The Incredible Hulk Review - Written by Freelance the Film Critic

The Incredible Hulk

Director: Louis Leterrier
Cast: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt
MPAA: PG-13

What is the difference between The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk? Nothing. They’re the same thing, silly! What is the difference between The Hulk movie and The Incredible Hulk movie? The same amount of difference between night and day! Ok, I may be jumping the gun here, but follow me on this one…

If you are not familiar with the background on The Incredible Hulk, let me fill you in. The Hulk was created by comic book legends, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962 and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1. We meet our tragic hero, Dr. Robert Bruce Banner who is an accredited physicist who was caught in a test blast for a gamma bomb that he created. From the unfortunate accident, Banner was transformed into the Hulk, a giant ’gray’ mad-raving monster (yes, the original hulk was gray, but was altered in the following issue to green *pushing glasses up at the bridge*). The character as both Banner and the Hulk are in constant pursuit by local authorities and national military forces as per the results of massive destruction throughout towns and cities caused by the Hulk.

Even though the Hulk sometimes does not relate to individuals in the same fashion as Spider-man, the X-men, or the Fantastic Four, he is a highly esteemed character in the Marvel comic book Universe. If you may be thinking to yourself, “Hey I just saw this movie about five years ago.” You are correct, to an extent. But, very, Very, VERY misinformed. In 2003, we were introduced to a summer blockbuster, known as The Hulk, directed by Ang Lee. This film was greeted with the high anticipation that it was going to be phenomenal. Unfortunately, after mixed reviews and dismal ticket sales the film was a mighty failure at the box office. We come to present day, June 13, 2008, and the movie release of The Incredible Hulk. Do not get confused about the title; this film is NOT a sequel, a prequel, or a remake of the first attempt. Think of it as if Hollywood has taken the proverbial pencil eraser and has wiped our minds clean of the 2003 film (a la “Eternal Sunshine…”); none the less it’s called a reboot.

The film begins to explain in a series of flashbacks right from the opening credits. We learn that the scientist, Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) was altered from an experiment conducted by General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross (William Hurt) of the U.S. Army. After the incident with the experiment that caused several casualties, including Banner’s love interest, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler); Bruce goes into seclusion over the next following years. We find Bruce living deep in the heart of Brazil where he attempts to locate a possible antidote for his heavy ailment. While living in a crowded Brazilian city, Bruce is persisted by power hungry warmongers who only seek answers to obtain Bruce’s Hulk form for their benefit. Nearly escaping the clutches of General Ross in South America, Bruce returns to civilization in the U.S. While still seeking a cure, Bruce is now being obstinately pursued by a new frighteningly hulk-sized foe named, The Abomination (Tim Roth). An enormous and epic ’bull in a China shop’ fight persists between the two behemoth sized giants in the middle of Manhattan. To save NYC from total annihilation, Bruce has to gather all of the strength he can to be able to turn his unlikely hero form into an eponymous defender.

Let me start off by saying that I wasn’t overly impressed with the attempt of the 2003 Hulk film. Then to add insult to injury, I’m also not a huge fan of the Hulk comic books, so you might be thinking, “What are you going to say about this film?” In all honesty I actually enjoyed myself watching this film. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was as great as the Iron Man film that came out earlier this summer, but was still well put together. The script, written by Zak Penn, snapped right into play; they didn’t waste half of the film explaining the origins; the five minutes of the opening credits with the elaborated detail is prefect enough for a recap. I really liked the casting for this film; I thought Edward Norton was excellent as Bruce Banner, always very cautious and reluctant of his ailing condition. William Hurt is arrogantly diabolical as Thunderbolt and I enjoyed Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, even though I think she could have been developed a little bit more. Tim Roth’s character worked well as the villain throughout the movie, but I wish I could have had a little bit more explanation on his human character, Emil Blonsky, besides that he is just a soldier that is past-his-prime and he’s looking to take down Hulk.

There’s no way around this concept of the film, but a movie about the Hulk has to include a large amount of CG. How the imagery is used is very crucial. Director Louis Leterrier and his team for art and visual effects couldn’t have done this better. I was really impressed with the use of CGI throughout this film (and usually I can’t stand a lot of CG). Beautiful uses of shade and shadow on Hulk with a delightful use of texture to his face and form. They didn’t just make him this radiating green mammoth. I liked the creative drop-ins and side jokes they reference throughout the film: the sad piano music from the 70’s TV show, Lou Ferrigno as the Security Guard and the voice of Hulk, also poking fun at purple pants. Marvel studios are doing an outstanding job in creating a Marvel comic book movie universe with their focus aimed for the 2011 Avengers film. I can honestly recommend catching this film, it’s fun, it has a great development, and best of all you will not feel so cheated after coming out of this film compared to its 2003 step-brother.

The Freelance rating: ***1/2 out of *****