BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) THE INCREDIBLE HULK
I could have gone with like a dozen other Edward Norton movies that I’m a fan of. “The Italian Job”, “Everybody Says I Love You”, “25th Hour”, “Death to Smoochy”, “The Illusionist”, and “Leaves of Grass” are just a few of the movies I’ve dug of his that aren’t on the list. I went with “The Incredible Hulk” because I find myself surprised by how often I tell people to watch it. They made the one Hulk and it sucked, but then they were quick with putting another one out there and this time with Edward Norton. I didn’t see it in theaters or rent it, but it was seeing it on TV that won me over. The first one left such a bad stigma that I wasn’t excited to see the updated version. So when I took the chance with this and watched it kind of blew me away. I don’t feel any hesitation in saying that I enjoyed this movie just as much as I did the first Iron Man and that it’s actually better than Iron Man 2. It’s just a surprisingly great movie. The story is tight and doesn’t waste time, while making you care about the characters. The action was solid, the CGI crisp, and just enough light-heartedness to make for a very good hour and a half to two hour movie watching experience. Now the crappy part is that it’s been said Norton isn’t going to be in any upcoming Hulk projects. And now I go back to not being excited…
(THREE) AMERICAN HISTORY X
The neo-Nazi, racist, and horrible content of American History X makes it hard to watch. Unless you’re a horrible person, you can’t just pop in American History X and pop a bag of popcorn. The biggest problem with the movie is that you watch it and become enthralled by Edward Norton’s bad ass performance. He is a monster in this movie quite like Godzilla, but in this comparison Norton’s character’s decency and humanity is the city the monster is stomping all over and destroying. You can’t look away so you cringe.
(TWO) PRIMAL FEAR
I think this movie was really all about Edward Norton saying “Hey, world… look at me… I can act my ass off”. And he said it loud enough for everyone to hear. This movie is a bit of a mindfuck when you first watch it and an even bigger one the second and third time.
(ONE) FIGHT CLUB
I’m willing to bet that at least 90% of the people reading this will agree. Edward Norton is the bomb in Fight Club. Edward Norton plays the everyday man who progressively goes crazy. Brad Pitt shows up and the movie goes bonkers. Brad Pitt is often glorified in the movie for his over the top Tyler Durden character, but Norton is this movie’s glue. He is our voice, or reason and unreason in this movie and by the end of it he has convinced us that corporations are evil, punching is fun, and don’t believe anything that you see. Edward Norton is the tour guide of one of the best movies in modern cinema. You can’t ask for anything more.
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