Complete and Utter Fail

Rating: 2/10 (20 September 2008)

This one definitely belongs on Failblog.
I seem to have the diametrically opposite opinion as some other commenters in here, in that where Ang Lee succeeded in actually creating characters for us to like, no such attempt is made in this movie, and thus we couldn't care less about the white, black, green and yellow characters on screen.
Apparently, the team here decided to totally ignore the previous installment of Hulk, both by changing the title from Hulk 2 to The Incredible Hulk, and by ignoring the story that precedes this installment. So, basically, we're starting from scratch. Let's see.
"We must explain how the characters know each other, why they're supposedly in love, why they hate, etc., let's get that over with during the opening credits." Fail.
"If we cut the fundings for CGI effects, we'll have more money for marketing!" Fail.
"'Wroooarrara roowowoaraaa Wrrraaaahh' makes for good dialogue." Fail.
"The Hulk smashes things, so the point of the story must be to smash things." Fail.
And this last point is exactly why Ang Lee got it right. I can understand if some people who left their trailers and Oprah on the television would find it hard to have to endure in excess of an hour being fed plot and character construction before the Hulk finally gets around to throwing around tanks and soldiers, but that's exactly what's needed to makes an over-sized angry Apache-smashing green guy become recognizable and worthy of empathy, and not just become a joke worthy of laughs. Which is what happens in this second Hulk movie.
Ang Lee's Hulk worked because of this, Spider-Man works because of this, Iron Man to some degree also, but this? This? This is just awful. You hate the characters on screen, each and every one of them, because they didn't earn your caring. I find myself commenting on Tyler's "Nooo!"s with, "Why don't you just shut up?!", and The Hulk's "Hulk smash!" with, "We knooow, why not try something else instead?" I'm sorry, but bad CGI and smashing stuff, including the army firing miniguns from choppers at residential buildings in downtown Manhattan (what's that about?) just doesn't make a good movie. It makes for audience disrespect.