Moreover, some men continue to try and bring down female action heroes. One of these men is Don Feder, who wrote in his article “Wimps Whiners Weenies: Men in Movies Today,” that in female action heroes' movies women are “fearless and indomitable” which means men show no contrast to them. As a result, male characters end up playing the fool and being helpless. Feder believes that this is not what the public wants, even when these movies feature famous directors or actors, and therefore they do not do well in the box office. Notwithstanding, if we take a look at the box office earnings of “Tomb Raider, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Charlie's Angels,” for example, we can see that they passed the mark of 100 million dollars. These numbers prove patently that Feder was wrong in his assertion.

Then we have the statement from Elliot Lederman, Universal's Senior Director of Licensing, in 1999; he affirmed that despite the popularity that the television show “Xena the Warrior Princess” was obtaining back then, we should not expect “a rash of female Rambos anytime soon”. What is more, he added that “there hasn't been a successful female action hero since Wonder Woman. Other studios have tried to create them, but Xena is the first successful one and it's going to be tough to follow the trend.” As we have been able to experience or witness, this statement is highly inaccurate, because we could very well say that after Xena there has been a rash of female Rambos indeed, and it was not so tough to follow the trend. Nowadays there are numerous, and many successful, female action heroes and they just keep coming. However, not all of them are accepted by the public, but it is only the minority that goes through that process or problem.

Christina Larson has a theory as to why some female action heroes underwent this lack of acceptance. She states in her article “Seven Mistakes Superheroines Make: Why The Latest Action-Babe Flicks Flopped” that she believes that Hollywood overreached when dealing with this type of women since studios did not stop to think or analyze why exactly audiences loved female action heroes. What they did instead was to come up with a formula that they thought was the one that had brought about success to previous female action hero's movies: they placed beautiful women with well-shaped bodies wearing tight costumes and then they made them fight in them. Apparently, they thought that that was all it took to make a female action hero movie successful. They based movies on the protagonist's good looks and sex appeal, but, actually, that formula was virtually wrong, which was a fact proven by the low box office income that movies like these obtained. What Hollywood should have realized, adds Larson, is that the movies that feature female action heroes that did well in the box office, did not only show a pretty woman with a nice body and revealing clothes, but they also showed them as strong, witty and successful. She makes an excellent comparison between a female action hero who was accepted by the public and one who was not:

Lara Croft may have originated as pure male fantasy - but on the big screen, she became erudite, well-traveled, a working photojournalist, and went home at night to a house worthy of Architectural Digest. On the other hand, Elektra [...] might turn heads in her tight-laced scarlet bustier. But her personal magnetism doesn't measure up: she's a gloomy assassin who suffers from nightmares, insomnia, and OCD. Plus she hates her job but can't - or won't - figure out what to do with her life.

As we can see from this quote, Lara (“Tomb Raider”) is a successful, happy woman who has got her life under control, while Elektra is a woman who is not happy and has definitely no control over her life, she does not even knows what she wants. Lara emanates a positive feeling whereas Elektra does the opposite, and no one likes negative feelings especially coming from an action hero, so it is no wonder the audience rejected the latter.

What occurs in Hollywood's film industry is that it is always looking for something new. There is a time for everything and the time for the old male action heroes has passed. The new trend now is the female action heroes and it is still strong; however, it will also have its culmination eventually like it has happened to the former type of heroes and many other types of movies that have existed. Like Bou and Pérez explain in El tiempo del Héroe [The Time of the Hero] so clearly, “Hollywood's movie industry, as the producer of myths for people's consumption, needs to renovate its product in harmony with the times. Heroes become deteriorated with repetition [...] and their image has to be updated or refreshed.” Interestingly enough, these qualities are the ones that women are usually associated with, these are the characteristics that we can see in Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), Sidney Bristow (Alias) and Charlie's Angels, among others: they are smaller, slimmer, intelligent and do not look threatening if you do not know them.

These slimmer bodies, like Mencimer says, only make old big male action heroes with all their muscles “look like lumps of heavy, slow-moving steel.” Hence we have now female action heroes, who are the new updated or refreshed heroes (like "new Tarzans"). There seems to have been an indication of the rise of a new type of hero in the movie “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” Here, the new evil terminator played by Robert Patrick was visually the complete opposite to what the terminator that Arnold Schwarzenegger played in this movie and its prequel. The latter was a very big and muscular guy who at first sight gave the impression of a very strong person and looked even scary, whereas the former was a small, thin man who did not look threatening. However, he was indeed threatening and dangerous plus he was smarter and faster that Schwarzenegger's terminator.

Ever since the beginning of the female action hero rebirth, which according to Stephanie Mencimer took place in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” with the character played by Linda Hamilton, Sarah Connor, we could see how some of those characters have undergone some sort of transformation. To Sarah Connor the transformation took place in the second installment of the Terminator trilogy. In the first part she was, as Susan Jeffords explains so well in her book mentioned before, “uncertain, frightened, and weak; in her rebirth she is toughminded, fearless, and strong [...]. She wears fatigues, totes heavy weapons, and has a mission to perform.” We can also see transformations in “Catwoman,” where Patience goes through a drastic change after she is revived. Before that happened she was a pushover, she did not stand up for herself and was very insecure; however, when she is revived by the cat she becomes the complete opposite. In “Charlie's Angels” we are told about the girls' transformations: Natalie is shown taking a driving course wearing braces and with a silly hairdo, Alex used to ride horses apparently professionally and Dylan is shown as having been a “bad” girl at school. When they became Charlie's Angels their appearance and self assurance changed, plus they became specialized crime fighters.

