HULK SMASH! (Summer Movie Review part 2)

I just got back from seeing the Incredible Hulk tonight and let me just say as the biggest fan of the Hulk that I know, this was the Hulk movie I’ve been waiting my whole life to see. And now I get to type up a bloated review of it which I hope you’ll read. 🙂

Those of you who know me well, know that I am a huge fan of the Hulk. I have well over 100 Hulk comics and own many of the key rare issues.  But, before you think I’m biased let me say that it wasn’t perfect by any means. But the weaker things about the movie did not detract at all from the overall entertainment value.

The first half of this review will be spoiler FREE so feel free to read and I will let you know when the spoilers come up.

Hulk vs. Hulk

First of all, many people were initially confused because they all thought this new Hulk was a sequel to the less-than-stellar 2003 Ang Lee Hulk.  It is not. It has nothing to do with the previous movie. Which is good in two ways. 1) Those who hated the earlier movie can now wipe it from their memory forever and replace it with the new-and-improved Hulk. 2) Those who liked Ang Lee’s Hulk can take or leave the new one.

I prefer to take both. I know why most people hated the first one and I agree with them for the most part. But, what most people don’t know is that there is a LOT of psychological babble in the comic and many story arcs give more of the “monster” rather than “hero” feel to the Hulk. So, yes I timidly admit that I liked the 2003 Hulk.  I treat the two movies like two different story arcs in the comics. They may have nothing to do with each other, but you can still embrace both as part of the mythos.

Okay, enough about the old, on with the new!

The acting:  Hurt as Ross was above average. He’s a real jerk in the comic so that came across very well in the movie. He also LOOKED like Ross does in the comic. However, Sam Elliot played a better Ross in the first movie. Elliot was born to play Thunderbolt Ross. But, since I”m sure they wanted to distance themselves from the old Hulk, William Hurt proved to be a good second choice.

Tim Roth as Blonsky was the best performance in the whole movie. He made you want to hate him and by the end of the movie you’re glad to see him get the beating he deserved. But, along the way there were some HOLY SMOKES moments that came from him that made the ride well worth it.

Live Tyler as Betty Ross. Eh. She didn’t have much to do other than get mad at her father and help Bruce out. She’s an okay actress, but she was suppose to be this scientist and it simply wasn’t believable. The writers did nothing to make us think she was a scientist except to say that she was. Let’s just say I’m glad this movie was about the Hulk, not the inspiring romance of Bruce and Betty. I must say though, her reaction to seeing the Hulk for the first time? Priceless. And having her act as an accomplice/ally was reminiscent of the Peter David run of the Hulk.

Ed Norton as Bruce. He did pretty good. But, see this is where implementing the nuances of the Hulk comic and TV show did him a favor. Norton can be flat at times when he delivers a line. And he too was hard to depict as a scientist. Mostly because he looks so stupid wearing glasses. And I still have Fight Club and American History X in the back of my mind. Yet, there were so many small things pulled from the TV show and the comics that I ended up believing that was Bruce Banner up on the screen. (Another problem Norton had to contend with is that Banner is just not that interesting- comic or film. No amount of acting can change that.)

The CGI: Just amazing. Only one split second shot looked fake to me and it wasn’t even of the Hulk.  Just keep in mind that it doesn’t matter how good the CGI is, a big green guy walking around in broad daylight will never look real. Just suspend your disbelief and enjoy it for what it’s supposed to be.

Now on to the spoilers- I mean The Plot:

This, not Iron Man, this movie was totally engulfed in the Marvel universe. Iron Man set  it up, but Hulk knocked it out of the park. Weapon Plus was mentioned. The Super Soldier Serum was mentioned. SHIELD was mentioned. Nick Fury was mentioned. “The serum was put on ice.” is a vague reference to Captain America. And then of course the scene at the end of the movie with Tony Stark. “We’re putting a team together?”   “We who?”  ((I wanted finish Stark’s line so bad: “We as in Nick Fury and SHIELD. You’re through Ross. I just came here to make you hand over everything you know about the Super Soldier Serum and the Hulk.”))

Also, there things that were right out of the old TV show AND the comic. Many of you may remember the line “You’re making me angry. You wouldn’t like it when I’m angry,” well that’s in there- sort of. Lou Ferrigno was in the movie in more ways than one. Once as a security guard and you probably didn’t notice, but his voice was used for the hulk. The old gamma radiation machine from the TV show is in there. The THEME SONG FROM THE TV SHOW is in there!! Bill Bixby is even on a television screen in the opening scene in Brazil.

Dr. Sampson is in there, but his part was edited out big time (he played Betty’s love interest before Bruce showed back up). In the comic Sampson is a psychiatrist that helps Bruce figure out what’s wrong with him. He then later experiments on himself and gets a mild Hulk dose, but keeps his mind and looks.

And the Mr. Blue/Mr. Green segment was straight out of Bruce Jones’ run in the comic. Samuel Sterns by the way is known in the comic as the Leader, who ends up being the Hulk’s arch-nemesis. The metrinome is straight out of Jone’s run in the comics, too. The scene where he’s dropped out of the helicopter is very much inspired by the Ultimates.

The fights were exactly what I want out of a hulk movie. He thunderclaps. He does his quake stomp. He uses every single piece of material around him as a weapon. And when he gets a villian on the ground, he pounds the snot out of him. Bad guy gets in his face? Gets a kick to the chest and ends up wrapped around a tree! And what about Blonsky’s scenes pre-Abomination. It makes me want to see Capt. America NOW.

My only complaint about the Hulk was also what I liked about him. He seemed much more vulnerable. This is good because it creates tension (something Superman always has a hard time doing). This is also bad because if this hulk went up against Ang Lee’s Hulk the latter would win hands down. The new Hulk is severely powered-down. He had to climb up the buildings to get to the roof. In the comics Hulk would get there in one leap.

Also, even though the movie made me have some respect for A-bomb (Abomination), I still think he’s one of the Hulk’s worst villians. He’s big, green, and muscular. How original. At least the movie made him look more like Doomsday and less like this:

One last thing: the editing was shotty but no worries, the director plans on adding a whopping 70 minutes to the DVD: director’s version. That is the most I have ever heard of being added to a movie.

And that wraps up my review of the Incredible Hulk.

I give it only an 8.5 out of 10 due to shotty editing and some flat acting. (Just so you know, very few films would get a 10 out of 10 for me and none of them are super hero flicks.)