The Incredible Hulk

Because “The Serviceable Hulk” sounded a little negative

2008

Review: June 20, 2008

Director: Louis Leterrier

Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt, Tim Roth

Sure, why not? They’re only brain cells, and you’ve got tons of them already.

THE SETUP:

Hulk get chased. Hulk smash! Hulk feel ennui. Hulk become good guy!

DISCUSSION:

I sort of liked Ang Lee’s Hulk, and am eager to watch it again, but I don’t consider it the lost Bergman film that others are now making it out to be. So we begin with a credits sequence that revamps the whole origin story about Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk, then take up in the Rio slums [which I didn’t realize were QUITE so huge], where he hides out, trying to control his anger and working at this bottling factory where Fizzy Bubbleh is made. He has a little guru with which he does his anti-Hulk-Smash therapy by learning belly dancing and getting slapped, and seems to have a burgeoning romance [that goes NOWHERE] with this Brazilian Katie Holmes. It occurred to me that it might actually BE Katie Holmes, who has gone into hiding, too.

Anyway, one day Bruce gets cut and a drop of Banner blood gets into the Fizzy Bubbeleh, whereupon it gets shipped to the states, where it is consumed by Stan Lee. He has a little attack, and this alerts General Ross, played by William Hurt with a stache and cigar. He’s better than I thought, but he is pointedly NOT Sam Elliott. He sends in his forces to bring Banner back. He tells them to find the one white guy in the bottling factory, which seems a bit judgmental to me.

Around this time I was thinking that writing the score for films like this must be so easy, as it’s just chords that ominously modulate up and down, mixed with “Dun! Dun-dun-DUN!” sequences for the action parts. I wonder if composer Craig Armstrong just writes a bunch of them in his down time, ready to pull out when he gets another assignment. They’re THAT generic.

So the military run in, led by this dude Blonsky, played by Tim Roth, who fashions himself a tough guy. There’s a big chase through the slum, ending up in the bottling plant. Here Norton gets angry enough to Hulk up, and for a while we have some nice lighting effects as they keep him in the dark. For example, bullets bouncing off his skin create little lighting effects [I for one did not know Hulk was bulletproof], and at one point I bomb creates a nice silhouette on a curtain of smoke. Anyway, he escapes, waking up in Guatemala. I’m going to have to check on the geography of that one, but I find it strange that there is nothing about Hulk sighting on the long route in between, say, at the Panama Canal?

Anyway, Bruce, who can apparently get an encrypted email link at any internet café, is corresponding with Mr. Blue, hoping to get together to share their mutual love of slow walks on the beach, and quiet nights by the fire. Bruce is, of course, Mr. Green. Blue needs the data from when Bruce first transformed, which he needs to get to some university in Virginia to get. We see Bruce all destitute in the streets of Guatemala, and next thing we know, he’s in Virginia—how did that happen? Question not, little one. Anywhere, there he meets Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, daughter of General Ross, and his old flame. She has a new boyfriend, whom she dumps without a second thought upon learning that Bruce is around. And guess what else—she has all his data! Convenient! But oh, who’s this sniper dude lurking on campus?

SPOILERS > > >
This leads to the huge confrontation as seen in the trailer, which takes place on a brightly sunny day with a massive CGI storm on the horizon, the better to start SUDDENLY pouring the moment the tone turns somber. There’s a big fight—and oh, I forgot to mention that Blonsky has been taking Gamma therapy of his own—and Blonsky gets smashed, and Betty gets abducted. She and Hulk share a very King Kong moment where they hang in a cave and share their hopes and dreams, bonding over memories of their troubled childhoods and enjoying Celestial Seasonings Lemon Lift tea.

So General Ross sees that Blonsky has amazing healing powers due to his Gamma therapy, and they give him more. Meanwhile Betty and Bruce are declining from having sex as it might get him too excited [it used to be that he had to get angry… but you know, too much with the teeth can do that], or else he might Hulk out while they are doing the do. Seems to me they should also be concerned about Gamma-babies, but that possibility is not mentioned.

So they end up in New York, as it seems that all movies must, and they go see Mr. Blue, give him the data, and he devises a thing that will bring Bruce back when he Hulks out. No one knows whether it will cure him forever, or just this once. But then Blonsky shows up, demanding that he get some Gamma action, too, and he ends up turning into this beige hulk with a prominent spine. He rampages down 125th street, and I have to say I appreciated a rampage down a lesser-known New York tourist attraction, instead of the old typical Times Square or Empire State Building. Hulk goes to fight him—I guess they just made the assumption that the experiment he just had would NOT have any effect—and they have a big showdown, then it ends.
< < < SPOILERS END

It was terribly entertaining, and I was sitting there delighted the whole way though, but afterward you realize that there really wasn’t much of a story. He just starts here, gets pursued, ends up there. Which I guess is okay, but as an episode, it just seems like one you could skip and not lose anything in the story.

Everyone was fine. I like Norton, and his small size makes it a little more interesting that he turns into this huge thing. I would be totally happy to trade Liv Tyler in for Jennifer Connelly, however, as poor Liv just can’t seem to convey much beyond dewey-eyed concern. The thought that this woman is a University-level scientist is absolutely ludicrous, as there’s just virtually nothing behind her eyes. During certain scenes I was wondering if this could be helped by giving her a list of thoughts to think between lines of dialogue.

Hulk is definitely positioned as much more heroic in this version, having more sense of what he’s doing and using his powers for good, instead of being just an out-of-control force. At the very end there’s a gesture toward creating a Justice League [or whichever ones the Marvel superheroes were], when Tony Stark from Iron Man shows up and says he’s building a team. Oh dear, it’s going to be Alien vs. Predator all over again.

SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?

Sure, it’s definitely amusing, if it all evaporates into irrelevance one minute afterward.