Awesome

Rating: 10/10 (18 June 2008)

In 2003 Marvel teamed up with Universal pictures, to make what was supposed to be their third blockbuster franchise film, simply titled Hulk (X-Men and Spider-Man were the other two). They assigned Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) to direct and casted Eric Banna (Black Hawk Down), Jennifer Connoley (Blood Diamond), and Nick Nolte (48 Hours) to star in the film, as well as having "state of the art CGI". Needless to say everything on the surface looked great. Then the film was released, and instead of a monster hit, Universal and Marvel had a monster bomb. The franchise was considered dead, and all plans for a sequel were scrapped.
Five years later Hulk fan Edward Norton goes to Marvel studios with a script he wrote along with Zak Penn. Marvel loved the script and gave it to universal and bam (or is that smash?) a new movie titled The Incredible Hulk gets the green light (no pun intended). Lee is replaced with Louis Letteier (Transporter) someone who knows about making action films), Banna is replaced with Norton, and Connoley is replaced with Liv Tyler (Lord Of The Rings, The Strangers).
Needless to say The Incredible Hulk is awesome and is so much better than the very slow, artsy version that Ang Lee gave us. As a matter of fact my exact words to my wife as the credits started to roll was "The 2003 version no longer exists in my eyes".
From the opening sequence, which reenacts the opening scene from the old television series, to the final scene The Incredible Hulk left me smiling. As a big fan of the old series and the comic book (which I still read to this day) I can honestly say this was done well and would entertain anybody that went to see it. There is so much action it's hard to pick a favorite scene, there's humor where there needs to be, and even a hint of romance in the air.
The best thing that works in the film is the final fight scene between The Hulk and The Abomination (played by Tim Roth) which is everything a movie about two monsters fighting should be, unlike the lame, short, and very dark fight scene in the original.
I know people that had suffered through the 2003 version were tempted to stay away for this film, but trust me the whole Batman Begins type recipe has wiped the slate clean and started fresh, and that is what makes this film a blast.
As I have mentioned in many reviews for these type of movies, I am a comic book geek that loves his superhero movies. It took Hollywood four films to get batman (my favorite) right. Now It's The Hulk's turn. Looks like Batman is holding the door open to Hollywood for him.
On a scale of 10 I give The Incredible Hulk a 10. Marvel is doing a great job making their own movies. First Iron Man, now this. It makes me very excited to see Thor and Captain America.