Incredible Hulk Review

THE INCREDIBLE HULK
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt, Tim Roth, Tim Blake Nelson, Ty Burrell
Directed By: Louis Leterrier
Written By: Zak Penn and Edward Norton
Marvel Studios/Universal Pictures
Rated PG-13

While Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk film probably broke even with worldwide ticket sales and home video revenue included, it certainly didn’t make enough money to justify a production budget of $150 million. Weighing in with a production budget $13 million heavier and a runtime 24 minutes shorter, 2008’s Incredible Hulk is a substantially lighter film than its predecessor. Judged by many to be too cerebral, Ang Lee’s Hulk was a moody big-budget horror drama with a little bit of action thrown-in. The new film is a bit heavier on the action, but lacks enough contrast from the previous film to firmly establish itself in form as the more commercially successful successor that it’s likely to become in fact. This film will do a lot better than Ang Lee’s Hulk at the box office due to the perception that there’s more action in it. There isn’t. It’s just a different drama.

As everyone is more or less familiar with the character’s background, it’s cinematically rushed-through without dialogue during the opening credits as the opening theme moves along the action. The film promptly establishes that Dr. Bruce Banner (in this case, Edward Norton) is looking for a cure to his rather tragic condition in Brazil. He’s working in a soda bottling plant and taking martial arts lessons to curb his anger. When an accident at the plant lands some of his blood in a bottle of soda, a man drinking that soda “in Milwaukee” (who bears a striking resemblance to Stan Lee in a cameo appearance) ends-up with Gamma poisoning, The US military gets word of this, traces the soda to Brazil and the hunt is on for the fugitive Dr. Banner. This sets-up one of the more interesting scenes in the film: a chase through the cluttered streets of Rio de Janeiro. Here we have Banner running away from his pursuers, carefully watching his pulse to keep it low enough that the irradiated epinephrine (or whatever it is) in his system doesn’t take over and turn him into the Hulk. It’s a clever scene, as Norton has played the character with enough emotion leading-in to it that we don’t really want to see him turn into the title character. Throughout the film, we see Norton checking his pulse, ever vigilant to avoid another “incident.” The film ratchets-up the concern about this by periodically showing a tally of how many days it’s been since Banner last became the Hulk. As pale, emaciated and generally unhealthy as Norton looks, there’s a powerful sympathy for him that builds into a really memorable turn in the role of Banner.

It should be noted that the CGI Hulk (put together by special effects outfit Rhythm and Hues) that shows-up in this film looks considerably more realistic than the one ILM created for Ang Lee’s film five years ago. It’s too bad this new Hulk isn’t put in the service of a better film. On the whole, Norton puts in the kind of compelling performance that makes it something of a disappointment whenever the Hulk shows-up. This is a problem for a film that seems to be promoting itself as the action alternative to Ang Lee’s five year-old drama. With the drama being more compelling than the action, Incredible Hulk suffers from feeling too much like an attempt to fine-tune a film that was already pretty good. Here Liv Tyler plays Banner’s love interest Betty, but she doesn’t have the kind of intelligent magnetism Jennifer Connelly had as Betty in Ang Lee’s film. Tyler’s a really good actress, but the script doesn’t give her much to do. Likewise, William Hurt puts in a solid performance as the US army general obsessed with bringing in the Hulk, but the script doesn’t give him the kind of opportunity to perform that Sam Elliott had in the same role five years ago. The addition of Tim Roth as villain is interesting, but the script keeps him from ever becoming the kind of captivating figure Nick Nolte was as main villain in Ang Lee’s film.

If successful, Marvel Studios’ ultimate plan with the Hulk franchise is to fuse it into a larger group of films that cohesively share the same world. There are fine details here and a much-publicized cameo by Robert Downey Jr. that tie this film to Iron Man. And while there isn’t enough here to make it even a thematic sequel to Iron Man, the themes of the two films are similar enough to be promising for future films in the series. It’d be a bit odd if these big-budget action films ended up inadvertently making some sort of sophisticated statement about the military-industrial complex and its effect on the individual . . .

Ryan was born and raised in Milwaukee, but never fully understood how wonderfully cool a city it is until she started working with Vital. Now she's an art scene devotee, and she's loving every minute of it.