This change was the recipe of success for Hollywood especially as regards the female audience. Seeing a woman in control, a woman who can defy gravity and/or overpower men, is like a fantasy for many women nowadays when male chauvinism is still strong. However, no woman likes to see a heroine complaining about irrelevant things such as a mid-life career crisis. In other words, women like female action heroes because they represent all they would like to be: they are strong, fearless and do not let anyone step over them, and at the same time they accomplish incredible missions. Moreover, practically all of the movies and television shows that portray an aggressive or strong female character provide the viewers with an answer or an explanation as to why the character acts that way. Sometimes it is the death of a loved one, something that has been done to her like a betrayal, or an attack on her life, or something stolen from her, etc.

Finally, there is yet another reason why female action heroes came about and received such recognition at this specific time in history in the United States. As Gina Arnold explains in “Badass Girls on Film - Is it a Good Thing When Women Beat the Crap Out of Men at the Movies?,” the roles women played in movies in the late twentieth century were mostly about the woman “terrorized, menaced, raped and sometimes even killed for viewing pleasure.” A theory would explain this as a result to what was known as the “angry white male” phenomenon that took place at that time. This phenomenon was apparently a direct result of feminism, sexual liberation, closed factories and farms in the country, and the stricter penalties imposed on sexual harassment and domestic violence, all of which seemed to have made many men angry. This anger was portrayed in movies by putting men taking their anger out on women. Therefore, the emergence of female action heroes in movies and television series in the last few years is also a response to a social situation, this being exactly what the movies just mentioned were doing with women not so long ago. Moreover, the fact that women in real life have been occupying positions of power in many different areas such as sports, business, politics, and even in Hollywood, has also acted as an influence in the creation of the female action hero figure, since, as we have seen, movies reflect society. But there is more to that, because society also reacts to what it sees happening in movies and it is the one that decides trough acceptance or rejection what movies will and will not be successful. In other words, society is the real ruler of the movie and television industries.

But he believed her and that is where the beauty of that weapon lies: she used her mind to see in which way he would do what she wanted him to do and she found the way without resorting to violence. Moreover, in “Charlie's Angels” the girls figured out a way to gain access to the fingerprints and retina scan from the two only men who had access to the restricted area where they needed to go, in that way being able to go into that restricted area themselves. The Angels usually use their sex appeal to obtain what they need, but that is because they know that that is a very effective way to do so. Therefore, what they do in the movie is first use their mind or intelligence to formulate a plan and then they use their sex appeal as a resource. So, basically, even though these female heroes have the ability of using force or physical strength to confront their enemies, they do not necessarily use that as the one and only resource or even as a first choice, but they only use it as a last resource or when absolutely necessary. As a matter of fact, according to an investigation that the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation has carried out, only 19% of female characters in films used physical force while the male did in 53% of the times.

There is yet another element that makes female action heroes unique in comparison to their male counterparts. These women are not afraid to show their feelings, although they do not do it in the traditionally female way. We do not usually see a male action hero crying or showing his vulnerable sides. They may, however, show tears of anger, but not tears of sadness. Bou and Pérez explain in their book El tiempo del Héroe [The Time of the Hero] that if the male hero does indeed cry it will only be an isolated event that will launch the action or the beginning of a quest. These tears are the new launchers like in the past it used to be love at first sight, that is to say, that before in movies the launching factor was love at first sight what would trigger the hero to go on a quest for his loved one (Bou and Pérez, 2000: 32). In movies nowadays these tears in some of the male heroes work the same way in which love at first sight used to work in the past, they have the same power. Furthermore, male action heroes do not show open feelings about the women they love or have a sentimental interest in. Perhaps the reason why they do not cry or show their feelings towards others is because they do not want to show vulnerability, they are big machos who do not cry or crack under pressure. Of course we do not see any of the Angels or Lara cry under pressure either, but we do see Lara crying when visiting her father's grave or Sidney Bristow, from the tv series “Alias,” both screaming in pain and crying. But the fact that women do this more than men it does not make them weaker, but instead it makes them fuller, richer character and more compassionate, since they do not fear showing their emotions.

Bou and Pérez give us yet another meaningful explanation or theory about the uncrying male hero: the full release of emotions through tears is not an option for the male action hero, since it is an experience that the male dominant movie business does not allow beyond the insight of every man, something that should not escape to the exterior. Therefore, since pain is not allowed to exit the man's body through tears, it should do so some other way, and the procedure that was chosen to portray this was one which would make the whole body cry: through blood and wounds (Bou and Pérez, 2000: 64). Hence, we find here a connection to the fact that the male action hero's body seems to get more hurt in action movies than the female's one.

Furthermore, right now male action heroes are beginning to display a new characteristic which has been for ever attributed to women: they are starting to actually talk. Bou and Pérez tell us about a man who in an interview expressed that in Quentin Tarantino's movie Pulp Fiction the male heroes talked much more than they were expected to, given their violent nature. Therefore, one explanation could be that the extreme violent world that we find in male action heroes' movies needed a break, and doing more talking than customary seems to be one of the answers (Bou and Pérez, 2000: 215). This way, we could say that male heroes are beginning to turn towards characteristics often displayed by female action heroes which have proven to be successful. What is more, another reason why male action heroes had to change was because of the previously mentioned fact that they were becoming obsolete. As a matter of fact, the conclusion that Calvert et al. reached in their study was that

the most effective formula for presenting heroic female portrayals is one in which female characters embody traditionally valued feminine characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, nurturance, compassion, and using the mind over the sword. Using your mind and being compassionate are integral cultural expectations for female heroes, and perhaps should be emphasized more in our male heroes as well.

