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The Hulk is back and he's credible: A review of "The Incredible Hulk"

2008-06-17 10:45:42

"The Incredible Hulk" Movie Review. 7/10.
By Todd Murphy. ALL ABOUT MOVIES.NET.

BOTTOM LINE: It's a good, solid, comic book, action film that delivers on the thrills of the famous big green angry giant, but it's too fast, noisy and shallow; more time spent on story, pacing and character would have made this as good as its Marvel counterpart, Iron Man.

THE GOOD: Most of us should be familiar with the character of "Hulk" from the old television series, and this film harkens back to the spirit of that era, but most importantly to the original comics. Ang Lee's character driven version of Hulk didn't deliver the action that this film does, and it's spectacular, particularly in the climax when Hulk is fighting against the nasty Abomination. The CG rendering of Hulk is flawless, with some great expressions in his face, and he is truly incredible with the strength, agility and movement that are displayed in numerous sequences throughout the film. Edward Norton fits amicably in to the role of Bruce Banner, the everyman on the run from the US Army who want his power to develop the ultimate weapon. Liv Tyler is also good as love interest Dr Elizabeth Ross. This film moves very quickly, following the chase-movie template with Banner trying to outrun General Ross (William Hurt) and his army so that he can find a cure for his 'green' condition. And stealing the show is a cameo by Iron Man Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) in the final scene of the film which is clearly designed to open up a new realm of possible sequel spin-offs.

THE BAD: It's clear that the filmmakers wanted to go in the opposite direction to Ang Lee's 2003 version of Hulk, but this is not to the film's advantage as they go too far, solely delivering an action spectacular without much depth. The opening sequences which introduce us to Bruce Banner don't really give us a window in to the plight of his character being on the run; a shame really as Edward Norton's acting talents are for the most part never utilised because all he's doing is either running away from bad guys or having the "I miss Elizabeth" look on his face. Without that setup, the rest of the film falls flat from a character perspective. William Hurt is miscast in the role of General Ross; the character looked to demand a toughness which was missing from his performance. The creation of the Abomination, although great for the dramatics because he's a nasty piece of work that Hulk has to fight, is ultimately a sloppy sequence, put together in a very arbitrary, 2-dimensional way. The character of "Mr Blue" who first tries to help Hulk, but then ends up creating the Abomination willingly, is ludicrous, just like the portrayal of his character. All of this comes together to make a film that is an action spectacular that lacks character, and it's only really our knowledge of the Hulk character and what he's fighting against that make the journey worthwhile.

For the original review, click HERE.