Much better than the last film, and stands well on its own too.

Rating: 7/10 (12 October 2008)

While this new Hulk film isn't the best superhero movie of 2008, it's a vast improvement on the 2003 version (which demonstrated that it is in fact possible to make a film about a big green monster fuelled by rage, that's actually boring).
This time round, there's no pointless character-development scenes that keep the film dragging on forever: the pacing's much better, with most (if not all) of the scenes remaining relevant and keeping you entertained. The film begins with some brief origin scenes before we find Bruce Banner hiding in Brazil  he's looking for an antidote to his condition, and ends up going home looking for help, but he's being pursued by the army who want to harness his power as a weapon. The overall plot is, again, more straightforward than the 2003 version, and flows nicely.
As in the last film, there's not quite as much Hulk as there could have been, but when the Hulk's around, he leaves more of an impression. He looks more detailed, and certainly angrier, and he spends more time doing what the Hulk does best: smashing. The action scene where he takes on the Army on a university campus is exciting and well filmed, but his climactic battle with the Abomination is one of the best superhero battles I've ever seen: watching these two monsters tear up the scenery and effortlessly throw each other around, striking with speed and hardly ever stopping for breath, is just fantastic.
There's not much to say on the actors playing the three main characters, Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and William Hurt  they all give performances which are nothing special, but satisfactory. Tim Roth's performance as Emil Blonsky is more noteworthy: while in human form, he gives us an entertaining antagonist that I wish I'd seen more of. His final transformation into the Abomination is a bit sudden after the gradual self-improvement that takes place through the rest of the film, but that's just a little gripe  the Abomination itself looks brilliant (the bones sticking out are a nice touch).
Overall, this film won't blow you away, but it's a good summer action movie that's definitely worth a look.