Marvel mutant hero packs one heck of a punch ...

Rating: Null/10 (12 June 2008)

Just got back from the cinema after choosing to see this on opening day, rather than Mum's choice of the overlong Sex and the City. I'm glad I chose this.
While I can't speak for comic book fans, as I'm not one and even the 90s cartoon series was my least fave as a child, I enjoyed this retelling(not a remake) of the Mavel comic book a lot.
Acting: Ed Norton was good as Banner - he shows vulnerability well (but I thought they could've given him more chance to showcase his 'inner conflict' abilities in the script - which seems to, almost expectedly be mostly channelled into his green alter-ego), and I thought had some chemistry with his love interest - Liv Tyler. Poor Banner can't even be intimate without fear of turning green. Liv Tyler gives the film it's emotional heart and she's quite subtle to me (thankfully not OTT). She's involved in helping Banner find a cure. William Hurt is very good as the rogue general who dispatches soldiers and weapons to use against Hulk, so he can use him as a powerful super weapon. Another experiment he does with Tim Roth's character to create another Hulk though he does, quite catastrophically learn the consequences of his actions. Tim Roth plays his creepy, corrupt and greedy antagonist well - who later turns into The Abomination as aforementioned from a botched op. I thought his character could've had some more development. Other mentions go to who to Mr Blue(who banner instant messages for help with a cure). We find out he's an over enthusiastic scientist, but is somehow interesting in a way, as he's so fascinated by Bruce's infliction ( even calling it 'God-like').
Pacing: Starts with a view of green cells, and tells banner's past though a series of brief Bourne-type flashbacks. The scenes themselves runs at a expected pace. Liked the way it was shown on screen the number of days Banner had not had an 'incident' of turning into Hulk and if he had, it would start again at 0. the film dwells less on the angst of Bruce banner and more on the action, unlike the Ang Lee one.
Cinematography: The special effects were overall quite good and Hulk looked solid most of the time(as solid as CG can sort of look, even if it doesn't have that physical mass to it), apart from the odd shot where I thought I could tell it was blatant discernible CGI(in action sequences - particularly the full-on war battle on the uni campus). The fights those were too fast and a lot of it was a blur. It's pure spectacle these scenes though. The standout one for me was probably the uni campus turned military battlefield, with explosions aplenty. All the main military defence is used against this green monster, yet Hulk destroys them so easily. My sheer amazement and Hulk's strength(especially when he first transforms in the bottle factory and we see men go flying through the air) made me yell 'bloody hell' a lot.
Music: Pretty standard score. It did it's job really, but wasn't standout from my point of view.
Overall: An explosive, engaging action film, that while I don't think it necessarily does anything that innovative with the comic-book film genre, as a popcorn film to sit down and see, I think it works well. It has a subtly knowing script, and a majority of good acting in it. And I found the action scenes more satisfying in length(and the final fight between Hulk and Abomination smack down better) than Iron Man's action scenes and climax. It could've had more sense of fun about it though, as it was quite brooding and serious in tone. Only a handful of laughs (shopping for stretchy trousers in Brazil, 'you don't like me when I'm ... hungry' etc). There's no real connection between the two very separate entities of Hulk and Banner. It could've slowed down the action a bit, especially between the two creatures at the end(charging towards each other), and it did feel a bit generic. Again, it had the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, which i always like to spot in these sort of films. Tony Stark even makes a cameo at the end to make a tip-off about another forthcoming Avengers film.