Time to end the franchise.

Rating: Null/10 (25 September 2008)

I don't know why, but the Hulk has enjoyed very limited success on the silver screen. I remember watching the cartoons as a kid, I wasn't a huge fan but it was enjoyable. I didn't quite enjoy the first one by Ang Lee, and I barely managed to finish Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk, despite it starring Edward Norton who is one of my favorite actors.
Edward is so wasted here. His role does not require any special skills or talents at all, Bruce Banner could've been played by Matt Damon and it would just be the same. The reason I used Damon as an example is because he is also good at playing characters on the run, ala the Bourne series. I honestly did not really notice any of Norton's special acting abilities, such as his intense speeches or extremely in-depth moments. Bruce Banner is just a guy on the run, and a bit of a romantic. Liv Tyler is even worse, she is her usual bland self. She's quite good looking, but I remember her from Lord of the Rings and Armageddon, and she played the SAME bland characters with her bland emotionless acting. This isn't a criticism of her acting ability as a whole, since I haven't seen all her films, but her role contributes even more boring to an already very boring film. To make matters worse, The Incredible Hulk is filmed so dark, even darker than The Dark Knight. I could barely make out the last action scene. Oh and I know we should suspend belief for action hero flicks like these, but in the last scene where the helicoper ripped vulcan cannon fire at the Hulk right onto civilian buildings... uhh okay.....
It's odd really, what is it with superhero films and bland acting? Toby Maguire's Spider-Man, Christian Bale's Batman (incredible actor, but again his abilities severely limited as Bruce Wayne), Neo in The Matrix, Hayden Christensen in Star Wars II. I guess Robert Downey Jr's Ironman is one of the more successful projects in recent times, which is why the movie ended up so popular and even worthy of comparison to the powerhouse that is The Dark Knight. Ironically, the last scene reflects this as if to add insult to injury.