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Review by David DiMichele

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There’s one scene in the newest version of The Incredible Hulk that sweeps you up to an emotional high point and just drops you, face first, without any regard. It involves a young woman and her lover in a local restaurant. The rain is pouring outside but they are getting served after closing time because they know the owner. The camera moves to woman's point of view as she stares with ecstasy at her lover while she talks excitedly to him. The camera then shifts focus beyond the lover’s head to a set of swinging doors. Another man, the woman’s former lover, comes from the swinging doors of the kitchen without knowing she’s there. The glances that the woman and her former lover exchange are beyond priceless. He leaves again so quickly that she misses the opportunity that she has been yearning for ever since he left. She says to the old owner with tears already seeping down her cheeks: “just tell me what I saw was real.”  He replies with the slightest nod of his head. She exhales deeply, finally reassured hat her former lover has safely returned from wherever he was. At this point we completely forget  that we’re watching a comic book movie about a gigantic green monster.

Scenes like these don’t usually find their way into superhero or action films, but when they do they outshine all the glitz and glamor of CGI, explosions, high-tech hoopla and overwhelming Dolby digital surround sound. Simple scenes with just a quick exchange of glances can send shivers down your spine, tears down your cheek and even make you jump with joy. Please pay strict attention to this scene because this is the one scene you'll want to remember in a dumpster of a movie full of high-octane action sequences that require the highest quality ear plugs.

Marvel Comics now has this casting thing down pat. Starting with the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, it continues with another heavyweight in the acting world  - Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Norton excels with what little screen time he has, as he splits it with the monster Hulk. Without these marquee leading men tied in, their respective movies, although no so much in Downey’s film, would have crumbled to the core.

Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk is really two movies in one. The better half could be called just HULK because of the lack of action scenes and the focusing on more subtle scenarios (such as the scene mentioned above). The star of this half would be the human form of Dr. Bruce Banner, the former lover mentioned above, who makes himself an outcast because of his unique condition: obtaining a power so electrifying that he hates it when it comes upon him, as opposed to his enemies who find his condition profitable.

These early scenes involving Banner living secretly while trying to find a cure for his disorder in the slums of Brazil are the film's highest points as they contain an amazing shot of rundown house upon house upon house in the Brazilian slum and the film’s most entertaining action sequence looks more like Jason Bourne than Incredible Hulk.

It’s here where Banner takes breathing lessons to keep his heart rate from eclipsing 200 and works at a drinks manufacturing company who ship their soda to the United States. After a drop of Banner’s blood is found inside of one of the bottles of soda, the armed forces led by General Ross (William Hurt) and his right hand killing machine Blonsky (a relentless Tim Roth) find out Banner’s whereabouts and the chase doesn’t stop until the film ends.

When the second half of the film begins The Incredible Hulk is the right title. Whenever Banner transforms into the huge green monster, he acts like a foolish drunk, recklessly throwing machinery around and never knowing what he did after it is all over. Whenever this monster is on screen the movie becomes too loud and too cheap.

When I say ’cheap’ I mean it in the way that the Hulk himself is all computer animated. Norton is not embodied at all nor is he decked out in his costume the way Superman, Batman or Iron Man are. Computers portray his every instincts resulting into a lurid and boring performance by a computer. No talking lights up this monster’s lips - that’s if you don’t count grunting and wreaking havoc on the bullets that cause his heart rate to exceed its tipping point. The tipping point for me comes when Tony Stark walks into a bar from a ray of light streaming from beyond the open door to console General Ross. I don’t know whose idea it was to throw this in but as this happened, I was instantly reminded of how good Iron Man was and how average The Incredible Hulk is.

Film Rating: ** out of ****

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Comments (4)

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this move was abosolutly amazing
written by Baurko, June 18, 2008

this move was abosolutly amazing!!!! the acting was great, the fight scenes kept me on the edge of my seat, and the plot was excelent. this movie is definatly worth seeing in the theatre. and my favorite part was definatly the end.....you'll find out why....go see it, you wont be sorry
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written by torasham, June 19, 2008

actually i am not seen this movie yet, but seeing the image, how the CG set is almost real, i can't wait for this movie...

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written by patrick, June 19, 2008

this new Incredible Hulk is a lot more fun than the first one with Eric Bana; as usual Ed Norton has gravitated to a "split personality" role...

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written by Jeremy, June 23, 2008

I wasn't much of a fan of this one either. In order to keep up with the times you almost have to have a CGI Hulk, but something gets lost in the translation. They've tried twice now, and while this one is better, I don't think the Hulk was meant to be on the big screen.

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