hulk smash expectations.

Wow, 3 entries down and two of them focus on the Hulk.

To celebrate Father's Day yesterday, I took my dad to go see "The Incredible Hulk." We were both thoroughly impressed with director Louis Leterrier's interpretation of Marvel's not-so-jolly green giant. Being the total comic book nerd that I am, I geeked out willfully at the numerous easter eggs and in-jokes. My pops enjoyed the special effects, the action and the talents of Liv Tyler as Betty Ross. He also compared General Thunderbolt Ross to J. Jonah Jameson of Spider-Man fame, saying that they were both meglomanical pricks, or something along those lines. There may be some spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution if you haven't seen the film.


You can count me among the few who will admit to enjoying Ang Lee's 2003 "Hulk" film. I didn't mind waiting so long to see the strongest one there is, the origin was done well and once the action kicked in, things were pretty intense. The film had it's problems, it nearly fizzled at it's conclusion with the father/son showdown, but overall it wasn't as god-awful and most made it out to be. The CGI Hulk looked great, as pictured above, and Bana's portrayal of Bruce Banner was solid. Plus, it had an absolutely amazing cast with Sam Elliot as General Ross and Jennifer Connolly as his beautiful daughter and the apple of Bruce Banner's eye. I would have rather seen those folks reprise their roles. William Hurt and Liv Tyler were good but not as effective as their predecesors. Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner this time around and knocks it out of the park. Not to knock on Eric Bana, who did a fine job in the last film, but Norton really embraced the role and it showed.

As ignored as the 2003 film was in this new take, at least they still picked up pretty closely to where Lee's flick ended off. Though this is not really a sequel in the traditional sense of the word, "The Incredible Hulk" only touches on the origin of it's title character and picks up with Banner on the run in Brazil, desperately trying to hold the beast within him at bay.


He fails, obviously, and the Hulk is back and looking better than ever. I think the CGI Hulk looks even better this time around, as technology has only advanced in the 5years since the last film. The plot revolves around Banner running from the U.S. government and General Ross, who is determined to harness whatever is inside of Bruce and use it as a military weapon. Norton does a great job of showing us just how difficult it is for Banner to remain on the run while desperately searching for a way to cure himself of the Hulk. To make matters worse, Thunderbolt uses an experimental super-soldier serum that has been "on ice" since World War II on a Russian born, English bred soldier named Emil Blonsky.

Tim Roth, who just so happens to be one of my favorite actors, nails Blonsky. His character is driven to always improve, no matter what the cost. His determination to be a great soldier eventually turns him into The Abomination. Of course, Blonsky can't become this massive beast all by himself. He ends up gaining the aid of a biologist by the name of Samuel Sterns, who had been trying to help Banner with his Hulk problem. I found all of this to be very cool considering that Sterns eventually becomes one of the Hulk's deadliest foes, The Leader, in the comics. We only see the beginnings of this in the silver screen version "The Incredible Hulk," leaving plenty of room for yet another Hulk flick.


A lot of people complained about how the Abomination looked in the photos and trailers prior to the movie's release. I felt sketchy about it myself, but after watching the movie I must admit being impressed with the new-look monster. His appearance wasn't a huge change and he certainly lived up to his name. And again, the character was built-up incredibly well by Roth which only made the eventual transformation that much more satisfying.

It's a bummer that the end of this movie was more or less shown in the commercials. General Ross drowns his sorrows at a bar when who else but Tony Stark shows up and tells him that "we are putting together a team." As totally amazing as that is, the fact that it was shown all over the advertising for this film took away from the scene's impact. Regardless, this collective Marvel movie-verse is showing tons of potential thusfar as we build towards "The Avengers" movie. I can only hope that we see a group of Avengers trying to stop a rampaging Hulk on the big screen.

Was it as good as Iron Man? I'm not sure it was. But fear not true believers, it was still a smashing good time at the movies.