The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Scientist Bruce Banner scours the planet for an antidote to the unbridled force of rage within him: the Hulk. But when the military masterminds who dream of exploiting his powers force him back to civilization, he finds himself coming face to face with a new, deadly foe.
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But is it too much to ask for a little believability? Louis Leterrier's "The Incredible Hulk" -- conceived as a do-over after Ang Lee's cerebral 2003 "Hulk" proved to be such a disappointment to fans of the Marvel comic series -- is so fattened up with special effects that it seems to be insulating itself against audience disapproval.
The origin story that so many of these movies get bogged down in is done away with as a series of brief shots over the opening credits: they were doing an experiment, something went wrong, now Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) can turn into the Hulk and is on the run from the government.
An attempt to reboot the franchise after Ang Lee’s angst-ridden arthouse “Hulk” (2003) made fanboys plotz, “The Incredible Hulk” is Rock’em Sock’em Robots to the 10th power.
Frankly, it's going to be much easier for me to compare the two than to judge The Incredible Hulk on its own merits.
Unlike “Hulk,” Ang Lee’s disappointing 2003 film based on Stan Lee’s 1962 Marvel comic book series and, in turn, the 1978-1982 television show that starred Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, Louis Leterrier’s new version gets it right.
A scene or two recalls King Kong; others invoke the wounded innocence of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Stan Lee , the Hulk's co-creator, has said that he came up with the character by crossbreeding Boris Karloff's Frankenstein monster with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
And Norton's performance is pleasingly reminiscent of the late Bill Bixby (who cameos in a brief clip from "The Courtship of Eddie's Father") in that show.
He’s also taking martial arts classes, learning Portuguese by watching TV (including reruns of The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, inciting appreciate cheers from movie viewers), chatting with his adorably intelligent dog, and looking out for Martina (Débora Nascimento), a female coworker at the factory, thus earning the ire of other coworkers—bald-headed and leering—who call him “gringo.”
That's a shame, because Edward Norton does his part by providing Bruce Banner with the requisite sense of torn humanity, and the film is filled with imaginative asides for fans of the comic book and/or TV series (my favorite is the shout-out to the late Bixby, showing him on a TV screen in an episode from his popular sitcom The Courtship of Eddie's Father).
It very much reminded me of John Landis's work on An American Werewolf in London and the Thriller video and I mean this in the best way possible.
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Marvel has Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and others.
It’s kind of interesting; there was briefly a trend in which independent auteurs were hired to direct superhero movies (Bryan Singer and X-Men, Christopher Nolan and Batman Begins, Sam Raimi and Spider-Man).
Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk have done it the first time out of the gate, at least Spider-Man waited until part 3. The film does stand on it’s own two feet, thanks mainly to Norton who should have demanded having Banner run a little more, and Hulk smash a little less.
In the tradition of X-Men and Spider-Man, this version of The Incredible Hulk is a solid adaptation for the big screen that retains its comic book feel.
It’s kind of interesting; there was briefly a trend in which independent auteurs were hired to direct superhero movies (Bryan Singer and X-Men, Christopher Nolan and Batman Begins, Sam Raimi and Spider-Man).
In the tradition of X-Men and Spider-Man, this version of The Incredible Hulk is a solid adaptation for the big screen that retains its comic book feel.
It’s that deep duality we want to see in superhero / supervillain stories -- the script is by X-Men vet Zak Penn and Norton himself, in his first credit as a screenwriter, and who knew he was such a geek?
And the hunched Abomination reminded me of nothing more than Riff Raff from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
We get the 'mad scientist' concept in triplicate, first with Banner himself, again with Ross, who dreams of scientific soldiers and lastly with Mr. Blue, revealed to be flaky university professor Samuel Sterns (beautifully cast Tim Blake Nelson, "Syriana," "The Astronaut Farmer," reminiscent of the nerdy researcher in "The Silence of the Lambs"), nicely planted here with seeds of future villainy.
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It doesn't have either the style and panache that made Iron Man stand out, or the vision and visual style that Christopher Nolan brought to Batman Begins.
So is it an origin story like 2005's Batman Begins ?
If it’s not the best Superhero film since ”Batman Begins”, it’s still an early contender for one of the Best Films of the Year.
Coming only five years after the Ang film, this is a bit awkward — much more so than with the eight years separating Batman Begins from the last film of the previous Batman franchise, for instance.
It’s dark and gritty and has more in common with the tone of Batman Begins than it does with Iron Man.
Of course a new writing team was brought in as well for credit (or blame, if you're so inclined), consisting of Zak Penn, no stranger to superheros with "X-Men: The Last Stand," and "Fantastic Four" under his belt; and no less than the star himself, Edward Norton, working on his first screenplay.
Screenwriter Zak Penn also has a mixed track record with Marvel adaptations of X-Men 2 and 3, Fantastic Four, and Elektra.
The script, by Zak Penn ("Fantastic Four," "The Grand") and star Norton, covers the bases well and with some wit.
In the eight years of the modern superhero wave, I'm not sure that there has been such a perfect example of a wholly mediocre comic movie, not as crushingly awful as Fantastic Four or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , but still lacking even the slightest hint of inspiration on any level.