REVIEW: The Incredible Hulk

I know my reviews tend to get long-winded and unnecessary, so I’ll start of with a very quick summary to get the grunt work out of the way: if you are not a fan of flat-out, larger-than-live, energy-packed action movies, then there’s a good chance you will not dig The Incredible Hulk. If so, then you are in for a treat, because The Incredible Hulk, is awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome. Did I say that enough times? I hope I did, just to drive home the point of how awesome the movie is.

A lot of this film feels like it belongs, which is it’s biggest strength. Even though the intelligent side of your brain is telling you that something’s amiss, the images of a big CGI man stomping the ever-loving crap out of people 1/10th his size make the “entertainment” side of your brain tells the bookworm to fuck off. Sure, this is entertainment, and it’ll probably never make its way into a festival run by Roger Ebert, but seriously, the mark of a good director is to show you something you’ve already seen before and make you not care. If you’ve seen any of the Die Hard films or even Transformers (which I haven’t seen), then you’ve probably seen the bulk of what the Hulk can offer. But it’s so much fun to be in there, being bombarded by the surround sound, soaking up the images and riding this roller-coaster. There are of course times when the film loses its balance on the Tightrope of Believability and threatens to plunge into the Chasm of Absurdity, but director Louis Leterrier keeps you moving forward and never looking back. As for the CGI, I thought it’s a great improvement, and even though it can get obvious at times, the CGI looks like it was pulled straight out of the comic book and it fits within the frame, even though there are a few edges still showing.

The Incredible Hulk is a remake/reboot/sequel to the original Hulk which was made by Ang Lee. Frequent readers or people who know me are aware that I’d rather take a bath in a tub filled with the Scarabs from The Mummy before I would watch Hulk again. It follows Bruce Banner, played surprisingly well by Edward Norton. Note that it’s not a slam against Edward Norton; I think he’s one of the best actors in Hollywood, but I didn’t know if he’d pull of the finer nuances of the Banner character. The film assumes that we at least have some knowledge of the history of the Hulk, but fills in the ignoratti in the audience with style and mastery. I was seriously inspired by that opening sequence. It reminded me a whole lot of Red Dragon, but done without being so obvious. Banner is on the run from the law and trying desperately to contain and eventually cure himself of his green inner pal. To combat him, General “Thunderbolt” Ross hires Russian elite soldier Blonski (Tim Roth) to hunt down the Hulk. Along the way, we’re introduced to Banner’s former love interest and “Thunderbolt”’s daughter Betty Ross (Liv Tyler, beautiful as ever) and a few other side characters that will have fans of the Hulk franchise getting stuck to their seats after the multiple nerdgasms.

In fact, this whole movie could be seen as one big nerdgasm. The opening of the movie draws so much from the old TV show that Kenneth Johnson might want to ask for residuals. Dr. Samuel Sterns and Doc Sampson all appear, as well as real-world creator Stan Lee and actual “Hulk” Lou Ferrigno. Beyond the lip-service being paid to the fans, which all comic book movies have to do, the rest of the film has a 50-50 chance of standing on its own. The action scenes are great, the set design and frame construction can get really beautiful at times, and the film has some real tension. I love the “man on the run” story of Bruce Banner, and I think one thing that they get right in this film, which also alludes to the TV show, is that being The Hulk is not a good thing, similar to someone blacking out and experiencing a homicidal or hallucinatory episode. I also really drew myself to the reconnection of Banner and Ross because it spoke to me and situations I’m going through in my life currently. There is something to this movie. It isn’t all explosions and action. But like an apple or grape, the film tastes very sweet while at the same time being imperceptibly good for you.

Aside from the problems with plot and motivation, where the writer seems to guide things a bit too much at times, the only other gripes I had with the film was that it was so obvious an action film and its apparent lack of theme. I won’t give away any spoilers, but there are a few moments in this movie that are scripted to sneak catchprases or iconic images into a script that might reject them like a transplant patient’s body. Those moments are rare, though, and at times, it’s so cool to hear it that you don’t freaking care. The final problem I had is that I don’t know what this film is about. I like that I can’t feel the plot moving underneath me (too much), but I also can’t spot the themes or ideas behind this movie. There are a bunch of mini-themes, dealing with power, failure, life on the lam, etc. but none of them are developed enough to get into the front part of the picture. I don’t mind this, though, because I’d rather it be good on its own merit and have no theme rather than try to shove a theme down its throat because you think you have to. It doesn’t get into the way, so I don’t miss it too much.

Final Verdict: 4 “I Promised I Wouldn’t Say “Hulk Smash!”s out of 5

There is a lot going on in this film, between General Ross’ history to the King Kong-esque relationship had between Betty Ross and Hulk, that I feel that people will revisit it. It is a popcorn movie, no doubt, and those who don’t like big action sequences will probably dislike The Incredible Hulk for being mindless and loud, and they’re probably right. But the movie is a lot of fun, has some pretty good performances by Norton, Tyler, and Roth, and isn’t too outlandish to make people laugh at the wrong moments.

One last note before I leave: this is not a movie kids should see in theaters. The audio is extremely loud, and there are a few cures words (hence the big PG-13 rating.) That said, I sat in the theater and watched as a 3-4 year old climbed the stairs next to me. Now, I’m all for treating kids with respect and intelligence, but a 3-year-old? One of the reasons why theater attendance is down is because of the loud kids that kick the back of your seat. I never understood it until I saw this movie. Kids can make you do insane things, and I was ready to have a Hulk-out of my own in the middle of the theater because of this adorable little snot-nosed chatterbox behind me that kept asking “Which one is the Incredible Hulk?” and kicking the back of my seat during the action sequences. As comedian Bobby Collins points out, “Kids are great, but sometimes you’ll just wanna fuckin’ punt ‘em.” I rarely do this, but I’ll implore parents and guardians to keep kids under 9 out of The Incredible Hulk. Not just for their sake, but for the sake of everyone else in the room. Take them to see The Happening instead.