McCheesy's take on "The Incredible Hulk"

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2008)

This reboot to 2003's Hulk starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth and William Hurt did precisely what it was made to do: to be an all out, guns-blazing, hell-hath-no-fury fighting, bone crunching summer blockbuster. The main problem with the first Hulk is that it took itself too seriously, it had more talk and less action and I'm no Einstein but the best place for a 10 foot tall, green beast is in a street duking it out with a 10 foot tall brownish abomination with spikes shooting out in his back. The reboot just did that. It may have not been a 30 minute fight scene as promised but still, we are treated with such a visual spectacle you will be on the edge of your seats until the Hulk does his trademark move, the "HULK SMASH!".
This version of Hulk is a lot better than Ang Lee's because first, the people behind the film embraced the idea of the Hulk being a less-talk-more-action kind of guy, second, the Hulk is actually just seven feet tall in the comics not 15 feet tall like what Ang Lee depicted in his version, this film stayed true to the roots of Hulk and they stuck with a shorter, brawnier, much greener version of him and it worked out pretty well in the end. Edward Norton, always the excellent actor, was stellar in this one. His portrayal of Bruce Banner is much more melancholic, emotional, desperate and you sympathize with his plight. Eric Bana's performance was okay but I find Edward Norton's much better and not only because he is my most favorite actor of all but if you look at it really carefully, you can see that he is truly the embodiment of Bruce Banner. He really connected with the character and I'm impressed.
Tim Roth on the other hand, who plays villain Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, gave a very spooky performance. He really dug in to the Emil character and it was pretty amazing. The scene where he in human form, approaches the Hulk shooting grenades at him and then goes all karate kid on him with the backflips and the hand gun, oh my god, that scene will really shake you to the bone. It shows how fearless he is and his drive to destroy Hulk will ultimately consume him in the end. Amazing performance from both the hero and the villain.
Other cast mates includes Liv Tyler as Bruce's ladylove Betty Ross and William Hurt as the guy who wants to harness the Hulk's power, General Ross. Their performances were quite good. Its a step away from the performances in the 2003 version. Lou Ferrigno who played Hulk sometime ago makes a cameo as a security guard and as usual, Stan Lee, the creator also makes a special appearance as the guy who drank that Brazilian soda punch. And of course the creme de la creme of all cameos is that of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark who makes a quick little chit chat with General Ross about this "group"(read: The Avengers) they're making for which General Ross replies "What group?" and Stark with a funny look in his face. It only means one thing: come 2011, I'll be the first in line in the Avengers movie, I'm already there.
The Incredible Hulk is a lot better than 2003's Hulk and I can give you a 1,001 reasons why. A worthy addition to the Marvel movies collection.
7/10