4 out of 5 stars
Friday afternoon, I went to see The Incredible Hulk and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I went in with low expectations, but fortunately, I didn’t need to.
Just to get this out of the way, Incredible Hulk is good, but not great. It is not up to the Iron Man/Spider-Man/Batman Begins standard, but it is VERY good and a lot of fun. I wavered between 3.5 or 4 stars. I think it could go either way and I’m not sure at this point how repeat viewings will affect my opinion.
Basically, this flick ignores the Ang Lee Hulk from 5 years ago. This starts with Banner on the run and sets a new path of background facts. None of this is unsettling, as it is presented clearly and the acting helps to support the story. Edward Norton and William Hurt were both outstanding as Banner and Ross, respectively. Liv Tyler was stiff and seemed like a strong breeze might blow her over in many scenes and Tim Roth was fun in many scenes, but seemed out of place as Emil Blonsky whenever in his military dress uniform. He simply doesn’t have the imposing, unyielding stature of a career military man, much less a special forces soldier. I did enjoy his performance more as the film went on though. Tim Blake Nelson shows up in the last third of the movie as a fun character and an interesting twist, but avoid reading about him as it will likely spoil the fun if you’re knowledgeable about the Hulk mythos. All in all, a solid enough cast and it was great to see the Hulk as a hero albeit a misunderstood one.
The pacing is fast enough with regular injections of action to keep the crowd involved, but I wish the final battle had been a bit more ‘epic’. The rumor is that Edward Norton and Marvel clashed (Marvel once again produced this in house) as he had wanted a more thoughtful/brooding film while Marvel wanted a pure action flick. It seems Marvel won out and that is likely a good thing. However, if it all came down to editing, I for one would love to see BOTH versions presented when this makes its way to Blu-ray. That would be quite the treat. Finally, the movie has a number of cameos, nods to the TV show, and multiple hints of what may be to come. Best to keep your eyes peeled and just sit back and enjoy the mayhem the big green guy brings…
Poster courtesy of IMP Awards.
nice review, i should check it out
this new Incredible Hulk is a lot more fun than the first one with Eric Bana; plus Ed Norton does his specialty — the “split personality” role…