The Incredible Hulk 2008 Review

Edward Norton Plays Bruce Banner in Comic Book Movie Remake

Aug 8, 2008

Following hot on the heels of Iron Man, Marvel Studios' re-take on the Incredible Hulk hits the big-screen, looking to right the wrongs of previous attempts

The 2003 release of Ang Lee’s Incredible Hulk, while boasting some impressive sequences, was a disaster.

There were some sound aspects in its conceptual approach but they were taken too far, poorly executed and came at the cost of what everyone would want to see from a Hulk movie (and why oh why did no one tell Mr. Lee just how terribly out-dated those split-screens were during post-production?).

No surprise then, that Marvel wanted to pretend it never happened and to start anew.

The Hulk Meets His Match Against Tim Roth's Abomination

This latest incarnation is loosely based on the 1970s TV Hulk as portrayed by Bill Bixby. The film assumes that, since his transformation, Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) has been on the run from the US government and General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (William Hurt). His case is pleaded to the General by long-time love interest and General’s daughter, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler).

While military scientists continue to try and develop their own form of super-soldier, based on what they know of Banner’s alter-ego, Banner himself is tracked down by the General and found to be hiding in South America.

When Banner is cornered and the Hulk revealed, Major Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) later takes issue with the General on what exactly they had confronted. When told, he personally volunteers to undergo treatment in the super-soldier project so as to one day confront the green giant mano-a-mano, so to speak.

When Blonsky oversteps his mark and is almost killed by the Hulk, he becomes obsessed with pushing his physical development further, and ultimately too far. His own transformation yields the Abomination, a mutated powerhouse that can only be stopped by the Hulk.

The Incredible and Not-So-Credible

Without question we have here a far superior, far truer, depiction of what an Incredible Hulk movie should be all about. The new-look Hulk is awesome, if still ambitious, and the Abomination plotline is better handled than that of the Iron Monger in Iron Man. Still, the film is lacking in several key departments.

The viewer does not feel attached to the unfolding events despite their visual grandeur. There is simply not enough depth to the story or charm to the characters to evoke such a reaction.

The direction by Leterrier is more than adequate, as may be said of the cast. Tim Roth is particularly good until his character is overridden by the urgency of the plot. More may have been expected of the talented and intelligent Edward Norton, whose role felt somewhat limited, despite being the lead.

More ‘hardcore’ fans of the comics may argue that the costliness of special effects still limits the scale of destruction that we can see (whereas twenty or thirty years ago the Hulk would do well do destroy half a science lab, he now destroys military vehicles but still falls far short of toppling buildings).

Also, the fact that a length of chain is ultimately the difference between the Hulk and the Abomination is poorly conceived and disappointing (after all, it’s ‘Hulk Smash!’ not ‘Hulk Choke!’).

In summary, this is a much-improved film (which may well bear up better to a second viewing) and a great platform on which to build the next chapters, of which, you can be sure, there will be many.

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