What the authors of the research are suggesting is that since female action heroes have become so successful, perhaps male action heroes should imitate some of the characteristics that the former present.

The secret of the fascination for heroes that Hollywood has been able to create lies in a secret: the stories in those movies have the power to take us to another place where we are both ourselves and at the same time we are somebody else, somebody stronger, since heroes possess all of the human attributes only amplified. This characteristic is what turns them into role models and archetypes, in which the values of intelligence, loyalty, courage, beauty and goodness reach their highest point. Umberto Eco, an Italian semiologist, once wrote that “the positive hero must embody, besides all of the imaginable limits, the strength exigencies that the regular citizen feeds on and cannot satisfy” This would be the simplest explanation, or maybe just one, of why people like action heroes. But what we must find out is why people like female action heroes.

Let us then examine Wittmier's lines and what movies have fulfilled them, which ones did not, and finally what seems to be the ultimate result. The lines that Wittmier proposes are mentioned below, each one followed by a possible explanation as to how they apply to a few movies and television shows featuring female action heroes:

1. The hero usually suffers a great loss, which makes him [or her] set off on a quest.

In “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” we learn that her father had died several years ago, which is an episode that deeply affects Lara. He had died in the battlefield and she never had a chance to say goodbye, which is what makes her feel worse. So when she learns about the Triangle of Light, she goes on the quest of trying to acquire it before anybody else can, namely Manfred Powell, so that she can get her chance of seeing her father one more time and saying good bye.

In “Charlie's Angels” the loss and/or the knowledge of a future loss is what sets them off on their quest. Eric Knox and Vivian Wood had teamed up to find Charlie and kill him. Even though the Angels had never seen Charlie, he was like a father to them. Besides, the former two had kidnapped Bosley, the girls' friend and “boss,” to use him as bait to find Charlie, so that was a loss they had already experienced. These two losses triggered their going after the bad guys and stop them.

Sidney Bristow, the main character from the television show “Alias,” suffered several losses in the duration of the series: the first one was her fiancé's murder, then came her friend Francie's murder, her friend Will Tippin's having to go to witness protection program, her mother's betrayal, Dixon's wife's murder, and many more. All of these losses led to her trying to find the ones responsible for all of that and either take them in custody or kill them. Moreover, when she finds out that she had a sister, which was in a way also a loss because she had lost the opportunity of sharing her life with her, she sets on a quest to go and find her.

If we take a look at “Catwoman,” for example, her quest differs from the previous three. She was killed by order of Laurel Hedare, the owner of the company she was designing for. After a cat mysteriously revives her, she sets on a quest to try and find who killed her, and take revenge. However, she did not really lose anything because after all she is alive now. They did take her life however, but she came back much stronger than before and in the end she likes it, so she gained more than she lost.

2. The hero generally has a mentor or helper who helps him [or her] on his quest.

Lara Croft requires the help of Mr. Wilson, a friend of the family and archaeologist, so that he can explain to her what the clock that she had found was for. Moreover, she has Bryce, the computer and technological expert, to provide her with gadgets of all kinds to both help her train and to make her quests easier.

The Angels have Bosley who helps them whenever they need him. He does so by communicating then with Charlie, working undercover with them, and basically helping them however he can, like he did for example at the end of the movie when he found the means of transport.

Sidney Bristow counts on Marshall's help, the software experts of the CIA. He is also in charge of inventing state-of-the-art devices that help her in her missions. Moreover, her father, who works with her at the agency, functions as a mentor to her.

Patience Phillips discovers a sort of mentor after she becomes Catwoman. This person is the woman who owns Midnight, the cat that revived and converted Patience. The woman gives her information about what exactly happened to her and what the story behind catwomen really is. After Patience collected all this knowledge she decides how to go on with her new life.

3. The hero must face a set of trials, which allow him [or her] to overcome “evil”.

Lara Croft faces, among other obstacles, stone monkey soldiers, a giant stone goddess, and most of all Manfred Powell who, she learns, had killed her father. After she fights him especially, she overcomes evil, that is to say, she is relieved of that calamity that surrounded her, and moves on triumphant.

Dylan, Natalie and Alex faced a bombing terrorist, men who were hired to kill them, and Knox and Wood whom they had to defeat. They had success in every one of these tasks, and in this way they not only faced but also vanquish the malevolence of their enemies.

Sidney Bristow had to face her fiancé's death, her mother's betrayal, and having to work undercover for an organization the CIA was investigating, among other tasks. Despite of those calamitous experiences, she could work out the situation victoriously.

Catwoman does not seem to undergo any trials. We could say that when she was acting as Patience she had to lie to the man she liked, police officer Tom Lone, not to reveal her other identity, since there was an order issued by the force to catch Catwoman. In the end, he finds out who she is and then understands that she was not guilty of what she had been accused. However, this trial does not seem to be on the same level and the previous three.

4. The hero narrowly escapes death, usually more than once.

Lara escapes from death many times: from the robot at the beginning of the movie, from the men that break into her house to steal the clock, from the stone creatures in Cambodia, and from Manfred Powell.

The Angels evade death from two bombs, a shoot out, many different men that intended to kill them, and of course from Eric Knox and Vivian Wood.

