Will tie you over until your next superhero movie

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2008)

The Incredible Hulk is the second film to come out of the newly formed Marvel Studios and as such it would always be compared to the phenomenally successful Iron Man. It would be a brave studio then that deviates too much from what seemed like such a winning formula in Iron Man and Hulk doesn't. Like Iron Man, there is questions placed over the morality of armed forces, though more directly in the shape of General Ross ( William Hurt ) and like Iron Man there is a love interest in Liv Tyler playing the part of Elizabeth Ross. Like Iron Man also there is a villain which comes as a sort of deformed reflection of the hero which comes in the form of Emil Blonsky ( Tim Roth ), a Special Ops operative who gets obsessed with the idea of becoming bigger and better. Furthermore, like Iron Man it has a very commendable lead, with Edward Norton playing the tortured Dr Bruce Banner.
So surely it should be a great movie like the aforementioned metal dude. Well unfortunately, the one thing that the Hulk lacks that Iron Man oozes with is charm. This is a superhero movie that isn't really dark enough to taken totally seriously and so it badly needs the odd one liner or two. Unfortunately though, while in Iron Man they are fast and furious, in Hulk they are very, VERY sparse. Then there is the fact that Bruce Banner simply is not as likable as Tony Stark is, and the flaws which make Stark so endearing are nowhere to be seen- nor is anything else for that matter.
But the Incredible Hulk has still got some nice fight sequences ( though being the Hulk they do seem to entail finding different ways to smash things...) as well as some nice acting. This will at least keep you sated until THe Dark KNight if nothing else.