The first Hulk film done by Ang Lee left a lot of the fans with a bad taste in their mouths and absolutely no hope for a long running franchise but Louis Leterrier and Edward Norton prove that you just cannot keep the Jade Giant down. I will warn you ahead of time this review contains a lot of spoilers so read on if you do not mind, otherwise check out the movie first and tell me what you think.
The first Hulk was horrible in almost every way imaginable and ultimately proved that Ang Lee can do chick flicks, but just cannot pull off a superhero movie. The first film had such a slow pace and almost no action. The story was ridiculous and in order to sit through the entire thing you needed at least two bottles of Prozac to stave off the depression that came with watching each agonizing scene but, enough about that.
The newest version, The Incredible Hulk, is a great summertime action movie with a lot of things going for it. The film plays the origin of the character while the opening credits role, and then from there immediately moves into the current story and never looks back. By the way, Edward Norton deserves a lot of credit as he rewrote the original script for this film and it really shows. The Incredible Hulk is a chase movie, for the most part, and plays really well to that effect. The opening of the movie sees our hero, Bruce Banner, played very well by Edward Norton, living in South America after the gamma radiation turns him into the Hulk. He works at a bottling plant and trying to learn various techniques to help him deal with what happened to him almost five years ago. There is also a good deal of head nods to the old 70's Hulk played by Lou Ferrigno.
While Banner is working at the bottling plant he cuts his finger and some of his gamma-irradiated blood ends up in one of the bottles that is sent out. It is then we see General "Thunderbolt" Ross, played by William Hurt who is always a pleasure to watch. One of Ross's soldiers comes in to report about a man in Milwaukee, who happens to be Stan Lee in another of his famous cameos, who suffers gamma radiation poisoning and thus sets Ross on the tail of Banner. Banner is not only learning ways to control what is happening to him, he also is trying to find a cure. Banner is in constant communication with a Mr. Blue who is actually Dr. Samuel Sterns. If you are a fan of the comic then this name should not surprise you as he would later become the villain known as The Leader.
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The rest of film plays pretty straight forward, Ross recruits a soldier by the name of Emil Blonsky, played by Tim Roth who does an outstanding job once again, to lead a team to capture Banner so he can use the Hulk as a weapon. The first time that the Hulk emerges in the bottling factory is a fantastic scene by the way. After this, Banner heads back to get data to help with finding a cure and runs into Betty Ross, played by Liv Tyler who is not fantastic in this film primarily because of some of her lines, but does a good job with what she had to work with. Ross injects Blonsky with the Super Soldier Serum so he has a better shot at the Hulk. The second time the Hulk emerges it is a nonstop action free for all that includes the Hulk doing an elbow drop to completely flatten an HUMVEE with a sonic cannon on the top of it, and kicking Blonsky into a tree from about 300 feet, which crushes every bone in his body but doesn't keep him down for long.
When Banner finally sees Sterns in person and tries to purge himself of the Hulk, he is captured by Blonsky who then asks Sterns to infuse him some of Banner's blood so he can have Hulk power as well. This transforms Blonsky into the Abomination and sends Sterns into his machinery where some of Banner's blood drips on his head causing it to start to swell. The Leader is born. Abomination rampages around New York City when Banner jumps from a helicopter to transform into the Hulk and take on the Abomination in one of the best fight scenes of the summer movies so far.
This film is absolutely spectacular from beginning to end. It is a perfect summer film and does a very good job of keeping its pace never leaving the audience too much time to breath and take everything in. I may be biased, as I am a huge fan of the Hulk, however, this film is engaging and entertaining by any action standard. I can almost guarantee that you will not walk away disappointed by this film. By the way, the last scene of the film is also pretty satisfying if you are a fan of Iron Man or the Avengers. If you a looking for a great piece of action then The Incredible Hulk is the answer.
