Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Edward Norton, William Hurt, Tim Roth, Liv Tyler
Tagline: "You'll like him when he's angry."
Random Trivia: Louis Leterrier was responsible for one of the most disappointing sequels in my short lifetime, Transporter 2. Both the Hulk, the voice of the animated Hulk, and the actor who played Bruce Banner (in the show, Hulk and Banner were portrayed by separate actors) appear in the movie.
Never mind the tagline. You wouldn't like Edward Norton when he's angry, so long as he's got some impressive CGI backing him up. Calm, it could go either way. In any case, he's not a particularly intimidating guy.
The first thing I want to say about 2008's The Incredible Hulk (billed as a reboot, although most of the movie takes place as Bruce Banner tries to cure himself of the gamma radiation and mutation that makes him the Hulk): Yes, the Hulk says "Hulk Smash".
In a quick comparison, The Incredible Hulk is a better movie than Ang Lee's more subdued version from a few years back, if taken on action movie terms. While there's no Nick Nolte or Jennifer Connelly, Edward Norton lends some star power (more than Eric Bana anyway), the effects are much better, and the action is top-notch. Add in a last minute cameo by Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, and the movie almost redeems the big green lug.
Almost.
Lee's big-screen Hulk was one of the few superhero movies to put me to sleep. Literally. Fucking snoring. There were witnesses. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm all for what Lee was trying to do. Serious drama, detailed back story. It just ... didn't come together. Not a horrible shot but just not all there.
Marvel, not one to let the property die given their plans for an Avengers movie, needed fresh blood.
Which brings us back to Norton and the lack of physicality he brings to the role. Yes, I get that Bruce Banner is not meant to be ripped to begin with. The Hulk is a separate beast. And the film has plenty of edge of your seat action; no faults there. I just never bought Norton as the Hulk, and at times I even had trouble seeing him as Banner. The guy is one of the best actors of his generation, and I have no doubt he was passionate about the project, but physically, he's not up to the roll. I spent much of the movie envisioning his Fight Club character, wimpy and rather spineless, even in the intense training scenes at the opening of the movie as Banner tries to control his dark side.
Norton *is* capable of playing tough - see the opening scenes of American History X - but he's too soft here. Sigh. I hate to say this - he and I are done professionally - but this is a role for a Christian Bale-type actor, someone we can buy as fighting to control the beast inside.
With Norton, I'm shocked the Hulk didn't rip right out of him. Regulating his breathing, practicing restraint, various meditation techniques - I really wasn't buying Banner's triumph in this regard. And of course, it's all just a set up for when he inevitably fails later in the film and the Hulk breaks loose.
Moving forward, The Incredible Hulk also suffers from an overabundance of romantic interludes between Norton's Banner and Liv Tyler's Betty Ross. My internal monologue, which never seems to shut the hell up, was yelling "boring" at this part of the film. Being lightly baked does not provoke any desire to see romance on my part. It's no fault of the actors - Tyler has actually come a long way as an actress, and while sometimes heavy on the sap, makes a convincing love interest, soothing the savage beast. These scenes, however, seem almost thrown in as an afterthought, and serve only to slow the pace of the film. Screen vet William Hurt, meanwhile, spends far too much time hamming it up as the General in charge of reigning in Banner and, later, Abomination.
Here's where the flick gets things right this time out, however - the aforementioned Abomination. Every superhero needs a super-villain - M. Night Shyamalan got that right in Unbreakable. Abomination, as played by Tim Roth, starts out as a veteran soldier, the kind of guy who fights not just because he's good at it, but because he's come to like it. It's what he is.
Come to think of it (although at this point, my thought process has become quiet muddled), he essentially says this to Hurt's General Ross, shortly before signing up for a Hulkinization program that sees his own body juiced up into that of a super-soldier. When going up against the Hulk the second time out ends in a squashin' even with the added juicing, he goes back for round three with a mix of procedures that mutates him beyond what the Hulk becomes, into the monstrosity that is Abomination.
You have to love the "uh guys? maybe we should think about this" look on Roth's face for this procedure...
While not the brightest of foes - this is basically smash meets crush - it invokes a breath-taking climatic battle between the two behemoths that makes up for most of the film's earlier shortcomings, and the fact that it dresses up Ti-Cats territory as New York (that's Hamilton, Ontario for those not stuck there).
So some quick final notes from my now completely hazy brain:
- The shameless plug for Norton 360 was shameless. Fuck you Symantec.
- Why even have actual product placements then use the usual fake-ass GUI for all the top-secret military software? Try to be convincing guys...
- We've seen this intro. Again, and again, and again. Fincher did it in Fight Club. Raimi did it in Spider-Man. Stop with the overkill already!
- Hulk Smash
- Liv Tyler Hot
- Lou Ferrigno (the big green guy on the old TV show) shows up in a cameo as a security guard bribed by Bruce Banner, with a pizza. You've got to wonder - is that actually what Ferrigno was paid for making the appearance? Then again, he got work in I Love You Man...
- he also does Hulk's voice here
- and his arms are gross
Overall Rating: Half-Baked (3 out of 5)
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