Incredibly Mediocre

Rating: 3/10 (28 July 2008)

Let's just cut to the chase.
Starting with the good: Paying tribute and giving the nod to Lou Ferrigno (playing the security guard and the voice of the Hulk), and to Bill Bixby. They even threw in the "Lonely Man" theme from the T.V. show. Seeing them go that far, why not the Incredible Hulk theme when he makes his first appearance. Maybe it would have been a little corny, but why not throw it in for the fans? Also, I think that the design of the Hulk was also good, although I did like that design of the Hulk from the 2003 version as well. More on that later.
Now for the bad: Liv Tyler being one. I hardly found her performance believable. They threw some thick rimmed glasses on her and now she's instantly a scientist? Half the movie, her mouth is hanging open, and I'm thinking to my self, "Close your damn mouth!" Jennifer Connelly was much better in the role of Betty Ross.
William Hurt does a decent job as "Thunderbolt" Ross, but the character was turned from a guy who loves his daughter and the military into a guy only interested in acquiring a new weapon for the military. At least in the 2003 version, we knew that he cared about his daughter. In this version, he has a superficial interest in his daughter while barely giving her a pass for defying him.
And what's with the pulse monitor? I found this to be a silly concept. Banner can't tell when he's getting angry or frustrated? I don't think you need a heart rate monitor to detect your moods. I also found it to be completely stupid that Banner couldn't be intimate with Betty. So on top of fear, anger, pain and frustration, we can add having sex to the list of things that will make Banner turn into the Hulk? Since when did getting some become a reason for Banner to Hulk out? I could understand if it were frustration from E.D., but the idea of Banner Hulking out just from being sexually excited is something that should have been forgotten.
I wouldn't normally make this complaint, but because so many people were critical of the CGI in the first one but not this one, I had to say something. While the design of the Hulk was impressive, they fell way short in bringing the Hulk to life. The color never seemed to match that of the real characters. It was always just off. The CGI seemed to be more appropriate for one of the new generation video game systems. If the first incarnation of the Hulk was "Shrek like", then I would have to say that this version was Gumby like. The skin had no realistic texture. It looked like plastic, whereas the 2003 Hulk had realistic blemishes and pores. Even the movements were more mechanical this time around. It looked like bad animation. The muscles didn't seem to move quite right. They even got rain wrong in this one. How do you mess up CGI rain? The cave scene was painfully bad, as neither the Hulk or the water (rain) looked realistic at all. I don't know why ILM wasn't on this one, but it seems that the decision was made to completely divorce this attempt from anything that anything to do with Ang Lee's Hulk. A big mistake as Rhythm & Hues is a few steps behind ILM.
As a fan of the comic book, I'm disappointed with the display of the Hulks strength in this one. Compare the "Hulk Smash" scene to the one in the 2003 version. In The Incredible Hulk, he puts a crack in the roof of a building, while in the Hulk (2003), he destroyed half a city block. In this version, the Hulk comes off more like a bully around the "lesser" opponents. He was so tough when he was dealing solely the army. When Abomination makes his way to the screen, the Hulk becomes less then enthused after taking a few shots. Of course the Abomination is stronger than the Hulk is INITIALLY, but as the fight continued the Hulk got his butt whipped all over the screen. The more shots he took, the more he looked like he wanted no part of the Abomination. Any fan of the comic should be able to tell you that the physical aggravation of the Hulk will only make him angrier and stronger, not turn him into a whimpering puppy dog. This is something that the 2003 version was able to convey. The more he was bothered, the angrier he became. He had to be allowed to calm down before anything could be done to control the situation. And how does the "epic" battle come to an end? The Hulk is barely able to muster enough strength to choke out the Abominationwith a chain. Yes folks, a chain. These two characters rip through cars, tanks, and buildings, but the Abomination gets choked out with a chain. That's like a fully able bodied man being strangled with a string of tissue paper. Truly, a disappointing and anti-climactic ending to a mediocre 2nd attempt to bring the not so jolly green giant to the big screen. I would have to say that The Incredible Hulk is this comparable to last year's Transformers. More action with little substance.