wrong, because the product we got was in some ways a blueprint on how to do some Marvel cartoons right. No Ultimitizing crap, no pretending censorships on violence exist just because Cartoon Network likely will air it at some point. And especially, no crapping out on delivering actual Marvel Universe supervillains, an area where all of the DTV's up to this point seriously suffered from. Well, except for NEXT AVENGERS; Ultron was among the highlights there, albeit with a stupid origin tweak.
From here on in, it will be very long and fill of spoilers.
HULK VS. as a whole:
Both movies, as a whole, benefit from the short run time. While both being about half of a typical feature's length, both are about as long as two TV episodes of a show would be without commercials or intro animation. The short run time also means there is no dilly-dallying with the plot; each feature hits the ground running after about five minutes and doesn't stop until the end. There is no drag time; even in DOCTOR STRANGE, which was a great character piece, there was a bit of drag, spots of 5-10 minutes where my eyes glaze and I want to get to the good stuff.
Both movies also are created almost entirely for the hardcore fan; there are homages to past comics, plenty of cameo's (especially in HULK VS. THOR), and even recreations of some famous poses and comic book covers. The films aren't so heavy laden, though, that a casual fan won't get them. That might be because the starring characters (Hulk, Wolverine, and Thor) are so iconic as is. They don't NEED to be jazzed up with leather Ultimate suits or given a 95 minute origin sequence every time. When written properly, who they are shines through. Plus, in a way, each feature gives you enough data about the characters and stories that even if one isn't a total Marvel Zombie, you have more than enough to enjoy it.
The other plus to both films are the villains. In all of the Marvel/LG DTV's so far, the villains have usually been a sore spot. They were virtually non-existent in ULTIMATE AVENGERS. The Kleiser from ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2 was a poor man's Red Skull and wasn't terribly deep. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN's version of Manadarin was pure LOTR rip-off garbage and the rest of the minions had less life than a TEKKEN final boss. DOCTOR STRANGE had simplified, WORLD OF WARCRAFT-esque versions of Baron Mordo and Dormammu who were beaten with ease within about 10 minutes by the end. NEXT AVENGERS actually did a solid job with Ultron, it was just the heroes who were lacking. HULK VS., however, gets the villains 100% right. They're not "modernized" stabs at classics; they ARE the classics. Hell, HULK VS. WOLVERINE throws two extra villains into the mix who NEVER were part of Weapon X/Team X, and it is so awesome that no one will care. HULK VS. THOR delivers in spades with Loki and Enchantress, and even manages more cameos.
There also is more going on to the stories than the simple fight against the Hulk, or even the Hulk himself. Within a short run time and expert pacing, a lot happens even with the movies seeming to fly by, never seeming too long or too short. The voice acting is also top notch all around, especially, of course, Fred Tatasciore as the Hulk and Bryce Johnson (last cast as Stephan Strange in DOCTOR STRANGE) as the gentle Dr. Banner. Fred has voiced the Hulk in at least three DTV's, one video game and one WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN appearance, and is about as good a voice as the Green Goliath as we've gotten in a good long while. Yost and Kyle cast actors they were familiar with via past TV and DTV experiences, and it pays off in spades in the performances. There isn't a bad role in the mix.
The extras, at least on the 2-disc, are pretty good beyond one exception; the commentaries with Frank Paur are kind of boring. They have some interesting tidbits, but they usually aren't very fun to listen to and there were times I almost wanted them to be quiet so I could watch the movie, which is not the best reaction to a commentary. Yost & Kyle's commentaries, on the other hand, are both interesting and hilarious to listen to. The two have a clear rapport as friends and professional collaborators, and it comes through. I must note that even the general single disc edition has more extras than ANY of the last Marvel/LG's discs had. This is a step in the right direction, especially as the incredible number of extras on the HELLBOY ANIMATED films almost set the bar.
The animation quality, by anime vets MADHOUSE, is what you would expect; excellent. Honestly, anyone who doesn't expect brilliance from Madhouse hasn't paid attention to animation lately.
HULK VS. WOLVERINE:
Honestly, this was and still is my favorite of the two, but it is also an entirely different story than HULK VS. THOR. One could argue it is barely a story; it is more like about three extended fight sequences with enough of a story written around it. In the commentary, Kyle & Yost admitted that out of all their features, this one was written almost on the fly, and it shows. Not in a bad way; the story feels very kinetic and moves at a super fast pace.
Jeff Matsuda does the character design work for this one, and was thrilled to work on Wolverine & Hulk, at least from the feature. His designs for the flick are very distinct and capture the essence of the characters; Hulk is uber-huge, Logan is short but burly, and so forth.
Steven Jay Blum, who plays Wolverine in video games and WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN, and who has had a 25 year long voice acting career, naturally reprises his reoccurring role as Wolverine and does a great job. I always thought Scott McNeil from EVOLUTION was a bit underrated, but Blum's probably the best Logan we have gotten since Cal Dodd in the 90's. Fred Tatasciore's Hulk, as mentioned above, is great; unlike in HULK VS. THOR, Fred actually has lines to say as the Hulk. He delivers them with the right mix of rage and frustration at times, and is a natural at this point. He has some incredible lines that, even after the 5th or 6th listen, still grab me or make me laugh. X-MEN EVOLUTION's Wolverine, Scott McNeil, also has an "Additional Voices" credit; a team-up of Logan's!
