A Giant Leap Towards Success

Rating: 8/10 (2 May 2009)

In the 1960's, a genius named Stan Lee, created for a company named Marvel Comics, an entire stable of characters who were unique and exuded originality in many aspects, including their characterization, their abilities and the style of storytelling of their adventures. Each and every one of his creations was in some way the a brand new innovation. Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, the X-men, Iron Man, Daredevil, Thor and of course, the Hulk. Owing to the worldwide success of the first Spider-Man film in 2002, Marvel has since sought to recreate all of Stan Lee's characters for the big screen and reinvent and reinterpret them for modern audiences. Their most recent and ambitious attempt at this has been with the creation of their own studios, Marvel Studios which will produce several films featuring various Marvel characters, set in a common continuity, so that the characters may interact in a future crossover film. The Incredible Hulk is the second film to be released as part of this ambitious project and following on the heels of the highly successful Iron Man, it has certainly done pretty well commercially and even critically, though probably not as much as its producers would have liked. Though the Incredible Hulk is a reboot of the short-lived Hulk movie franchise (which began and ended with the 2003 Hulk film), it does not retread the plot of the previous film by retelling the characters tragic origin story...rather it has the unique quality of reinventing the character and reintroducing him to the audiences while at the same time taking the character forward and presenting new material to viewers who have seen the previous film. The story revolves around Bruce Banner, who has been living with the curse of the gamma-charged monster called the Hulk for five years now. Banner, who is on the run from the US Military, led by General Ross, seeks a cure from his abnormal condition, with the help of his ex-girlfriend and his arch-Nemesis's daughter, Betty Ross. General Ross however is determined to capture the Green Goliath and to this end empowers a Special Forces veteran named Blonsky with the Super Soldier serum. However, Blonsky's lust for power results in his transformation into the all-powerful Abomination, whose rampage through the streets of New York City can only be stopped by the Hulk! It is this no holds barred fight scene which is truly the climatic moment of this film. Edward Norton does a brilliant job portraying Bruce Banner as the scientist and fugitive tormented by his brutal alter ego, while Liz Tyler plays the part of the faithful girlfriend and companion to perfection. Ultimately, this film has given the Hulk the momentum to make a giant leap towards future success...it remains to be seen if the producers enable him to actually make that leap...