The Incredible Hulk

Alright, I finally caved and watched this movie. As a die hard Eric Bana fan, hearing they were gonna re-imagine the story seemed kind of unnecessary to me. I mean the Ang Lee directed "Hulk" is garbage, and I understand that, but I figured most of that had to do with the source material. Until I saw "The Incredible Hulk". Now this isn't the best comic book flick. It is by no means "Iron Man". But it is an obvious leap in what a Hulk movie should be. You forget that the Hulk essentially spends every comic book adventure smashing city streets, leaping across buildings, fighting huge freaks, and running from the government. But this movie finally conveys these iconic moments on film. The action delivers one of the best comic book showdowns I've ever seen. You don't see The Abomination until The Hulk sees him, and the tension is built. Would have been better had they not shown him all over the trailers and commercials, but still, it's epic. It's weird though, because the action sequences are so good it leaves you wishing there had been even more of it, when in actuality you've been presented with tons. In fact, the origin of Bruce Banner's condition is barely discussed. The entire Nuclear testing scenario is omitted, instead Banner was simply performing an experiment and was over exposed to Gamma Rays. The story begins with Banner already in hiding and his origin is recounted through a 30 second flashback sans dialog. Basically the movies' saving grace is sweet action sequences, and there are just barely enough to make you come out of it with a positive reaction. Now, Edward Norton may be a fantastic actor, but you can see there is too much thought in his performance. There are like 3 scenes where Norton is just sitting flexing his muscles awkwardly trying to make a good looking frame, its weird. He plays the role a little cheesy. Plus, he just doesn't look the part to me. Liv Tyler, who has a few emotional moments in the film also has many dead in the eyes moments that overshadow her performance. She kinda seems not that into it. It's actually the supporting cast that progress the story along til the end. Tim Roth as the Abomination really seems like that nutball military guy who will do anything to be a great soldier. And William Hurt makes a good General Ross. My final criticism is that Marvel closes the movie with Robert Downey Jr.'s cameo as Tony Stark; who makes a reference to "The Avengers". This is supposed to be the first scene of the upcoming Avengers movie (2011). My problem with it is that it should have come after the credits like Nick Fury's scene after the credits in "Iron Man". The scene directly before it is a great ending scene, and then it snaps to this scene featuring Stark. It seems like it would have been post credits, but they moved it up to convince audiences Stark played some part in the film and capitalize on the HUGE success of "Iron Man". Overall, it is a decent Hulk story and the action sequences make it a far better Hulk than the first film. If you're into any of the Marvel films you'll probably want to check this out, "The Incredible Hulk" is out today on DVD and Blu-ray.