Hulk Vs. Wolverine Review

(I am not a comic otaku, I’m a manga otaku. But to appease the fans, I will try to reflect on the movie’s connection to the comic canon itself so as to demonstrate I do appreciate how it began. And there will be spoilers, since this is Direct to DVD anyway)

I know I implied I’d never review another Hulk film, but in this case, I’ll make an exception because it’s two short films more than a single feature length film. Not to mention it’s two of the most intriguing conflicts in Marvel Comics that many fans have imagined, not to mention they’ve technically happened, though not necessarily as these films depict. In any case, Hulk Vs. Wolverine is what we start with, since it’s both shorter and first in the sequence of short films included in Hulk VS.

It starts with a scene that we actually don’t get to until later, where Wolverine regains consciousness and relocates his shoulder, trying to figure out what happened when the Hulk jumps in and resumes the fight already in progress. We flashback to Wolverine getting an assignment (when he was still under government authority I suppose) to seek out the Hulk and either detain or kill him. He’s dropped off in a large forest/mountain area and eventually finds Bruce Banner. After interrogating him a bit, he transforms back into the Hulk and the fight progresses to where it left off. They fight underwater and then Wolverine starts using the claws, but Hulk eventually overwhelms him and pummels his lights out. But as we know, Wolverine is not only nearly physically unbreakable with his adamantium skeleton, but his healing factor overrides a lot of what Hulk can dish out to him. He gets back up, much to the Hulk’s surprise and they duke it out some more before they’re both tranquilized by some old friends from Weapon X: Deadpool, Omega Red, Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike (all whom don’t like Wolverine at all). We’re then treated to the usual flashback of how Wolverine got the adamantium and eventually escaped, though he was tested on and cloned in the process, giving us a subtle hint to the existence of X-23 in the process. We then return to the present and learn that Weapon X has resurfaced and intends to manipulate the Hulk to use it as a weapon just as they did with Logan, which indirectly created Deadpool. There’s a general atmosphere of everyone in the facility besides the Doctor wanting to kill Wolverine, but that’s to be expected with three of his primary rivals involved with Weapon X. Lady Deathstrike is particularly insistent with her bloodlust. Overall, the group had apparently planned to betray the Doctor anyway, killing him and then trying to kill Wolverine. But it doesn’t work out too well. Wolverine escapes and goes to save the Hulk. They’re ambushed, but Bruce Banner can’t Hulk out, since the emotional catalyst has been suppressed somehow, but Wolverine gives him some incentive by stabbing him with the claws to get the adrenaline going. Wolverine proceeds to fight Weapon X, doing pretty well until they get their act together and nearly kill him. But of course around that time, the Hulk arrives and starts beating the hell out of them, punching Sabretooth out of the facility, ripping Lady Deathstrike’s arms off and pretty much handing everyone their asses. Eventually, Hulk starts tearing down the place and whacks Wolverine out of it. And the film concludes with a black out conclusion with the victor left up in the air.

Wolverine’s character is spot on, there is little to complain about. We get the Weapon X flashbacks and the present Wolverine’s experiences presented quite well for a film barely over 30 minutes. Hulk talks a surprising amount in comparison to the live action depictions and has funny nicknames for almost everyone in the film, including “little man”, “claw people”, “talking man” and “ugly girl” (You can imagine which person he’s referring to in each case). Bruce Banner is depicted little and he is less than mild mannered, one might say, being submissive, weepy and otherwise emasculated as a character, though one can hardly blame him for such behavior in his situation. And the Weapon X characters are depicted very well also, each distinguished as a person, especially Lady Deathstrike and Deadpool, with Sabretooth and Omega Red somewhat similar, the only difference being backstory that wasn’t explained with them. Lady Deathstrike has a distinct orgasm face when she’s jamming her claws into Wolverine at one point, and Deadpool is the king of bad one-liners, which is common of him even in his comic book counterpart. The idea that all four of them hate him is convincing though, even if there is the absence of complete justification from the perspective of a newcomer to the Marvel universe.
The only theme really indicated is the connection of Wolverine’s past, both to Weapon X and to the people associated, to the Hulk, though themes in such a case as this film are few and far between, since one could concoct a number of plotlines to put the Hulk and Wolverine in the same area so they could fight each other. Wolverine’s relationships with others are thematic enough in investigating this film, what with calling Bruce Banner a crybaby and treating any person, male or female, equally when they fight him, slicing off arms or otherwise.

Overall, the film is good, but I’d only give it a 4 and maybe 80% recommendation, not only for the disappointing ending with no real victor noted (even though in all fairness there probably wouldn’t be a winner in the case of these two characters both indestructible for all intents and purposes). But if you want to see a brutal fight between X-Men characters, this is a good film for that, maybe even moreso than Hulk Vs. Thor, but we’ll see about that later. Until next time, Namaste and Aloha.