Sidney Bristow is probably the one who faced death the most. She was even once captured by the North Koreans and was about to be executed when someone saved her. Moreover, she faced many shoot-outs, had to dismantle bombs with Marshall's help, engaged in serious physical combat repeatedly, besides the fact that she is constantly working undercover and that alone puts her in considerable danger if she is ever to be caught.

In “Catwoman,” the hero-to-be Patience actually dies before she transforms from the regular woman into Catwoman. After that episode, even though she is under attack in several occasions she does not seem to think she is in any danger, she became fearless so she does not believe she is facing death. However, she does become frightened once at the end of the movie after Laurel Hedare stabs her, but she quickly recovers from it and wins the fight.

5. The hero escapes the “evil villain's” stronghold or destroys him [or her].

When Lara is fighting Manfred Powell, the evil villain, she ends up killing him.

All of the Angels escape the attacks of the villains, included the attacks by the main villain, Knox, who dies due to the Angels' intelligence and expertise.

Sidney Bristow, even though sometimes she is kept hostage or caught by the villains, always ends up being rescued or escapes by her own means. Furthermore, she sometimes also destroys the villains, like she did with Lauren, one of the most evil villains in the show.

Catwoman fights the movie's evil villain Laurel Hedare at the end of the movie, which concludes with the latter's accidental death.

6. The hero is then reintegrated into society with a new status, wealth, or marriage to the princess.

This point, even though it seems more to apply to a medieval novel, may apply on these movies as well if we take the basic meaning of the line, which is that after the hero has finished his or her quest there is a change or a reward for them.

In the case of Lara Croft, after she undergoes her quest and returns home, she seems happier and satisfied. So much so that she decides to put on a dress to visit her father's grave, like a sort of homage to him since she had flatly refused to wear that same dress before when Hillary the buttler offered - which, judging by the way she answered him when he did, it made us believe that she always refuses because that is not her style.

The Angels, after escaping death, rescuing Bosley and saving Charlie seem to be more appreciated by him and they are given well deserved vacations, therefore enjoying some kind of new status.

As for Sidney Bristow, one of her many quests, one of the most significant ones for her, was to save her love interest Michael Vaughn from his wife's clutches, Lauren, who was a traitor. She pretended to be a CIA agent when she actually worked for a criminal organization. She married Vaughn to obtain extra information from the agency that was of great importance for the organization she worked for. When Sidney finally defeats her and saves Vaughn, she gains him back (they used to be a couple) and starts a new chapter in her life as regards her relationship with him.

In “Catwoman,” after Patience dies and is revived she returns to society with a completely new status: as a catwoman.

7. There has to be a happy ending.

In “Tomb Raider,” Lara achieves her goal of seeing her father one more time and she also destroys the man who killed him, to then return to her normal life.

In “Charlie's Angels,” the girls save Charlie and they go on well-deserved vacations.

In “Alias” Sydney and Vaughn live happily ever after.

In “Catwoman,” Patience takes revenge on the woman who tried to kill her, and her reputation is cleared. She decides to go on saving other people who may need her help, although by doing so she leaves her boyfriend because she prefers to focus on saving other people. That ending is not so happy for him.

As we can see, “Catwoman” did not fulfill all of these rules established by Wittmier, and incidentally it is the one of the movies that did not receive a good acceptance neither by the critics nor the audience. Wittmier adds that “heroes must strictly follow the pattern of hero archetype in order to receive acceptance. Any deviation from this pattern leads to undermining the character's familiarity and acceptability.” This is exactly what happened to “Catwoman:” since the main character did not follow the archetype she was not accepted too well.

However, this list is not the only one that has been created or researchers have come up with; Christina Larson presented her own list in her article “Seven Mistakes Superheroines Make: Why the Latest Action-babe Flicks Flopped.” According to her, every female action hero that has broken at least one of the rules she mentions has failed to receive a positive reception by the audience. Those rules are:

• Do fight demons. Don't fight only inner demons.
• Do play well with others. Don't shun human society.
• Do exhibit self-control. Don't exhibit mental disorders.
• Do wear trendy clothes. Don't wear fetish clothes.
• Do embrace girl power. Don't cling to man hatred.
• Do help hapless men. Don't try to kill your boyfriend.
• Do toss off witty remarks. Don't look perpetually sullen.

Let us analyze two of the movies featuring female action heroes that have failed to be accepted by the majority of society, and check if what Larson claims is true. In “Catwoman,” Patience Phillips ends up shunning human society when she decides to leave all of her life behind, including her boyfriend, to save people in danger. Moreover, she does wear fetish clothes. “Elektra” also wears fetish clothes, she does exhibit mental disorders and is sullen rather than witty. Moreover, she seems to struggle too much with her inner demons, and at least at the beginning she did shun human society. We do not see any of these rules broken neither in “Tomb Raider” nor in “Charlie's Angels,” or even in “Alias,” even when Alex from “Charlie's Angels” and Sidney from “Alias” have been shown wearing fetish clothes, but that was only as a cover in a mission, not because that is what they had chosen to wear emblematically. We can conclude, then, that Larson was indeed right: if a female action hero breaks any of the rules mentioned above, the audience, that is to say society, will not accept them or the movie or television show will flop.

