Hulk Loses Drama, Gains Action
In Pulse-Pounding Sequel/Reboot
While most people will tell you that The Incredible Hulk is a far superior movie to Ang Lee's version Hulk (2003), I have a horrible secret to tell. I liked the first one. If you read my review of Lee's film, you'll see that I called it a "thought-provoking ... serious story." But that film didn't satisfy my appetite for action and comic book geek detail. It took director Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk to make me see what was missing.
Written by: Zak Penn, based on characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson and Ty Burrell
Rated
(for
sequences of intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images, and brief
suggestive content)Running time: 114 min.
FilmGuru's Rating : 9 out of 10.
This time around Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner, the researcher whose accidental overdose of gamma radiation has turned him into a ticking time bomb known as the Hulk. The story begins similarly to the first films ending, with Bruce in South America looking for a cure to his condition. With the United States Army looking for any trace of him, he is careful to stay off the radar. Still, even his careful attempts to erase his trail won't work forever.
General Ross (William Hurt) needs to get Bruce back into the lab and under a microscope. He is convinced that within Banner's body is the key to an army of Hulks. Ross takes one of his top men, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) and puts him on Banner's recovery.
Little does Blonsky realize, Banner is not some meek scientist who stole military secrets. When the Army corners Banner in a factory, however, Blonsky begins to understand the power they are dealing with. He approaches Ross about leveling the playing field. Soon, he finds himself the subject of an experiment not used since the days of World War II. (Fans of Captain America start geeking out in 3… 2… 1…)
Once Banner is forced out of hiding, our hero decides to return to New York in hopes of finding a cure. Along the way, he discovers that his former girlfriend Dr. Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) has found someone else. Before you can say "Aaarrgggh!" the Army is once again in the picture and the Hulk is smashing everything in sight.
The Hulk here is a sympathetic creature. We see him as we would a wounded animal. When the Army corners him, his howling growl clearly communicates "Leave me alone!" He doesn't want to fight or hurt anyone. He is driven by a primal need to run, something that he shares with Banner.
We also see a mirror of the story Beauty and the Beast, with Betty playing beauty to Hulk's beast. She sees in him not a creature to be hunted and dissected, but the man whom she still loves within the beast. Tyler gives the film a needed love-story element that never resonated in Ang Lee's film.
Even so, it's the action that drives The Incredible Hulk. Whether it is the pulse-pounding transformation of Banner into the Hulk or his inevitable confrontation with Blonky's mutated Abomination, this film delivers some great action sequences. No doubt some will scorn the CGI slug fest as nothing but special effects eye-candy, but I continue to be awed by the advances animators make to produce realistic creatures that reflect human emotion.
In many ways, this is the film that fans wanted the first time around. What Leterrier gives us is a tribute to the Hulk in pop culture, from the comic books to the television series. When Bruce says in broken Portuguese, "Don't make me… hungry. You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry." Those of us old enough to remember the 1978 TV series get the joke, the near miss of Bill Bixby's classic line used during the show's opening. When he finds himself on the run, without money or clothes Banner holds up a pair of purple pants (a nod to early comics) and puts them down. As he walks in the rain, we hear composer Craig Armstrong's interpretation of the "sad, walking away music" immortalized at the end of every episode. ("The Lonely Man" by Joe Harnell.)
Leterrier also includes some welcome cameos by Hulk creator Stan Lee, Lou Ferrigno and the late Bill Bixby. The best cameo, however, comes in the final scene as Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark from Iron Man.
The Incredible Hulk is the second homerun for the Mighty Marvel Bullpen this summer. Leterrier gives fans a sequel/reboot of the Hulk story that is on par with Iron Man, the other Marvel hero hitting big at the box office. With these two films in Marvel's corner, it is easy to see why fans are excited about the prospect of future crossovers and ultimately an Avengers film due by summer 2011.
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