Recently I checked out the new Incredible Hulk movie in theaters and I must admit, I was pretty impressed by the film. Right off the bat I will say this is not a sequel to the the Ang Lee Hulk movie which was released a few years back. This is a brand new retelling of the story. So basically a restart. I know some thought the Lee version was decent, but pretty much most didn't like it and thought it was to "emo" and ato wordy for a Hulk movie. Well the good news is that Incredible Hulk actually delivers and is a good adaptation of the Hulk character.
As soon as the opening credits kick in, you know this is a retelling of the story since the entire credits are showing how Bruce Banner became the Hulk and that he is now on the run and that General Ross is now chasing him around the world and that he left his girlfriend in a hospital after the Hulk nearly killed her. Once that little intro is shown, we jump 5 years into the future to see Banner now living in Brazil, working at a bottling plan and trying everything to keep the Hulk from reappearing. The rest of the movie is spent with Banner trying to find the "cure" to get rid of the Hulk as well as avoid being caught by General Ross and his newly formed squad of hired guns that are hunting him down.
Since I don't want to ruin the rest of the story, I will talk about the actors for a second. Pretty much the entire cast in this new film is spot on. The biggest issue people had about casting though with this movie would be Edward Norton as Banner. Eric Bana played Banner in the last Hulk movie and looked more like the comic book version of Banner then Norton does for sure. But to be honest, Norton really pulls it off. Instead of being a wimpy emo scientist with parent issues like in the previous Hulk movie, Norton's Banner is more a Jason Bourne type scientist who actually thinks on his feet, learns karate and is actually pretty bad ass. Like I said, I like this Banner a whole lot more. He is still a little wimpy and is human, but he isn't the total self-loathing pathetic Banner from the previous flick which is good.
The rest of the cast is all very solid all around from Tim Roth as a hired military trained gun who is on the hunt for Banner to Liv Tyler who plays Banner's ex-girlfriend, Betty Ross. Everyone does a great job with Tyler probably being the weakest of the cast but still doing a solid job none the less. And yes, they set the movie up to have sequels due to some of the characters they introduce in this movie.
Now whats a comic book movie without action? Thankfully Incredible Hulk has tons off good action. There are about 3 massive fight scenes in this film with each being a little different. One being Hulk vs some humans in a dark building, one with Hulk vs a mini-army that has tanks, helicopters and even sonic guns,and then the final fight between Hulk and the new bad guy in the streets of New York. All three fights are really cool cause they aren't all the same and they are all how Hulk fights should be. So seeing this in theaters is really worth it since any good sound system will make these fights even more bad ass. Also of note is the CG in the movie is really spot on as well. I was afraid during most of the Hulk action scenes, the Hulk would look a little unrealistic or campy. But my hats off to the company behind the CG for the movie cause all the action and especially the Hulk flowed very well with the rest of the movie.
Overall, I give this movie a 8/10. Its not as good as Iron Man was of course, but its still really up there and definitely worth checking out for any comic book fan out there. So far Marvel is two for two with their new movies now and we still got another four more coming out in the next 3 years. And yes, Tony Stark does show up in here and I really wished they would of waited till after the credits to show him. Still, its cool to see Marvel setting up the Marvel universe in these films and actually connecting them all. I just really hope they can keep Norton on as Banner cause the guy does a great job.
-P. Knight
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