Moreover, there is also a key to a good action movie, as Stephanie Mencimer states in her article “Violent Femmes.” She assures that there should be “an inverse relationship between the amount of special effects and the amount of dialogue. Talk too much and the heroine loses her mystique and starts to remind men of their ex-wives.” Here lies another mistake that “Catwoman” made. Patience talks too much in comparison to Lara Croft or Charlie's Angels. In addition, the movie puts a lot of emphasis on the sentimental relationship between Patience and Tom Lone, and also on what happens within Patience herself as she undergoes and tries to cope with the changes that turned her into Catwoman.After including this entire dilemma there is not a lot of action in the movie, not as much as in other action movies which have been successful.

Time: One hour 21 minutes

Rating: Kids say --- MUST OWN!

Major Players: Sid voiced by John Leguizamo

Manny voiced by: Ray Romano

Diego voiced by: Denis Leary

The world is frozen all around and chaos rains supreme. This amazingly funny movie will keep you riveted for the duration, wondering just what might happen next. Twists and turns leave you wondering what you know to be true and what you just thought was true, in a world where animals talk and humans don't.

Sid, the adorably lazy sloth, finds himself endangered by a case of bad timing. While running away from his pursuers, he meets Manny. Manny, an extremely large woolly mammoth, prevents Sid from meeting his end and begrudgingly receives the sloth's constant companionship as a reward. While they wander, the pair comes across a woman holding a baby in the freezing waters. The woman slowly makes her way to shore and deposits the baby at Manny's feet. While Manny and Sid marvel at the tiny bundle, the mother slips away into the icy water never to be seen again.

The movie continues to document the travels of this pair as they make their way to return the baby to his herd, along with Diego, a saber-tooth tiger that enters the scene seeking the baby for his own nefarious purposes.

The three join forces to form the strangest herd ever seen while attempting to return the human baby to his family. The plot includes plans made by Diego to sacrifice his newly found “friends” to his tiger herd, as the herd leader wants the baby as revenge for damage done to the tigers by the human tribe. Viewers will wonder what will happen next as they sit on the edge of their seat waiting with rapt attention. With so much excitement and adventure, even the adults will enjoy watching this movie, which is good because this movie will be watched - over and over and over and over....

Parent's Note: This movie contains some minor cartoon violence and romantic innuendos.

Stark's thinking about weaponry changed while in East Asia showing Stark Industries military equipment, he and the group were attacked, he was struck by exploding shrapnel and captured by a warlord name Wong Chu and forced to build weapons. He, and Ho Yinsen, a famed physicist, who was also captured worked to build an arc reactor that protected his heart and worked with a suit of armor that he built to escape.

Stark's creation of the arc reactor let him see that Stark Industries could do so much more than just build weapons. If the arc could save him from dying, it could be used in other ways to help people.

Stark built many suits. He used them to fight against people who bought the weapons originally sold by Obadiah Stane, CEO of Stark International. Stark did not want to see Stark Industries weapons in enemy hands. The people called him Ironman, and he let everyone know he was Ironman without hesitation.

Stark is constantly updating his suits with the new designs and weaponry he creates. He continued his fight to battle defending the earth.

“Wanted” is the story of Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), a nobody whose life is going nowhere. His dad walked out on him when he was only a week old. He's stuck in a dead-end office job where he's constantly abused by his boss. His girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend, at the same time constantly ripping on him about everything. His life sucks, he knows it, yet he does nothing about it but constantly apologize and take medication for what he thinks are anxiety attacks.

All that changes when he meets Fox (Angelina Jolie), who by chance rescues him from a mysterious man who tries to gun him down. She then brings him to Sloan (Morgan Freeman), the leader of the Fraternity, a clandestine group of assassins whose mission it is to carry out select killings, determined by fate via a mysterious fabric loom, in order to maintain balance in the world. Wesley's absent father, who he learns had recently been killed, had been a member of this group, and Wesley himself has inherited the lightning-quick reflexes and skills with weapons that his father and the rest of the group possesses. Taking a chance at a new, more exciting life, Wesley undergoes the brutal training to become a Fraternity assassin so he go after Cross, the renegade who betrayed the group and killed his father. But the deeper Wesley gets and closer he gets to Cross, he begins to learn that things are, of course, not as what they appear to be.

“Wanted” is truly a guy's movie, full of intense action, insane violence with lots of gunplay, and a fountain of foul language. There's lots of CGI-enhanced action sequences, with the characters pulling off all sorts of stunts with cars and doing things with guns, like making a bullet actually curve around an obstacle to hit a target simply by the way the gun is whipped while firing, that are of course impossible to do in real life. At least “The Matrix” had the excuse of being set in a computer-generated virtual reality where such action made sense, as opposed to the “real world” of “Wanted”. Yes, it's completely and totally unrealistic as an action movie goes, but that's what makes it a completely enjoyable movie to watch and thus escape reality. Plus it's funny as hell to see Wesley smash someone in the face with a computer keyboard and see the keys flying out spell “Fuck You”.

What probably makes this movie enjoyable for a lot of folks is the character of Wesley, particularly at the beginning of the film before he's recruited into the Fraternity. We've seen this type of character before, in films like “Fight Club” (probably the best comparison) and in a lot of comic books like “Spider-Man”, who start out as losers and then evolve into stronger characters through chance. Countless anime have used this type of character as the main protagonist, the most notable being Shinji from “Evangelion”. Wesley is even a lot like Shinji at first, with his constantly saying “sorry” and letting folks walk all over him before his life change. What makes this kind of character so enjoyable, no matter how annoying he seems at first? Because of a lot of us can relate to this character and wish we could go through the transformation Wesley does from meaningless office drone to super-assassin. After all, who doesn't want to be a bad-ass?

