Astonishingly verbose Hulk still smashes

    To be honest, I’m not sure who started it, and I’m not sure that I care. This push to put out direct-to-DVD animated features based on comic books is awesome. The latest title from Marvel, “Planet Hulk” hit stores Tuesday.
    Now, before we move on, there’s something you should probably know about me. I am a raging fanboy when it comes to Marvel. Don’t get me wrong, there are DC titles I enjoy, such as The Flash and the Green Lantern corner of the the DC Universe, but Marvel still puts out the most books that I enjoy.
    When I heard an animated adaptation of the Planet Hulk storyline was in the works, I was, as you can imagine, pretty excited. For non-fanboys, Planet Hulk was a story that ran in 2006 and began in a one-shot book called “The New Avengers: Illuminati,” written by Brian Michael Bendis. Some of Earth’s greatest heroes — led by Iron Man and including Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four), Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Stephen Strange, Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men, Namor the Submariner, Prince of Atlantis and Blackbolt, king of the Inhumans — banded together behind the scenes to solve some of the world’s problems. One of those problems was Bruce Banner, aka the incredible Hulk.
    The story continued through “Incredible Hulk” issues #88-95, written by Daniel Way and later Greg Pak. The Illuminati decided that they couldn’t allow Hulk to bring destruction wherever he went, so they put him in a rocket ship and shot him toward a peaceful planet far from Earth.
    Long story short, they messed up, and Hulk wound up on a barbaric planet called Sakaar where he fought as a gladiator. The inhabitants of Sakaar believed the Hulk to be their prophesied savior. He also fought back against the corrupt ruler of the planet known as the Red King. Eventually, Hulk made his way back to Earth, quite understandably a bit pissed at the Illuminati, and declared war on planet Earth.
    That, however, is another story for another day.
    The “Planet Hulk” movie follows the plot of the books pretty closely. Some things are condensed to fit them into a 81 minute film, obviously. Things are also simplified a bit to make them understandable outside of the context the books were published in. All things considered, writers Greg Johnson, Craig Kyle and Joshua Fine did an excellent job adapting the material.
    The adaptation isn’t perfect though. One character possesses a mysterious power that is mentioned but never explained. There is a love story that feels incredibly forced. It’s just sort of shoehorned in at the very end of the movie. The movie also ends on a fairly vague note. Knowledge of the comics lets you know what happens next, but it is a sort of unsatisfying ending.
    “Planet Hulk” is a very different Hulk story. For one, Hulk actually speaks. Not much, but more than just growls or “HULK SMASH PUNY HUMANS!!!” For once, Hulk gets to become a hero, just by being himself. The people of Sakaar come to love him just for refusing to quit fighting, even when the deck is stacked against him. He comes to command his own group of gladiators, whether he wants to lead or not.
    Visually, the movie is stunning. It is very visceral. Hulk is doing more than just smashing tanks and robots. He is fighting things that can stand toe to toe with him, and make him bleed. Things are getting ripped to pieces, slashed apart with swords and impaled. Hulk caves heads in with his bare hands, getting covered in gore in the process.
    “Planet Hulk” is definitely worth watching, even if you aren’t a big comic book fan. It has a solid plot and interesting visuals. It manages to keep a coherent story even bereft of the months of context the books were steeped in. All in all, it is a fun, cool movie.
    “Planet Hulk” is not rated and has a runtime of 81 minutes.
    Contact Arant at cody.arant@murraystate.edu.