REVIEW: The Incredible Hulk

STARRING: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 06/13/2008 DATE SCREENED: 06/09/2008 The Verdict GREAT - See it opening weekend

Marvel Studios set the bar extremely high with Iron Man. The film is a hit with fans and critics alike, and has made $538,741,611 worldwide as I write this review. The idea of Marvel Comics making the movies of their own comics, as opposed to selling the movie rights to another company, seemed to be a stroke of genius. Expectations suddenly skyrocketed for the upcoming 2nd release from Marvel Studios, The Incredible Hulk. Marvel had bought back the movie rights after the disappointing results of the Hulk that was directed by Ang Lee, and made $245 million worldwide. It wasn’t a bust, but still didn’t deliver the money that was expected, and fans all over cursed Ang Lee for the changes he made to the Hulk’s origin, and the art house style of the picture as a whole. I personally thought the action sequences were phenomenal and made up for the boring family drama in the movie. Marvel promised a more true to the comics and TV show adaptation, and after seeing Iron Man I had no doubt that was what I was going to get.

The Incredible Hulk starts off with flashbacks of the Hulk’s origin. We get just the basics of his origin, with the rest of the crap from the previous movie thrown out. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) is experimenting on himself and accidentally exposed to high doses of green gamma radiation, right in front of the love of his life Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). This causes the transformation into the Incredible Hulk, which the military, led by Betty’s father General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (William Hurt), unsuccessfully tries to capture. The film then picks up basically where the last film left off. Bruce is in hiding, in Brazil, learning martial arts and relaxation techniques that will supposedly prevent him from becoming the Hulk even in the most stressful situations. Bruce works at a bottling plant by day, while working to find a cure for his condition. He is assisted by an Internet friend known only by his handle as “Mr. Blue”. When a drop of Bruce’s Blood winds up accidentally making its way into a bottle of juice shipped to the U.S., General Ross is soon in Brazil with a military contingent, led by Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth). The military soldiers have no idea what they are getting in to. Bruce transforms into Hulk, kicks some military butt, and is gone again. Bruce and Mr. Blue need data, so Bruce must go back to the U.S. and attempt to steal data from a military computer. He is reunited with Betty, who it turns out has a copy of the data he needs. Meanwhile, Blonsky is willing to risk his life being injected with experimental drugs to make himself into a Super Soldier, so that he can be the one to take down Hulk. The experiment works and Blonsky gets his 2nd chance at capturing the Hulk, but he is still not even close to the Hulk’s match. Bruce and Betty take the computer data to Mr. Blue, who turns out to be a scientist in NYC named Samuel Sterns. Sterns has been cloning the blood sample Bruce had once sent to him, and making various concoctions based on it. The military crashes the party once again, and Bruce is tranquilized and captured before he can turn into the Hulk. Blonsky desperately wants his Round 3 with Hulk, and forces Sterns to inject him with his concoctions based on Bruce’s Blood. This causes Blonsky to transform into a hulk like creature called Abomination, who then goes on a rampage through Harlem. General Ross is forced to release Bruce, so that the Hulk can engage in a final showdown with Abomination.

The Incredible Hulk is more than just a movie about the Hulk. It is brilliantly written to not just set up the Hulk sequels, but set up what I’ll call the Marvel Movie Universe. Upcoming Marvel movies include, Iron Man 2, Thor, Sub Mariner, Captain America, and The Avengers. Hulk includes references and characters that only the serious comic fans will realize are references to some of these upcoming movies. The obvious appearance by Robert Downy Jr. makes the tie-in to Iron Man obvious to everyone. It seems as if all the Marvel Studio owned heroes will eventually appear in the same Avengers movie in 2011. That would have been impossible if Marvel had continued to sell away the movie rights to their characters. For fans of the Hulk, there are characters that we know will later become villains in subsequent Hulk sequels.

For the average moviegoer, you don’t need to know anything about the comics. The movie still stands on its own as a great summer action film. The special effects are better this time around, and with the martial arts training Bruce learned in Brazil, the Hulk knows how to kick ass more so than the last time. The love story between Bruce and Betty seems to be just enough to keep the ladies happy and show that the Hulk is not just a mindless monster, without becoming boring. There are even a couple of cameos to make the fans of the TV show smile. I was on the edge of my seat as the Hulk and Abomination ran towards each other right in front of the Apollo Theater, and the fight did not disappoint. They beat each other down, up and down the street, smashing everything in their path. In the end, Bruce is forced to recognize that maybe he doesn’t want to be cured of becoming the Hulk, but learn how to control it.

I couldn’t be more excited about the movies in the pipeline for Marvel Studios. As a big comic fan in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, Iron Man and Incredible Hulk are the kind of movies I’ve dreamed of. Although I love the Spiderman movies, Spiderman 3 totally botched the appearance of his #1 villain Venom. Although I enjoyed X-Men 3, they total botched the appearance of Phoenix. These are the kind of blatant and stupid mistakes that Marvel Studios will not make. The comic book storylines are proven, and following them as close as possible is always best. Movie studios always eventually think they can write better stories, or create a better villain, when they can’t. Incredible Hulk has a lot of competition at the box office, but I hope anyone reading this will rush out and see it opening weekend.