, and
The Mighty Thor, facing each other in two amusing but
unfortunately too short episodes to clarify one thing: Hulk
is the Strongest there is.
In Hulk Vs Wolverine, we see that the director took the same
approach as in the comic books, many times these two heroes
have met face to face and have exchange some blows, their
attitudes are so alike that they repel each other as they
were brothers, this plus their personalities, stories, and
appeal, make them the perfect match. The only thing that
separates them is their power. Wolverine is hired by the
Canadian government to stop by all means a terrible menace
that have appear in the country, The Hulk. Wolverine gets
excited at the challenge, and accepts the offering. When
they finally meet they go at each other without holding
back, until the reason of the destruction is reveal, a
sinister mastermind planning to create the most powerful
weapon of mass destruction there is. Here not only does
wolverine battles the Hulk, but also he is confronted by his
past. This movie is great in all levels but the conclusion,
the addition of barely seen Marvel characters makes this
movie a great addition to the fans, here we will see
characters like Omega Red, Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike and
the character who managed to steal some pot light: Deadpool.
It is thanks to Deadpool’s attitude that the action is
constantly refresh with some comedy making the movie more
enjoyable. There is something else to say about this movie
it is not its average Saturday morning cartoon, there will
be blood, destructions, lose limbs and occasionally a death
in this short.
Hulk Vs Thor is different than the previous one, I Could say
that I enjoy more because I saw more hero against hero
action than in the previous movie. Nonetheless, this one is
less graphic than the other, there is no lost of limbs and
real deaths. This does not matter since the story is, at my
consideration, better, the match is more enjoyable, since it
is truly the clash of similar powers but opposite
personalities. Wolverine and Hulk shared many traits that
makes their fight exciting, enjoyable, but predictable. It
becomes just rage against rage, but when an enraged Hulk is
face against a noble and equally powerful god such as Thor,
the audience can see more conflict not only in the physical
level but also a clash in a personal and moral level between
character. It also describes a character that although
appealing and powerful has not been commercialized enough,
Thor is a character who has appears in some shows as
supporting hero, but the mythology behind him is as exciting
as Spiderman, and Wolverine, and this movie manages to show
us his world, and persuade us to know more about him.
Technically, each movie is impressively depicted in any
aspects from excellent animation, outstanding music, good
story line, script, voice acting everything is perfect. It
definitely a lot of fun, and each story tries to teach you
something about the characters and their environment, in
every dimensions from the moral to the physical, they shows
us their emotions, feelings, and decisions going through
their heads making the audience feel sympathetic to each one
them. From the aesthetic point of view I was impress how the
director and animators paid tribute to the original covers
and images from comic books where these characters are seem
confronted each other. I had to say that I did not expect
that much for these DVDs since the main character barely
knows how to speak but he really make an impact, I Recommend
these DVDs for fans to the Marvel animated films like the
Avengers, I have to say that the 2 Disk should be in your
collection, also its 3D cover looks really attractive and
powerful. But most of all for Thor, Wolverine and Specially
Hulk fans this should be a most have since rarely we see
story of these characters by themselves at his best, by the
way Hulk Fans this movie would makes a statement and a good
support for those never ending debate of who is the
strongest. Let us hope for Marvel to continue releasing the
Vs series, with the same quality level, and including new
heroes.
VIDEO:
Widescreen (1.78:1)
AUDIO:
English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby
Digital
Subtitles - English
SPECIAL FEATURES: The two disk DVD is unfortunately
the most incomplete sets in special features. the movies,
the cover design and the menu’s background, plus the huge
amount of material there is to tell about these characters
suggested that it should have a good amount of special
features related these heroes, not the traditional filler
material. This is not the case. For me it is not much of an
impact since I am not an special features fan, but for those
who were expecting some mythology out of it, they will be
disappointed. It would have been better for them just to
join the two movies in one DVD and omitted the usual filler
titles. Also again there is around ten minutes of trailer
prior to start the movie which again was kind of annoying so
my advice is just to press the menu button and if you want
to see any trailer go to the menu and select the ones you
are interested in.
Disc
One VS Wolverine
Audio Commentary By Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Audio Commentary by Frank Paur, Kevin Altiery, and Butch
Luki
“This Is Going to Hurt : the Making of Hulk Vs
Wolverine:” This is basically the making of featuratte where
director, voice actors, and animators talked about the
project from beginning to end. Nothing special here(20:09)
“Fan
Frenzy: Hulk Vs Wolverine ant the 2008 San Diego
Comic-Con:” This is the promotional show at comic con,
reactions and questions from fans to the staff about the
film. In my opinion Nothing interesting to see here.
“First Look - Wolverine and The X-Men: This is the
best feature in this disk and is the preview of the new
X-Men series in which for some reason Wolverine is the
leader, it seems promising. (5:45)
Disc Two VS Thor
Audio Commentary By Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Audio Commentary by Frank Paur, Sam Liu, and James Peters
“Of
Gods and Monsters: The Making of Hulk Vs Thor;” This
is basically the making of featuratte where director, voice
actors, and animators talked about the project from
beginning to end. Nothing special here(18:28)
Jack
Kirby and Thor: a tribute to Jack Kirby the rose the
level bar depicting characters like Thor and Capitan
America. (4:46)
First Look - Thor : Tales of Asgard: The Best
Feature of the whole set, is an introduction to the next
animated film featuring Thor. This seems to be a great film
since its going to explain more of its mythology, and his
relationship with Loki. (4:41)
Review
By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
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