Probably the best part of the film is watching Wesley's training to becoming a Fraternity assassin. It is rather brutal and intense to watch, as he's constantly getting beat up with actual fists while tied to a chair to become desensitized to pain or cut up with knives during close combat training, only to be healed in the group's special nutrient bath and go through it all over again. We've seen countless martial arts films like this where the main character goes through intense training to take on opponents better than he is, and just like those films, Wesley's has a point, as the Fraternity is trying to make him realize who he really is and stop being such a wuss. It truly takes the idea of “hard love” to a new point.

Another thing I enjoyed about the film is the way Wesley's powers are explained, in such a simple yet realistic way. All it is his heart beating at such an accelerated rate that his body becomes pumped with so much adrenaline that time seems to slow, boosting his strength and reflexes to allow him to perform the amazing stunts he pulls. All the members of the Fraternity possess this same power, so Wesley is not really that special. But seeing it in action is still rather cool to watch, especially when the bullets start flying.

Admittedly, there are some things in the film that are rather predictable, as they usually are in action films. The best example of this is Fox telling Wesley the point of the Fraternity's mission via a story of a little girl who was forced to watch her judge father killed by a hitman. It's pretty obvious where the point of the story is going and who Fox is really talking about, but it's still rather touching and in its own way and manages to do its job of getting Wesley to do what he's supposed to be doing. And as for the other predictable things that happen, like a Fraternity assassin realizing he's being set up at the beginning of the movie, they may be predictable to figure out, but you can't help but enjoy watching the scene play out.

A lot of folks, especially the more die-hard comic books fans, are no doubt already irked by the major change to the original story, replacing the supervillains with assassins. It sounds like something Hollywood would have done years ago before getting serious about doing comic book-based movies. But as I mentioned, it does seem to work in the film's favor, bringing a more “real world” edge to the film. Even the series' original writer and creator Mark Millar admits he doesn't mind the change, as he had planned to remove the costumes the characters wore in the comic but it didn't work out that way. And when you think about it, why have supervillains running around in costume when there are no heroes to fight? Fortunately, some comic book-type elements still remain, such as the superpowers and action carried out, as well as the nutrient healing bath and the loom that gives the Fraternity its orders. Not to mention the code-names used by the various members, such as Fox, Repairman, Butcher and Exterminator. This aspect of the film version, I think, will be an iffy subject, but still seems to work in my opinion.

Does “Wanted” seem like another pointless action movie? To some, certainly, but to those who enjoy a good story with plenty of incredible violence (yeah, I'm talking to the majority of the male population), this is a great watch. And given all that action and violence, this is one you have to watch in the theater where it can be truly enjoyed on the big screen.

Released by: Universal Pictures

Starring: James McAvoy (Wesley Gibson), Angelina Jolie (Fox), Morgan Freeman (Sloan), Common (Gunsmith), Thomas Kretschmann (Cross)

Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov

Rating: R

Score: 8 out of 10

Now, I guess you have to be a bit of a geek to truly love super heroes. I fall into that category and do so rather proudly. When I was a youngster, I fell in love with super heroes very early on. I blame the children's television show on PBS called “The Electric Company.” They had a segment on that show where Spider-man was featured.

This was not the Spider-man from the comic books. Well, OK, not to confuse things, but it was him, but the stories were not the same. He was not battling the Green Goblin who was busy throwing Peter Parker's girlfriend off of bridges and killing her. No, on the “Electric Company” this Spider-man would go up against an abominable snowman who was stealing ice cream cones. However, Spidey would inevitably be called in and would pin the villain against the wall with his webbing. This Spidey seemed to walk everywhere, without the customary swinging from the rooftops with his webs. When he shot his webs at the bad guys they made very cool sounds that I would imitate when I pretended to be Spider-man.

The thing was, it was live action and everyone in the skits would speak except for Spidey. When he spoke, word balloons would pop up over his head. This was to teach kids how to ready, you see, not to just provide them with a Spider-man interlude. So, I would say I started to learn how to read thanks to super heroes, so right there it's pretty cool to like them

To love super heroes you really have to have spent time as a geek or a nerd. I have friends who were crazily popular, and are still crazily popular, and they just don't seem to get the super hero thing either. For me, I love all of the movies and the television shows. I watch “Smallville” and I loved “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” too. My friends cannot fathom how I can claim “Buffy” was one of the best written shows on television and keep a straight face. They just don't understand.

I was the kid who started to get fat when he was in the fourth grade. In fact, fourth grade was the time when the universe and fate decided to play most of its practical jokes on my life. Not only did I start gaining weight (for reasons never adequately explained, in my opinion) but I also started becoming near-sighted. So, yes, fourth grade was the first year I had to wear glasses. Yes, life and the universe was telling me, “buckle up for puberty kid, this is gonna be bumpy.”

I turned to comic books toward the end of junior high and then into high school. As you might imagine, as the word “teen” was added to the end of my age, things got worse for me. When you spend the entire day in seventh or eighth grade being punched repeatedly in the arm by kids bigger and stronger and with more knowledge of how to fight than you, you kind of wish you had some kind of super power to fight back. Only then can you appreciate how cool it would be to have claws, unbreakable claws no less, pop out of your hands. Only then can you appreciate how cool it would be to have superhuman strength so that a single push could send your attacker flying across the room. Imagine how cool it would be to get an angry look on your face, have your eyeballs turn greenish and then turn into a giant lumbering, impossibly strong Hulk! No one would mess with you then because no one would “like you when you were angry.”

