Film Makes Hulk Sad

Rating: 2/10 (19 June 2008)

It concerns me that my friend and I's favourite scene in this movie was the one with Stan Lee in it.
Where to start. Lets start with the casting.
Given that the film (roughly) follows on from what went before there would have been no problem in using the same cast to do this movie.
In the press it's been stated that Norton was looking for a more cerebral plot. I'd suggest that he should either read the press - where Marvel distinctly stated Ang Lee's film was too cerebral - or sack his agent.
Liv Tyler's Betty Ross was about as substantial as tracing paper and I could see no reason for her slipping the glasses on and off as they failed to provide any gravitas.
William Hurt delivered some of his lines a'la Jeff Bridges in the Big Lebowski and finally Tim Roth just appeared to be there for the pay check.
It surprised me when Leterrier agreed to direct as previous movies have used physical action and not CGI (which was woeful at best making the Hulk look malnourished). This showed as the first scene and the chase across the slums is marvellously directed lulling the viewer into expecting more. It doesn't come.
Plot is (well is there a plot) bad to say the least. Why are the army trying to get Banner in the middle of a university campus if this is a top secret operation? Why does every troop seem to know about the operation by the time they hit New York? Why can't the US Army continue a hunt during a storm? Why does Bruce run away from Betty only to give up pathetically on the bridge and why does this film constantly reference the TV series? I could go on but there really is little point. Some Hulk purists may feel in harks to the heyday of this type of Hulk but it should be noted that it was Peter Davids more cerebral Hulk character that saved the comic and actually made the character interesting.
Come back Ang Lee, cast and crew. I preferred you!