Planet Hulk

There's not too much you can say about movies like this: they know what they want to do and they typically do it impeccably. This is no exception.

Without demanding more emotional investment than I can promise on a Friday night, this neat science fantasy adventure moves swiftly and efficiently with amazing set pieces and vivid characters including two really sexy strong female characters. I mean strong in the sense that they are both developed and could hurt me. Which are both kind of awesome.

We begin with the Hulk being abandoned in outer space by the other DC people which really resonates with me as the appeal of the Hulk is that he is a force that not even he can control and is a very humbling place to start. You won't see Dr. Banner in this but Hulk makes a very stoic yet badass protagonist who never gets sentimental and is a long way away from the big green teddy bear that Family Guy portrays him as.

These things are often pretty smartly written and what we get is a nuanced story of political intrigue and disillusionment as another character learns, on their own terms, that they may find more joy caring about someone other than themself.

Miek was a nice presence. These small comic reliefs might annoy some people but they bring a sort of balance.

Now this might make me sound a misogynistic, which is something I really don't want to be, but something that I really noticed is that there is a good bit of female/male combat where no punches are pulled at all. I think this is very good for representation if you ignore the male gaziness in how the females are depicted (I didn't ignore it though) and this is several years before #metoo.

By only real criticism is that the plot structure is maybe a tad awkward; you almost feel you're at the end of an (albeit simpler than expected story) when the third act is just beginning but overall the whole thing is very satisfying.