Hulk Vs. on Blu-ray Disc Review
By Brandon A. DuHamel
The Films
Hulk Vs. is based on a simple concept -- take Marvel Comics characters and adapt them faithfully to video without any reinvention of the sort that has crept into every live-action Marvel adaptation for the big screen. Truth be told, Marvel has been having their lunch handed to them in the direct-to-video department by rival DC Comics in recent years. That is probably best exemplified by DC's recent release,
Batman: Gotham Knight. What has Marvel been able to come up with? Not much, really. Some awful
Avengers releases and a
Dr. Strange release that is barely worth mention.
Hulk. Vs. arrives with every intention of making a statement, and making a statement it does. The double feature brings together two films that, admittedly, barely qualify as feature-length --
Hulk Vs. Wolverine coming in at a scant 35-minutes and the second,
Hulk Vs. Thor at just under 45-minutes. In the case of both of these features, however, any minute longer would have been too long. Both features are an amalgamation of several story lines culled from the pages of Marvel comic books and successfully reproduce the worlds of Hulk, Wolverine and Thor.
Hulk Vs. Wolverine retells the origin of Wolverine with his beginnings as Weapon X as he is sent into the forests of the Great White North to hunt down and capture a rampaging Hulk. As the two battle it out, there is also an introduction of some villains from the world of Wolverine that fill out the storyline. The focus, however, remains squarely on the two duking it out.
In
Hulk Vs. Thor, the pace lightens a bit, as the scene is moved to Asgard, land of the Norse gods, where control over Hulk and Dr. Bruce Banner's bodies and souls are being fought over. As control over Hulk is lost, the battle between Hulk and Thor ensues as Thor fights to save the Nine Realms during Odin's slumber.
Hulk Vs. Wolverine is the better of the two features by a slight margin, with more action and a quicker pace, but both productions are like moving comic books come to life and should please any comic book fan. The artwork is faithful to the original artists, but still updated for modern viewers. The dialogue is also tinged with enough comic book levity so that no moment ever feels ponderous.
The Picture
Hulk Vs.' 1080p/24 AVC/MPEG-4 encoding a strong color palette that pops from the screen. The line art is crisp and there is no noise present in the vast swaths of solid colors. The many active scenes display no macroblocking and the transfer has very good contrast settings. There does seem to be a slight haze over the proceedings keeping things from looking as sharp as they can and making Hulk Vs. come in just a notch down from some of the better looking hand-drawn animated titles on BD such as Sleeping Beauty.
The Sound
Hulk Vs. with its DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack couldn't have arrived at a better time for me, having just replaced the Cambridge Audio Ensemble IV surround back L/R speakers in my reference system with ORB Audio Mod1 surround back speakers, it was the perfect opportunity to demo yet more material on the new speakers.
The 7.1 mix for
Hulk Vs. does not, unfortunately, utilize all eight channels to their fullest potential. There is not much in the way of discrete, directional information panned to the back channels, but the mix is alive with much activity and ambient sound effects that encircle the listener. Of course, the Hulk's pounding and smashing is amply supported by heavy doses of LFE. Dialogue is also very clean and well balanced into the hyperactive mix making for an enjoyable experience overall.
The Extras
Hulk Vs. offers up two audio commentaries for each film and a couple of making-of featurettes as well. Marvel fans should enjoy the extra background material on their comic book heroes, but ultimately nothing here offers any new information that diehard fans won't already know.
The extras available on this release are:
- Hulk Vs. Wolverine:
- Audio Commentary with Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
- Audio Commentary with Frank Paur, Kevin Altieri and Butch Lukic
- This is Gonna Hurt: The Making of Hulk Vs. Wolverine (1.78:1/high definition)
- Fan Frenzy: Hulk Vs. Wolverine - 2008 Comic-Con (1.78:1/standard definition) -- A Q&A session with the films' producers at the 2008 Comic-Con in San Diego.
- First Look: Wolverine and The X-Men (1.78:1/high definition) -- A look at the new series that reinvents Wolverine as the leader of The X-Men.
- Hulk Vs. Thor:
- Audio Commentary with Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
- Audio Commentary with Frank Paur, Sam Liu, and James Peters
- Of Gods and Monsters: The Making of Hulk Vs. Thor (1.78:1/high definition) -- An exploration of adapting the Hulk/Thor confrontations to video.
- Jack Kirby + Thor (1.78:1/high definition) -- The art of Jack Kirby, original sketch artist for the Thor series of Marvel comic books is discussed in this featurette.
- First Look: Thor Tales of Asgard (1.78:1/high definition) -- This forthcoming feature-length will explore the early years of Thor's life.
- Trailers (high definition)
- Iron Man (VG)
- The Incredible Hulk (VG)
- Disaster Movie
- Ultimate Avengers 2
- Doctor Strange
- The Invincible Iron Man
- Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
Final Thoughts
Fans of the comics should be satisfied with these direct-to-video interpretations of these Marvel Comics heroes. Lionsgate's transfer to Blu-ray is high quality, offering vivid imagery and engrossing lossless 7.1 mixes that are perfectly suited for these characters.
Where to Buy
Product Details
- Actors: Mark Acheson, Michael Adamthwaite, Steve Blum, Jay Brazeau, Grey DeLisle
- Director: Frank Paur
- Writers: Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
- Producers: Craig Kyle
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Language: English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rating: PG-13
- Studio: Lions Gate
- Blu-ray Disc Release Date: January 27, 2009
- Run Time: 78 minutes
- List Price: $29.99
- Extras:
- Audio Commentaries
- Featurettes
- Trailers
