Review: The Incredible Hulk

After watching Ang Lee’s Hulk back in 2003 on the morning of its opening day, I rushed to my computer in a state of excitement, ravenously typing away in an attempt to explain the sheer geeky glee the picture had imbued in me. Hulk revolutionized the way that I thought about comic-book-to-film adaptations. Lee, already a seasoned director in other genres, had provided a simple story about a man turning into a green monster the emotional depth of a great drama. And the action was riveting, too; to my eyes, the movie boasted every trait needed in order to ensure that fan-boys, film-school students, and casual moviegoers alike were satisfied.

But then an unexpected backlash took effect. Fans of the comic-book seemed to universally embrace the juvenile (and rather idiotic) claim that Lee’s vision didn’t contain enough action to prove worthwhile. The film-school students, who had undoubtedly previously prided themselves on sticking with Lee’s career through thick and thin, couldn’t find it in themselves to admit that they saw surprising depth in a product of such external simplicity. And the masses, for whatever reason, thought the movie’s exploration of protagonist Bruce Banner’s psyche was boring.

Within days of its release, Hulk had quickly become the whipping boy of nearly every thinkable demographic, misunderstood to its core. Accordingly, even though the movie grossed a healthy sum for a work of its experimental nature—$245 million internationally in its theatrical run—the studio deemed it a failure. Still, the heads at Marvel Comics and Universal Pictures realized that the Hulk was nonetheless a character worth further exploring on celluloid and promised a sequel. Unfortunately, it would be made without the participation of Lee or stars Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly.

Now said sequel has arrived and, make no mistake, the cast and crew involved are highly respectable in their own rights. Director Louis Leterrier may not be as experienced as Lee, but he has already proven himself to be a competent action filmmaker over the course of three prior pictures. Leads Edward Norton and Liv Tyler boast resumes just as seasoned as those of Bana and Connelly (if not more so, especially in Norton’s case). And writer Zak Penn, for all his misgivings, has a lot of experience when it comes to scripting superheroes. But I’m sorry to report that the passion is gone. Formula has taken its toll this time around and the Hulk has been trivialized.

From the get-go, Marvel and Universal heads promised more action and less character-development in order to please teenage-boys, who they sensibly presumed made up all three of the film’s aforementioned core-constituencies. This was to be expected. But given just how talented the minds behind The Incredible Hulk are, the movie’s downright cookie-cutter nature is unforgivable. Injecting a series with more action is one thing; defacing it to a point of narrative-inanity and not even crafting solid action in the process is another.

That all being said, the movie isn’t an outright atrocity. Norton and Tyler do the best they can with their roles, certain passages boast stunning special effects, and screenwriter Penn makes the wise decision of picking up where Lee’s film left off rather than using the same story despite the movie’s proclaimed status as a “reboot” of the franchise. But whatever. To be perfectly candid, I don’t much care to think about or write about The Incredible Hulk. I don’t want to dissect the plot or the characters here because, frankly, you could use your time more wisely by watching Lee’s film than you could by reading a long-winded review of this one. (I didn’t intend for half of this piece to cover the first Hulk, but that it ended up that way speaks volumes about my feelings for this one.) Yes, maybe it’s a tad harsh to judge The Incredible Hulk by virtue of the greatness of its predecessor, but given that Lee’s picture represents the gold-standard for Hulk films, then why not? Regardless, The Incredible Hulk is nothing short of a thoroughly mediocre comic-book adaptation by any definition, certainly not one that earns the viewer’s $10 for the price of admission. If you’re hungering for a superhero-driven multiplex-experience, skip the movie in favor of a second or third viewing of the far superior Iron Man; you’ll be glad that you did.

-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews