More blam, less blah

Rating: 7/10 (13 June 2008)

I may be in the minority here, but I did like Ang Lee's take on "Hulk". I appreciated how it chose to be introspective and how it traded off much of the action for character study of a tortured individual. But I also know that such attempt, however earnest, seems more at home with art theaters and film festivals (or at least with late year releases) than with mainstream theaters in summer packed with audience looking for nothing more than a big popcorn movie. Thus, this immediate reboot of this Marvel comic book franchise.
Now helmed by "Transporter" director Louis Leterrier, "The Incredible Hulk" completely ignores the existence of the 2003 film - heart, introspection and all - and goes for a more action-packed route. It's what fans are clamoring and the film delivers in that regard - it's definitely bigger, faster, and stronger.
Edward Norton now plays Bruce Banner, a scientist who exposed himself to gamma rays during an experiment gone awry, and now turns into a rampaging green giant when angry or overexcited. Now he's on the lam because the father of his flame Betty Ross (a wooden Liv Tyler), General Ross (William Hurt), wants what's inside of him to build a team of superhuman soldiers. When General Ross tracks Banner in a Brazilian shanty town, he sends eager test subject Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) to chase Banner and bring him back. More colossal action scenes and nods to the Marvel Universe ensue.
Despite the low risk approach and a pretty much straightforward plot line, "The Incredible Hulk" has its merits. The film clocks in at less than two hours and for most of its running time, it manages to be entertaining. The CGI is serviceable and Edward Norton is fine as Bruce Banner, though with the script's lightweight treatment on his character, much of the inner conflict is gone and non-action scenes are more of obligatory fillers Leterrier and screenwriter Zak Penn are too eager to be done with. Incidentally Norton, who is reported to have done rewrites with the script, is unhappy with the final cut, but then...
I'm not going to be hypocritical and say the absence of profound inward contemplation made the film less enjoyable. It does, to some degree, but all things considered, "The Incredible Hulk" has everything a fan of the series could ask for a summer movie: more smashing and less talking.