One Of The Worst Comic Book Films of All Time

Rating: 1/10 (20 November 2018)

Do you remember the film Barton Fink? Where playwright Barton Fink is hired by a Hollywood studio to write a script for a wrestling picture, a script that's thought provoking, intelligent and artistic, but audiences hate it, so his ideas get ditched and the studio goes with an intelligence insulting slugfest to appease the masses? Think of Ang Lee's Hulk as Fink's original vision and the MCU's Incredible Hulk as its pandering, soulless, beat-em-up successor. The only difference is that the source material behind The Incredible Hulk is, contrary to popular belief, some of the most emotional, complex and thematically rich material in all of superhero comics. However, that's apparently not what mainstream audiences think of when they think of The Hulk. They think of a big green monster who smashes things and sometimes hits other big color monsters. Which is exactly what we got with this.
If I could describe The Incredible Hulk in 2 words, it would be "missed opportunities." Whether it's genuinely interesting stuff, like having the Hulk actually put Betty in the ER in the beginning of the film, or just common sense that the writers missed, like having the Hulk go on a rampage on a college campus in one of the most densely populated cities in the United States in the DAYTIME with no civilians panicking and nobody getting definitive proof of his existence. Nothing in this film that can be executed competently is. The script is so unfathomably dumb that characters will forget things that already happened. Major events, too! For example, when Hulk transforms at the college campus, Thunderbolt Ross says "Now she'll see!" Despite the fact that he knows Betty saw Bruce when he first transformed! THEY WERE ALL IN THE SAME ROOM! Hell, earlier in that scene, Betty refers to her own father as "General!"
Edward Norton as the Hulk is just underwhelming. I simply don't buy him as an angry person, even a bottled up one. Whereas both Eric Bana and Mark Ruffalo conveyed their anger very intensely, Norton just seems anxious and nervous. There's no tension or suspense when he's about to transform, it never feels like a horrible curse as it should. It feels more like a self defense weapon if anything. In the end, this may be chalked up more to bad writing a bit more than bad acting, with the film having no idea what made the Hulk's anger relatable. That being said, this defense can only go so far, and by the time the film hits the third act, it becomes painfully apparent in Norton's increasingly wooden delivery that he's just phoning it in.
Okay, so while Edward Norton is a phenomenal actor who, at the end of the day, really isn't trying, Tim Roth is just absolute trash in this. Especially in the few scenes where he genuinely tries to give an emotion. His portrayal of blinding actor is not significantly different from my reaction to getting a C+ on a college essay. That's not even mentioning the 3rd act, where his delivery is so bad that it genuinely sounds like he can't speak English and is about to pass out from over-exhaustion. However, the absolute worst sin of this movie, for me personally, the one massive failure for which I can't forgive, is its depiction of Abomination. Emil Blonsky was hardly a perfect person in the comics, but he wasn't an abusive dick either. His selflessness, charitable nature, intellect and capacity for unconditional love all imbued the character with a real humanity and relatability that ultimately made him my 3rd favorite Marvel comics character. He was a character who was always quick to put his neck out for the outcast; the domestic abuse victim, the homeless man, the orphaned child. He even gave up any chance for a happy life with his wife Nadia for her own happiness. One could argue the only reason he ended up a villain at all is because fate and outside intervention consistently force him into that role. Blonsky in this movie is the kind of person who would beat up a prostitute. It's really not a stretch, he already beats up 2 women in this movie for literally no reason. I could care less about his aesthetic design (Despite the fact it's laughably poor and lacks personality of any kind), my problem is that he acts nothing like Abomination. There's no talk of him mourning his old wife Nadia (In fact, Nadia isn't mentioned at all, despite being central to Abomination's character development in the comics), there's no talk of how he desires to be a hero deep down, there's no talk of how his life has been taken from him or how he regrets his terrible decision. This film's incarnation of Abomination was so soulless and so devoid of anything resembling depth, character or nuance, that it ultimately led to Marvel killing off the character in the comics due to plummeting popularity. Yes, this film adapted a character so badly that it literally killed him. I'm almost impressed.
The Incredible Hulk is an Incredible Flop. I've heard a lot of people say on social media that it's secretly "underrated" and I'd agree; Underrated in how bad it is. From its missed creative opportunities to its awful acting performances to its dumbed down characterizations all within a nonsensical and childish screenplay. This is one of the worst comic book films I've ever seen, MCU or non-MCU. It is right down there with Green Lantern and Ghost Rider. The MCU can give us 15 more excellent Captain America films. As far as I'm concerned, it will never make up for this hulking trainwreck.