So, it brings me back to those happier times that I spent between the pages of the comic books I loved now that they are all becoming movies. For a very long time Marvel was way behind in the comic book movie race. DC had Superman and then they started putting out the Batman movies. Finally, after years of financial issues and other wrangling, Marvel started putting out the movies. I have been there for almost all of them.

I even liked “Daredevil!” I still have it in my DVD collection. I was a huge fan of the comic book (if you can read Frank Miller's Elektra storyline and not feel something, you are clinically dead) and I was anxious about the movie. When I saw it, I thought they did a pretty damn good job. I feel that movie fell into some kind of anti-Ben Affleck vortex and that wasn't really fair for the movie.

I loved the first to “Spider-man” movies but agree the third did not work. I loved “Batman Begins” because I think it was done in a way that was different and even attempted to add some kind of shot of realism into a story that, really, when you stop to think about it, is pretty ridiculous. I don't know anyone who can dismiss that movie just because it was the fifth one in the last few decades as mentioned in the Entertainment Weekly article. Anyone who can see the preview of “The Dark Knight” and not get excited about seeing Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is too dense for real human thought in my opinion. I think it looks like a career-making role and it makes his sudden death all the more sad. No more gay cowboys for this actor after this role. I can't wait.

They have made another Hulk movie. I have to admit, I kind of liked the first one, although I still don't really understand what happened at the end of that movie. This one looks like it's mostly action and the Hulk fighting the Abomination and, you have to admit, that does seem a bit cooler than the angst-ridden, heavily dramatic version Ang Lee (he of the gay cowboy movie mentioned above) came up with.

I loved the “Iron Man” movie and I was not a fan of the comic book character. Robert Downy Jr. was brilliant. The movie had me from the first frame and carried me right through. It made me more of a fan of Iron Man than I was when I collected comics.

I liked the last “Superman” movie. I enjoyed “The Punisher.” The only thing that doesn't work are the comic book comedies. “Mystery Men” and “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” and “Super Hero Movie” juts didn't work. We geeks take our comic book super heroes seriously. Therefore, I am not predicting great things for the Will Smith super hero comedy “Hancock” due out later this year.

For me, these are the characters I loved as a kid. These are the movies I dreamed about back then. These are the movies I have been wanting. You can keep your “Armageddons” and your “Independence Days.” Give me some dude hanging on the side of a building battling some other goofy guy in a costume.

Back to the movie. It picks up the storyline from when the hulk (or should I say Bruce played by Norton) has been in hiding in the remote slums of Brazil and works in a soft drink factory. He’s basically staying out of trouble while hoping to find a cure for his ‘disease’. A convenient turn of events where by an injury in the factory causes his blood to fall into a bottle which makes it’s way to the great US of A, leads his enemies to his whereabouts. From that point on, it’s a cat and mouse game between the army led by General Ross (William Hurt) and the Hulk. Ross has made capturing the Hulk the sole intention of his life after the Hulk ended up nearly killing him and his daughter, Betty Ross during the first transmogrification of Bruce Banner. Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) is also Bruce’s love interest and that story line is neatly interwoven into the plot. A menacing Tim Roth who plays the role of Emil Blonsky is the character who goes onto challenge the hulk physically. Blonsky is an ageing war veteran who is beginning to feel the weight of his age. His passion and love for combat and service leads him to inject himself with a chemical that the Army was secretly working on to enhance the strength of soldiers.Unfortunatley, since it is still in an experimental state, it reacts badly in Blonsky’s body and he is transformed into a havoc creating gargoyle. The movie ends with an epic battle between the two freaks with the good guy obviously winning. Remember to watch the movie till the end because there is a very nice clue given as to what to expect in the sequel.

Plus Points

Location: From the Slums of Rio, The waterfalls of Mexico to the United States traffic. The locations are outstanding. The chase in Brazil was beautifully shot and is spectacular to watch on the big screen.

Edward Norton: The actor plays the brooding Bruce Banner to perfection. He looks very believable as a fugitive on the run blessed with powers he does not want any more and is desperately trying to get rid off.

The Humor: There are some pretty humorous one liners that fit perfectly into the scenes and the moments.

Special Effects: One word…awesome!!!…If possible don’t watch this on DVD. try to catch the flick in a cinema hall.

Downers

Just two

Tim Roth: I personally think an actor of his caliber was wasted in this role. Remember this is Mr.Orange of Reservoir Dogs. He’s obviously done his best but that role does not do justice to him.

Storyline: The thing I liked about the Spidey and Batman flicks was that the confusion and doubt that the heroes had been very well portrayed. It seems like in the Hulk, the characterization has been a tad bit overlooked. Bruce Banner stays quite most of the time so you never get to hear what’s going on his head. Also, he never gets hurt. I know that’s a bad thing to say but we all like flicks in which the heroes take a beating and reprise in a glorious subsequent battle, don’t we?. Hulk wins everything.

All in all it’s a very good flick and worth watching.

Rating: 7.5/10

For the new “Hulk” movie, Marvel practically started over from scratch with a whole new director (Louis Leterrier) and a completely new cast (Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt and newcomers Tim Roth and Ty Burrell). At first glance, it seems like a sequel, starting out with a flashback-style montage of images showing how Bruce Banner became the Hulk. It also picks up with Banner hiding in South America, where the last film ended, on the run from the U.S. Army and trying to rid himself of the monster inside him. However, the origin story is more simplified and completely different from what was done in the Ang Lee movie, proving this is different movie that pretty much stands alone from its less-worthy predecessor.

