This Hulk Smash More

The Incredible Hulk

(PG-13)

originally published June 18, 2008

The Hulk has been through many permutations. He was first grey, then green, then grey again, then green again. (Presently, he, or a version of him, is red.) He’s been smart and dumb. He’s been a Chatty Cathy; other times, he’s as communicative as a bagful of grunts. He’s been a hero, a villain and an anti-hero. He’s been on TV, in videogames and on the big screen. With such a shifting history, why should we be shocked by a sequel-cum-reboot only five years after Ang Lee’s thinking man’s action film? (Lee’s film deserves better than this blatant attempt to whitewash the Jade Giant’s cinematic history. Unlike any other comic book movie, Lee composed his film using panels like an actual comic book.)

Blasting through the Hulk’s origin in the opening credits, The Incredible Hulk gets right to business in Brazil, where Bruce Banner (Edward Norton, who is as good as Robert Downey Jr.) is hiding out while in search of a cure for his affliction. Before long, the military, led by stiff mustache-lipped General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (a disappointingly okay William Hurt), has treed the mild-mannered scientist. Soon, Banner is Bourne again in a rooftop chase that culminates in our first encounter with the new, more realistically green, super-buff, veiny Hulk, who quickly handles Ross’ men, including soon-to-be gamma-mutated villain, Emil Blonsky AKA Abomination (Tim Roth, who is no soldier). Back in the States, Banner goes on the lam with his former flame, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), daughter of the determined general, as they continue to seek that cure. Anyone familiar with comic books or superhero movies will not be surprised by the plot devices and genre tropes used to flesh out the remainder of the movie’s slim, under-two-hour running time.

The Incredible Hulk does improve upon its predecessor, but not by the leaps and bounds one would expect from the proximity of the two films. Hulk (2003) definitively remains the better film, but The Incredible Hulk (2008) is the better Hulk movie. The Green Goliath looks more realistic (relatively), smashes more (and more frequently) and has an opponent - Abomination, worthy of the serious ass-kicking Ol’ Green Genes is capable of dishing out. Nonetheless, Marvel Studios’ second effort looks a little green next to the nearly perfect Iron Man, a superhero film to rival the genre’s masterpiece, Spider-Man 2. But you know what? The three X-Men movies and Spider-Man 1 and 3 look poorly next to Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk is easily on par with those solid Marvel movies.

Drew Wheeler