Hulk smashes to success

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2008)

Ang Lee's movie Hulk received an extremely mixed reception upon its release in 2003. While it did deliver as a drama, and the performances were pretty good, as a Hulk movie it kind of left out the Hulk, we barely saw the big green giant, and for a comic book that took pride in Hulk smashing it really didn't feature an awful lot of it. I suppose it's no surprise that Ang Lee's version has almost been ignored, it wasn't a commercial movie, and while I appreciated moments of it the movie just really wasn't a Hulk movie. So The Incredible Hulk is rebooting the entire series, while its not a complete start over like Batman Begins it just seems like a fresh new break. And what a fresh break it is, The Incredible Hulk basically smooths over every flaw the original movie had yet maintains the quality drama from the first movie. But most importantly of all, Hulk finally smashes! The final fight sequence is pretty much one of the highlights of this year so far, it is truly incredible. The performances are also an improvement, Edward Norton being a much more accurate interpretation of Bruce Banner, Liv Tyler being superb as Betty Ross and Tim Roth, well just being downright brilliant on lead villain duties. Sure the movie essentially is a big dumb popcorn flick, but its also an extremely well made one. In fact I actually preferred it to Iron Man, although both are still some of the best superhero movies to date and both show a great improvement in terms of Marvel adaptations.
So let me go more in-depth with the performances. Edward Norton really hit the core of Bruce Banner. I had nothing wrong with Eric Bana's portrayal in the original movie, but he just didn't suit the character as well as Norton does. Norton seems more the geeky scientist desperate for a cure, a man desperate to stop his inner self. The scenes at the beginning where he tries to control himself show a great performance from Norton, and the scenes he shares with Liv Tyler are touching. That leads me onto Tyler's performance, and I'd go as far to say she delivers the best performance in the movie. The scene where she finally sees Bruce again is brilliantly done, its done in a subtle way, but Tyler's performance just makes it all the better. A later scene in a helicopter with the pair is the highlight of their chemistry and one of the highlights of the movie. William Hurt is a great general in the movie, both villain and victim to an extent, Hurt really characterises a possibly two-dimensional character. And then there is Tim Roth, the caged animal of an actor who does villains like no other. He is brilliant, snarling constantly and wanting to more than he could ever be. The scenes before he literally turns into an "Abomination" show a brilliant performance from him, and makes it all the more apparent how the original movie lacked a suitable villain for the Hulk.
But the main thing people want to know is how good is the actual Hulk in the movie. The CGI I thought was great, sure its not the best CGI in the world, but I began to believe he was there and the transformation sequences were extremely well done. But what Hulk does best in this movie is smash his way around. The three key fight sequences all being noteworthy, but the final just being stunning. The best scene in the movie, two words, "Hulk Smash!" I literally had a chill up my spine when I saw the scene and finally made me realise how happy I was to see the big green hero in all his glory in the big screen, and done well. The drama side of the movie is also done extremely well, in some ways it was done even better than Ang Lee's movie. The relationship between Bruce and Betty being vital to the movie, there scenes together are so well written and believable it really hits the heart. The movie also has a sense of humour, the best being Banner trying to keep calm in a New York cab. I suppose the biggest surprise of the movie is the fact the Hulk doesn't have to be on-screen to keep our attention, and that makes this the brilliant film that it is. Like Iron Man, Batman Begins and Spiderman 2 there are superb moments where we don't see the hero or the villain, there are moments that are small, subtle, yet brilliant. This makes this one of the best comic book adaptations to date, and one of the bigger surprises of the Summer.
Overall The Incredible Hulk is a truly incredible reboot for a series I wasn't convinced could survive after Lee's movie. However this movie is stunning in almost every way. Its one of the best movies of the summer I have seen so far and definitely one of the largest surprises I have seen so far. I urge you to watch it, and prepare to see a proper Hulk movie.