Entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2008)

I have recently seen the Incredible Hulk and I found it to be an enjoyable film. In Britain the reviews were at best average, but I thought it was good, especially against the Ang Lee version.
The plot of the film is that Bruce Banner already has the Hulk inside him and is on the run from the US government. He had settled in Brazil and lives in the slums of a city. He was working in a soft drinks factory and hadn't transformed into the Hulk in five months. However, he accidentally cuts himself and his blood falls into a bottle. After a man drinks from the bottle in the US General Ross, sends a team of Special Forces to capture him. In Brazil Banner is also trying to find a cure and was in contact with a scientist in the USA. He was able to reduct the gamma radiation in Banner's blood, but he needs data which Banner's can't provide. After the attack Banner decides to go back to America to get the data and his cure. He had to go to Virginia, to the University where he worked with Betty Ross and became the Hulk. He ends up battling the army on the campus, and both the Hulk and Betty are on the run, before heading off to New York to meet the scientist that could care Banner.
At the same time Ross meets an experience army soldier, Emil Blonsky, a Russian-born British marine (the ultimate Hollywood bad-guy) and discovers he has an ambition to fight and becomes interested in the Hulk and wants to defeat him. Ross tells Blonsky about the Super-Soldier programme from World War 2 and starts to injection with a gamma based serum that makes Blonsky more stronger and powerful then any other soldiers and gives him rapid healing abilities. However he is still not strong enough to beat the Hulk. It is only when his mixes the Hulk's blood into his own that he becomes the Abomination, a very powerful monster. This events leads to an epic battle between the Hulk and the Abomination in Harlem.
This film works because it doesn't take itself too seriously, doesn't deal with the father son relationship like in the Ang Lee version, has lots of actions and is influenced by the TV show. This film breaks away from the X-Men/Batman Begins approach of being as dark, serious and realistic as possible, and goes down the Spiderman/Iron Man idea of being a bit more fun. The Hulk looks better in this film, showing that he big and muscular and light green, compared to the bright green blob with a sad face in previous version. The action is better, even when the Hulk isn't involved, because there was a good chase scene in the Brazilian slums. I thought the Abomination looked really impressive, and the director, Louis Leterrier changed him from a reptilian to a bone like creature. This film also has better villains, the Abomination is a match for the Hulk and General Ross is more power mad in this version. I didn't like the fact that in the Ang Lee version the villain of the film was Bruce Banner's dad. I also felt that Ed Norton was better then Eric Bana as Bruce Banner.
The film is also linked with other Marvel films, in the title sequence there is a mention of Stark Industries and Nick Fury. The super-serum from World War 2 is linked to Captain America which is going to be made into a film. Robert Downey Jr. also has a cameo as Tony Stark, and anyone who has seen the end sequence of Iron Man can guess what he is doing in the film, because it is going to be linked with the Avengers film that will be made. It is also hinted that the Leader is going to be a villain in the next film if it is made.
There are problems, I find it totally unrealistic that the Hulk could travel from Brazil to Guatemala in a day, even with super-powers, and that it is unlikely that the Hulk could blow out a fire just by clapping his hands.
The Hulk is however a good film, a solid 7.5 out of 10.