When is a reboot not a reboot?

Rating: 7/10 (12 June 2008)

Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) is on the run from the American military. Holed up in a favela in Rio, he's trying to live a calm life while searching for a cure for his 'condition' when through a complete accident he's discovered. A snatch team are sent to pick him up, led by Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), and all hell is let loose.
Having escaped Brazil and finding himself on his way back to America, Banner finds his old love Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and the passion is reignited. But Blonsky wants revenge for the beating he took when first sent to catch Banner.
I want to like this film. I really do. If ever there was an actor who was good at portraying tortured souls, characters with inner demons, it's Norton. So why does his try at the ultimate tortured soul with the mother of all inner demons not work? I think that's the question that'll hang over this film.
The highlights are Tyler, the emotional heart of the film. She and Norton have a chemistry, but even this can't seem to light the film up any. Roth also shows his talent and brings an essentially two dimensional character to life, until he vanishes under a tonne of CG.
The effects are good and well used. The direction is okay. The action scenes (certainly the first two big chases are), but the finale is poor and doesn't live up to what's come before.
The film seems to try to make a fresh start, including a montage at the start covering the origin story as it now stands. But there are a few places where it seems to try to tie into the Ang Lee film and it sits uncomfortably.
It's not bad, but there's so much more it could have been. And don't sit through the credits waiting for an extra scene.