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The problem here is quite simple. In adapting a beloved and successful comic book storyline to any property, never assume your audience is overly familiar with the material. Hulk, outside of a few brief appearances in the Avengers comics and the Incredible Hulk 90s animated series, has never been a big draw for me. I’ve read Hulk: Grey, but that had more to do with the creative team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (it was one of their weaker efforts), and the beloved 70s live-action TV series is in my instant queue on Netflix. I was vaguely familiar with the details of Planet Hulk going in, but this film left me in the dust.
At very least, Planet Hulk is ambitious in retelling a fairly recent and well-liked storyline from the comics. DC has made this their bread-and-butter in most of their titles, which tend to go back and forth between adapting newer storylines and the classics. But the main problem here is a lack of setup, explanation and payoff.
I kept thinking throughout the too brief running time that events were just happening with little to no reason for me to care. I shouldn’t have to go out and buy the book in order to understand the adaptation. They should complement each other and differ, each offering their own unique pleasures. At the very least, Planet Hulk judiciously edits out much of the subplots to focus in on the main character’s journey. That means characters like Miek, who becomes a traitor and villain in the comics, aren’t given a complete emotional journey to go through. And sometimes these judicious cuts are a bit too judicious, seeing as how they create moments in which a character must grow and change in an inorganic, rushed way.
But some of these edits leave the film with a half-formed narrative. The beginning seems to very edited out the actual beginning of the film. We see the Hulk tied up in a rocket ship being blasted in space and a video message from a random assortment of Marvel characters. Turns out this is Marvel’s version of the Illuminati, I had no idea. How the Hulk got subdued enough to be put in this position is something I would’ve loved to have seen. It can’t have been easy. Of course, he awakens, throws a temper tantrum, and destroys his rocket, sending it off course and onto a planet which he was prophesized to rescue.
The Hulk as rebel-hero from the stars is an interesting conceit, considering he’s an anti-hero who prefers solitude to teamwork or any kind of leadership or group responsibilities. But this transition is never made entirely clean or clear. It’s like he goes from brooding, sulking green monster to gladiatorial hero within one scene.
And the animation is of the same competent style as the other direct-to-DVD films. The film’s visual palette is muddy and grey, and the character designs and the whole look of the film looks like a higher end TV show. But it still has all of the tell-tale signs of cut corners and shoddy work of a TV show. At least with a weekly series you can be more forgiving since the product has to be turned out at a much higher rate than normal animated projects.
But I guess that covers pretty much all eight of the Marvel films. They’re competent, and seem like extended premiere episodes of various animated properties for television. Maybe Disney and Marvel will get smart and try their hand at these things again, except this time explore some of the older storylines that haven’t been adapted yet – could you imagine a animated film version of Daredevil: The Man Without Fear which was aimed at adults? Take a clue from what DC/Warner Bros. is releasing and craft something as vivid and rich as those storylines. These films just aren’t cutting it.
