Real Review - The Incredible Hulk 2008

Ok, so this was not a remake of the Ang Lee film Hulk, but it certainly seemed like it was going to be from the previews. This film actually only touches on the discovery of the Hulk in the beginning to get the viewers caught up on the situation, but then quickly skips to a later time when Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) is trying to discover a cure for his “illness.”

While he is trying to find a cure, General Thadeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (William Hurt) is trying to find him to use his genes to make a superhuman army. Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) is the girl that is most important to Bruce, but unfortunately he has the Hulk and can’t see her because it is too dangerous. Typical superhero/comic book drama/romance/action ensues.

Everything Else

I have to admit the CG Hulk looked a lot better in this one, but it still does not impress that much. The Hulk “coolness” is what really makes this movie do what it intended to do. The direction is actually quite sloppy at times and cries for help in a few scenes. It would seem that they took out too much of the movie that tied loose ends, and this truly hurt the final product. Although even with the extra minutes added back in, the editing room would not have made certain parts make much sense.

The acting was good throughout The Incredible Hulk, but Tim Roth finds himself in a seriously cliche role as the bad guy. Tim Roth does well, but the scripting makes his character overused and boring. Aside from that issue, the rest of the characters work well even with Betty Ross being the typical damsel in distress (you just need that I guess).

Louis Leterrier has not done anything overly unique here like Ang Lee had done for the first film. I would have liked to see a little more creativity involved rather than the Transformers or Iron Man (may I point out that Iron Man was better) style “just give me the action.” Thought provoking is nice from time to time. The Incredible Hulk does deliver on the action though. The fight scenes are great and there are plenty of mangled cars and people being tossed like dolls. The real meat comes with the tie in to the other Marvel characters. Of course everyone knows Tony Stark makes an appearance in this movie, but this really is starting to add a lot of potential for all of the Marvel movies and the way they could tie them together.

The Real Deal

I liked The Incredible Hulk a lot, but it was a let down when I really thought about it. There are things that are better about this one than the Ang Lee version, but I liked the Ang Lee version and it had more creativity. The fight scenes are great here and the CG looks a lot better, but that is not enough to warrant the redo/remake/sequel (it was absolutely necessary though to make the connections with these other Marvel characters). If only they could have made it tie into the last one a bit better. This could have made the first one better while not making the film seem like it is trying to rewrite history. I will not forget Hulk (2003) so why try and make me forget it. This is certainly worth the watch even with all of my complaining. Rest assured this is the Hulk and it certainly will get you excited about it if you are a fan. I will be interested to see how this ties into the upcoming Marvel movies.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 736,192
Sharon Movie? No

Source: Dave’s Movie Reviews

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