“You wouldn’t like me when I’m … hungry.”
It’s been only been a few years since Hulk was released, and many people have wondered: why is The Incredible Hulk out so soon. There are two reasons for this. It’s a semi-sequel which changes some of the events which happened in the first film making it also a semi-reboot for the series, and it is being used as a vehicle to continue the “Marvel Universe” storyline leading up to the Avengers movie (at the end of the film, Tony Stark appears to talk to General Ross about the Hulk). Nonetheless, the Hulk is one of the most used Marvel “Super-heroes” and one might wonder, was there the need for another Hulk movie, and even if there wasn’t, was this movie any good?
While the answer to the first question is “probably not,” the answer the second question is a “yes.” Although it is not in the same league as Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk is an example of the enjoyable but mindless entertainment which is brought out summer after summer, and it meets the expectations of such a film. Moreover, for fans of the television series, there are all kinds of nods to it — Lou Ferrigno not only appears as the voice of the Hulk, but also as a university security guard. Bill Bixby appears, albeit on a television show Bruce Banner is watching (The Courtship of Eddie’s Father). When Bruce Banner changes to the Hulk, they do close ups to his eyes as it once was done on television. You will even get the ending theme music being played as Bruce wanders around hitchhiking in one sequence. And if pay attention, Jack McGee has a cameo in the film. But one of the fun elements of the television series, that David Banner (not Bruce) would go around helping people while trying to find a cure was not really brought out in this film (the first act of the movie has elements of it, but it doesn’t go far enough to get the feel of the television series the way The Fugitive did for its respective show).
Plot wise, the story is generally well known: Bruce Banner is on the run, trying to find a way to stop transforming himself into the Hulk. He wants to return to his love, Betsy Ross, while Betsy Ross’s father, General Ross, wants to capture Bruce and find out how to control the Hulk and use the Hulk for the military. This time he recruits a soldier to help track Bruce down, who, initially does not know about the Hulk, but once he sees him, wants the power of the Hulk for himself. To help track down the Hulk, he is given “super-soldier” treatments which allows him to face the Hulk and live, but not enough power in itself to defeat the Hulk on his own; so he finds a way to access the Hulk’s D.N.A. and use it on himself to become “Hulk-like.” The scientist who aids him in his quest is one who was, behind the scenes, trying to help Bruce find a cure (the scientist, while having an important role in this film, is even more important in the Hulk story, because he becomes one of the Hulk’s major villains, The Leader, and by the end of the movie, the Leader has been born).
Beside that simple plot and the nods to the television series, the Hulk movie adds some, but not much, humor (the quote at the top of the post is one of them, when Bruce is trying to speak in a foreign tongue and says “hungry” instead of “angry”; it is nearly enough to help release the tension of the film’s darkest moments. The direction was more pedestrian than last time (not too surprising, since the direction last time was overly-creative for its own good), and Edward Norton does a good, but not impeccable, job as Bruce Banner (Bill Bixby’s version of Dr. Banner is light years ahead of Norton’s, but I wonder how much of that is the director’s fault?)
3 ½ stars out of 5.
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