A Fanboy’s Reponse To the Incredible Hulk and Lost Boys 2 Trailers

In one night, the trailers to two of the most curiously anticipated films of the year unveil to varying responses. I wrote “curiously anticipated”, because most seem to want a glimpse at “The Incredible Hulk” and “Lost Boys- The Tribe” simply to asses how good or bad they may turn out. The former is a lavish redux of a would-be comic book movie franchise that never went past one movie, as the mild box office and audience displeasure with “Hulk” put the brakes on the series in 2003. The latter is a long-dreamed of sequel to a mid-size 1987 horror film that, over time, has proved to be both influential and widely loved. Instant response on the Internet has been mixed-to-negative for both of these trailers, though, in all fairness, both of these could turn out to be really good, right? As a big fan of The Incredible Hulk (both the comic book character and Ang Lee’s mixed but daring film) and “The Lost Boys”, here’s a brief recap of what we saw.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK:

Immediately, we get the sense that Universal Pictures wants to wipe the slate clean and go a more mainstream direction than Lee’s artsy incarnation; lots of action, a story thread right out of a comic book, and a darker (I’d say uglier) look. Out goes the Freudian subtext and talky character exposition, and in with Tim Roth and his monster likeness, banging heads with Norton’s muscular green id. Taking the previous film out of the picture, I’m not convinced that this will be a great film. The new Hulk looks meaner and far more ‘roided, but the visual style appears standard, and, at best, this seems like it could be on the level of a second-rate comic book movie (like “Rise of the Silver Surfer” or “Daredevil”) but not up to the elegance and sophistication of the recent “Batman” and “Superman” films. The cast alone (which includes Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and Roth) makes me want to see this, but, sadly, this doesn’t look like a classic.

First impression: Darker, with a good cast, but the story and new visual approach aren’t promising.

THE LOST BOYS- THE TRIBE

I’d be surprised if this got a theatrical release, as it looks, at best, like a Sci-Fi Channel t.v. movie. The special effects appear competant, the story is obviously just an update of the original and, other than Corey Feldman, no one involved with the original is in sight. Feldman really looks like he hasn’t aged a bit and he gives his scenes real gusto, but, considering how long it took Warner Brothers to greenlight this, I was hoping for more and I can’t imagine that die-hard “Lost Boys” fanatics will eat this up. The noisy music redux of “Cry Little Sister” that they play over the trailer sums up how I feel about this overall- nice to hear a nod to the original, but a pale shadow of it all the same.

First Impression: Corey Feldman looks to be the sole highlight of a cheap remake/sequel.

Both of these trailers are up exclusively at MTV.com- if you’re curious, give them a look. After all, you never know. There have been great movies that had bad trailers and, in the case of “The Phantom Menace”, the trailer was amazing, while the movie, well…you get the point.