You've seen it done better a million times before

Rating: 5/10 (9 June 2008)

Unlike the other reviewers here I was REALLY disappointed with this film. Admittedly I felt similarly disappointed after seeing Ang Lee's take on the big green monster - but that was my fault for having "traditional" expectations going in. That earlier film improved with subsequent viewings, and at least had a sense of originality going for it.
I'm a fan of Ed Norton's work, and so was looking forward to his take on things, particularly when it was announced he was writing the script and would be concentrating on the Banner character and his inner psyche.
Alas, the endless reports of a troubled shoot, culminating with Norton's name being removed from the writing credits of the film earlier this week by the WGA set off alarm bells that have proved all too true.
This is a lazy, formulaic, 'do it by numbers' mess of a superhero film. It's not a patch on "Iron Man" which was Marvel's first "in house" production, and it suffers terribly when compared to that offering. When the standout sequence is a rehash of the rooftop scene already done (and to much better effect) in Bourne Ultimatum you know you're in trouble.
Ed Norton is, unfortunately, totally miscast in this take on Bruce Banner. He's far too bland to command leading man status. The action scenes are tired and lifeless, with poor fire FX and some terrible "eye line" work on the CGI. Only the end scene fight between The Hulk and The Abomination look vaguely convincing. And it's the sort of fight scene that we've seen endless times before in other, better superhero movies.
Other missteps include having Mr Blue (Samuel) playing everything for laughs, and the complete lack of a proper ending. The fight scene ends and then the makers don't know what to do. In fact the ending is so bad they end up having to add the same coda they added to "Iron Man", but this time before the credits. Lame, lame, lame! Kids will enjoy this, and I guess it's truer to the comic book than Ang Lee's take was. But really it just comes across as a "between series" TV episode expanded out with a movie budget. There's nothing new here and Bill Bixby did it better on TV.
I'd be surprised if there's a sequel. And if there is I hope it's a whole lot better than this mess.