Thats more like it!!!

Rating: 9/10 (30 June 2008)

I hated the first Hulk effort with a passion. The franchise had bags of potential and it was never realised, even though the style was visually impressive the film had no substance. Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly were well cast but their characters were a bit two dimensional. All the other characters were poor.
Thank heavens for take two. The focus was taken from the origins of the Hulk and more on the aftermath, which then takes the focus from the Hulk and onto Bruce Banner, which was the smartest move the director made, and there is no better actor for portraying the humanity of a character than Edward Norton. When I first saw that he was in the role I was excited at the prospect of the new dimension he would bring to Banner, and he is successful in so many ways. His portrayal, William Hurt's portrayal of The General and Tim Blake Nelson's portrayal of Samuel Sterns had so much depth that it was a joy to watch them all on screen. Liv Tyler did an admirable and surprising job of surpassing Jennifer Connelly, who was one of the better performers in the first attempt. Tim Roth was somewhat below par as the main baddie, but he did the job expected of him with gusto.
In terms of visual effects, its pretty much whats expected of a superhero film. The major difference from the first attempt at Hulk is the departure from the comic-book visual style. The effects are much darker, and the Hulk looks much more menacing than he did before. The tributes to the old incarnations of Hulk are well done, with the "You won't like me when I'm angry" speech nicely referenced, and there is a neat cameo from Lou Ferignio, who provides this Hulk's voice.
I was incredibly impressed by this movie. It realised all the potential that the franchise has and does almost everything right. This and Iron Man have set the bar for superhero movies and bringing them together in the Avengers film will surely be a winner.