The main part of the film starts out with main character Bruce Banner (Edward Norton, who also wrote an uncredited draft of credited screenwriter Zak Penn's script) in Brazil, a fugitive from the government and General “Thunderbolt” Ross (Hurt) and looking both for ways to keep his anger under control so his transformation into the Hulk isn't triggered and for a cure to his affliction. Eventually, he is found and tracked by Ross and a special forces team led by aging soldier Emil Blonsky (Roth), forcing him to return to America and seek help from former love Betty Ross (Tyler). Meanwhile, Blonsky, determined to take down the Hulk, takes up an offer from Ross to get a special chemical edge that eventually leads to the creation of an even worse monster and force Banner to make use of the one inside him.

I could on and on about why “Incredible Hulk” is a great film, but I'll do my best to keep it simple and not spoil too much. One thing that makes it so great is where the script drew inspiration for the plot. Obviously, there's the comics, in particular more recent ones which showed Banner learning martial arts and meditation techniques to gain self-control over his anger. There's also the whole “Mr. Blue” and “Mr. Green” angle, aliases used by Banner and a colleague over the Internet to share information and find a cure. But probably the best inspiration draw is the popular television series starring the late Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno (both of whom make cameo appearances in film, I won't say where so watch for them, especially where and how they worked Bixby in). The reworked origin story is more akin to the one used in the show, and the film's opening sequence is very similar to the series' opener. There's also the fugitive angle, with Banner on the run, living under aliases and working odd, blue collar-style jobs and running into trouble of the human kind that eventually forces a transformation. There's even other little nuggets throughout the film that those familiar with the TV series will spot easy, such as the name of a certain reporter. It's stuff like this that makes the film all the more fun, especially for comic book fans.

Another thing that makes the movie great is the way Marvel sets it up so that it's connected to other Marvel films, past, present and future. There's references to S.H.I.E.L.D., the spy organization that made its debut appearance in “Iron Man”, and I'm sure everyone by now has heard about Robert Downey, Jr's cameo as Tony Stark. Fans can also spot references both verbal and visual to a certain “super solider” project Ross uses on Blonsky, no doubt leading up to the future “Captain America” film Marvel has planned. This is the first time I've seen comic book-based movies be so connected into their own little universe; DC Comics hasn't even done that aside from little Superman references in the Joel Schumacher “Batman” flicks. It just further proves Marvel's doing something right with their movies and why they'll be coming out with some good ones down the road.

But probably the best thing about the film is the cast. Again, I never saw “Hulk” so I can't compare, but the cast for “Incredible Hulk” is pretty dead on in the same way as “Iron Man” and even “Batman Begins”. Norton, who's done dual-natured characters before in “Primal Fear” and “Fight Club”, truly pulls it off as Bruce Banner, a man who is literally fighting the darkness within him and even brings a bit of nerdiness to the character. Liv Tyler is great as Betty Ross, a woman who knows where her loyalties lie when it comes to the man she loves and her father. As Emil Blonsky, Tim Roth does a good job as a soldier looking for a way to stay in the game, especially against a powerful opponent that causes him to make the choice that he does. The best cast selections, I think, are the ones that most surprised me, since they played characters different from their “type”. William Hurt, who I've always found to be a rather soft-spoken kind of guy, manages to do his own thing in playing “Thunderbolt” Ross, in the comics an old fashioned piss-and-vinegar type of military man, and still manages to show the man's obsession with capturing Banner in his own way. The other is Ty Burrell, who I've seen play “jerk” characters in the “Dawn of the Dead” remake and the short-lived TV series “Out of Practice”, but now pulls off a “nice guy” role as psychiatrist Dr. Leonard Samson in a way that proves his acting chops. He even has a great scene where he really tells off Ross in regards to his pursuit of Banner and what he's doing to capture him, and how full of it Ross' justification of his actions are. Casting is important in a movie, and this one, as mentioned, has one that pulls it off greatly.

Naturally, you can't have a superhero movie and not have some action and fight scenes, and “Incredible Hulk” has plenty. Mostly it's just regular humans versus the Hulk, so naturally it's pretty one-sided until the big guns are brought in. It's not until the big climax, of course, that we get the best fight of the movie, one very in tune with the comics, and if you've seen the trailers you know what it is. But don't expect Hulk just smashing through everything in his path yelling “Hulk Smash!”, as the big guy shows some actual thinking in coming up with ways to come out on top, perhaps proving there some Banner still in him in that state. And while Hulk is obviously CGI in nature, he looks a lot better than the previous incarnation, not as big and more of a darker green, and probably deliberately made to NOT look like Edward Norton. And as for the villain monster at the end... Well, he may not look like his comic book counterpart, but he still looks awesome and freaky, showing the effects crew did some awesome work.

Although I'm not a big “Hulk” fan, I did enjoy this movie and found very little to not like about it. And I'm betting others will as well, especially those who are fans of the comics and/or the now classic TV series. Proof of what can happen when you see what you did wrong with the last movie and have the sense to sorta start from scratch. Another excellent job on Marvel's part, perhaps proof of what's to come down the line.

Released by: Universal Pictures

Starring: Edward Norton (Bruce Banner), Liv Tyler (Betty Ross), William Hurt (General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross), Tim Roth (Emil Blonsky), Ty Burrell (Dr. Leonard Samson)

Directed by: Louis Leterrier

Rating: PG-13

Score: 9 out of 10