Speaking of laughter, hogging the entire film is Deadpool, who could teach Jim Carrey lessons on mugging for the camera, only in a good way. Beyond a minor blink-and-miss cameo in the 90's X-MEN series, this is Deadpool's first full animated role. He is voiced by Nolan North, another pro voice actor who Kyle & Yost often cast; he was Giant-Man in ULTIMATE AVENGERS 1 & 2 as well as plays Cyclops in WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. The role where he really impressed me, besides as Deadpool here, was playing Raph in the 2007 TMNT motion picture. Kyle & Yost, in the commentary and the feature, claim they cast North as Deadpool because IRL he is often cracking "dirty jokes" and that Wade's lines here were mostly ad libbed. That sort of energy plays through with the lines. Nearly every line from Deadpool got either a smirk or a full on laugh from me, and I can be a very hard audience for comedy. His delivery was great, and he steals every scene he is in. His lines were genuinely funny, almost every time, even in tone.
The story itself was a loose adaptation of Wolverine's first appearance in INCREDIBLE HULK #181, where he is ordered by Dept. H to take the Hulk down. Only instead of both of them being involved with the Wendigo, which W&TXM did in their episode, they get involved with Weapon X, Logan's enemies. Logan here is, of course, Pre-X-Men. But it is more than this; this isn't a namby pamby Saturday Morning TV Logan. He says his infamous line at the start, and it proves true. He can STAB and CUT people. He doesn't think twice about killing enemy soldiers. He threatens to kill nasty villains in nasty ways. Despite being a critic of Wolverine later in my life, this movie was the one my inner 13 year old wanted to see Logan in for ages. This was the same Wolverine who was in a lot of those 80's-90's comics. Without the censorship blinders on, Wolverine got to be in some well paced, animated brawls.
The film also got to do his origin, now the 4th time it has been animated. Only this time, they could translate the WEAPON X story from Barry Windsor-Smith's MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS almost panel for panel, with the horrific bonding process and all the bear-killin' action you want. And when Wolverine escapes the tank and turns on his tormentors in flashback, oh, it gave my inner fanboy great joy to see that he wasn't hacking at robots this time, that Professor Thorton wouldn't escape behind a steel wall. No, his men get slaughtered, and his hand is F'ing lopped off. Professor Thorton is voiced by Tom Kane, another Marvel animation voice vet, who does a brilliant, and chilling, job with the role.
Weapon X was causing Hulk's rampages by trying to capture him for study and manipulation. They capture both him and Logan after they ware themselves out fighting each other, and thus force Hulk and Wolverine to unite against the Weapon X cronies. Sort of.
Rounding out the villains are Sabretooth (Mark Acheson) ,Lady Deathstrike (Jayse Jaud), and Omega Red (Colin Murdock). Now, of course, Yuriko and Omega Red were not involved in Weapon X in the comics (Yuriko's father created the adamantium bonding process that Weapon X used, but that was it). But honestly this didn't matter because it provided faithful, and more violent versions of the characters than Saturday Morning would allow. It also makes up for the lackluster version of Red in X-MEN EVOLUTION, who was felled by a foot sweep. Mark Acheson was a unique choice for Sabretooth, his voice wasn't as raspy but was deeper than some other actors who have played Creed, gave him almost more maturity than pure rage. Sabretooth here also reminded me of the early 70's version; vicious (always eager for combat, or sadism, like "dropping Hulk on an orphanage") but hardly invincible. Back in the 70's and early 80's, he got schooled by Iron Fist and Black Cat, after all. Murdock sounds find as the deadly Russian, who often was playing straight-man to Deadpool, while Jaud puts in the right performance as the vicious Deathstrike.
The fights are well storyboarded and brutal. Yet, it doesn't feel too dark because of amusing lines from Deadpool and Hulk. It is the type of flick where you root for your heroes to pummel the bad guys and it doesn't need to be over thought. My favorite line was easily, "Hulk smash claw people!"
The only caveat was the obligatory ending, where the writers can't allow the audience a definitive winner between Hulk and Wolverine, so they go with the ol' ROCKY III freeze frame at the first bell. And yes, the bit at the end of the credits was the cherry atop the sundae.
Hulk here had more to do than Johnson's Banner, who just got some exposition, and it helped make it different than the other feature, besides in animation design. It was a story about one monster fighting another, and both having to shake off being controlled by an organization of even worse monsters, all man made. It was easy to root for the Hulk as he was being perennially chased, although Wolverine naturally came off as very cool and brutal, which was what drew me to his comics as a kid. Plus, unlike WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN sometimes, when Logan was a jerk, it actually backfired on him; all of his attempts to get Hulk to work with him backfired because he usually executed them in his usual manner. "I'm on yer side, ya flamin' idiot!" and all. That doesn't make Logan bad; I thought it was great. He isn't usually friendly.
t:
Hope he's as funny in that as he is here.
