the Incredible Hulk Review
Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and Tim Roth
Original Release date: June 8th 2008
After the train-wreck that was Ang Lee’s Hulk from 2003, I don’t think anyone expected to see the green rage monster bursting onto screens again, but after five years it seemed we were wrong. Marvel Studios had gotten their rites back to the character and it looked like we were all going to go through another origin story with the Hulk, thankfully that was not the case. The end product turned out to be a movie that completely shattered expectations and is, in my opinion, the best pre-Avengers film in Phase 01.
As always this is a spoiler review, so I might touch upon things that could potentially ruin the movie, so if you have yet to watch the Incredible Hulk I suggest you do so before reading.
Taking place during the events of Iron man 2, the Hulk starts out with Bruce Banner on the run from the government. He’s been in hiding for a few years now and has started to undergo some anger management to control the beast within and has started looking for a cure to his condition. Unfortunately for Bruce nothing can go his way, the government and general “Thunderbolt” Ross are hot on his trail and Bruce must once again travel back to the one place he never thought he’d return to, home. All of these events culminate in a gigantic smash down between the Hulk and the government created Abomination.
I love this movie, out of all of Phase 01 this is the one film I’ve seen the most. I’m pretty upset with myself that I never got around to seeing this in theatres because it must have been quite the spectacle. This was the movie that proved to audiences that Marvel Studios knew what their fans wanted when it came to their characters. By doing a genius move and showing the origin story of the Hulk throughout the opening credits we were able to have a movie that brushed over what everyone already knew, and showcase exactly what a Hulk movie was supposed to be. I always thought it was a good kick in the groin for Universal studios, because throughout the movie they mention that Bruce’s first Hulk-out happened five years before the events of the film. That date would be the release of last Hulk movie, a fun little jab at the last film that was basically panned by everyone.
The cast in this movie (and most of the MCU films) is superb. I honestly think they couldn’t have picked a better cast. Edward Norton was the ideal choice for Bruce Banner, looking through the special features on the DVD I own you can see the dedication that Norton had for the character and source material. Not only was he Bruce but Norton was heavily involved with the creation of the Hulk, down to his posture and movements. Of course the character is now being spearheaded by Mark Ruffalo, who also does the motion capture for the Hulk, but I actually prefer Norton's take on the character. Bruce Banner is a tragic character, as it stands he’s the most broken out of the Avengers so far. His life was shattered and everything that he once loved was either taken from him or pushed aside by Banner himself. During the events of this movie Bruce Banner is public enemy number 1. Everyone is after him, he can’t even walk into a convenience store without the police showing up trying to take him in. He’s trying to get the Hulk under control and every scene in this movie is a struggle, life is stressful and you really wonder what would happen if you were put in a situation with a time bomb ticking off inside of you.
I know that the beginning of the movie tends to be the part that most people don’t like, I disagree. I find the entire first act to be completely nerve wrecking. Bruce Banner is a time bomb, you never know if he’s going to blow up and destroy everything in sight, and when it happens Louis Leterrier films it like a monster film, you only get quick glances at the Hulk before the big money shot, now that’s how you film the Hulk. Call me crazy, but I think the Hulk looks better in this movie than in the Avengers. Every time Hulk movies you can see his muscles contracting, you see the blood pumping through his veins. It's like he's ready to explode.
Liv Tyler stars as Betty Ross, Bruce Banners former girlfriend and co-worker. She hasn’t been in contact with Bruce since his initial transformation into the Hulk, and she has since then moved on with her life, believing that he is dead. Of course when Bruce comes back all those feelings rush back to Betty and she throws herself head first into the conflict between Bruce and her father Ross. I think Liv Tyler is great in this, I’ve heard that people aren’t the biggest fans of her work but I’ve always found her to be a wonderful actress. There is just something so sincere about her presence in any movie, especially this one because Liv Tyler really had her work cut out of her. Just like Gwyneth Paltrow in Iron man, the Incredible Hulk demands a performance of two individuals who have known each other for years. Liv has tremendous chemistry with Norton, but she also has to work with a character that isn’t even on set, the Hulk. It makes the computer animated Hulk all the more realistic when you have someone acting alongside it who gives a truly heart wrenching performance. It really is beauty and the beast, you can tell that Betty truly loves Bruce, even when he's a jolly green giant on steroids. I think one of the major crimes of this movie is completely forgetting about Betty, because it looks like Marvel is trying to get a Bruce and Black Widow relationship off the ground in Age of Ultron. Most of the things that make this movie good have been forgotten by Marvel, but I’ll touch on that later.
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Tim Roth stars as the films villain, Emil Blonsky. Blonsky is an ageing soldier hired on by Ross to hunt down Banner, of course Blonsky gets more than what he bargained for when he first comes into contact with the Hulk. After that, catching the Hulk becomes Blonsky’s primary obsession, and he’s willing to undergo anything to catch the beast, even if that means sacrificing his humanity in the process.
Blonsky has always been one of my favourite MCU villains, there is so much to the character that you only pick up on with repeat viewings, at least I did. You don’t get much of a backstory on the guy, but you learn some very important traits to the soldier. Blonsky is a man who is passing out of his prime, he’s a middle age man who belongs at a desk now rather than the field. During one of the first action set pieces in the movie, you can see Blonsky struggling to catch up with the other soldiers who are frantically trying to catch Bruce. Blonsky is an objective driven man, he is never use to failure and is met with a huge green colossal of a failure when he returns as the sole survivor from the first attempt to catch Bruce. After that we see Blonsky’s dream to be a constant soldier fulfilled when he is given the second phase of the super soldier serum, each time Blonsky meets Bruce he is stronger and faster, however each time we get a good look a Blonsky we can see the cracks slowly forming. This is a man who wants to live forever, to recapture his days of youth, and he finally gets that chance. Blonsky’s story is one of Hubris plain and simple. He gets all that he wanted but the results for that power is as Sterns puts it “an abomination”.
Tim Roth not only gave an excellent performance as Blonsky but was completely committed at playing the Abomination. Roth did the entire motion capture performance of the creature, and what makes Abomination scarier than the Hulk, is that he’s not just a creature driven by rage. There is a cunning behind Abomination, an intelligence that not even the Hulk fully possesses. This is what makes Abomination the perfect opponent for the Hulk, during their final fight Abomination goes out of his way to hurt Ross and Betty, knowing full well that this will fully anger the Hulk, he wants to see Bruce angry, and he wants to make the Hulk furious. Not only is he a danger to everyone around him, but he even uses the Hulks anger as a weapon to cause massive amounts of destruction.
The film also stars the fantastic William Hurt as General Ross. You can say that he is the villain for most of the film until the final act. All Ross wants is to control the Hulk as a weapon, and he will do anything to get him. He really is a despicable man, even going as far as arresting his own daughter because she’s been helping Bruce, all Ross cares about is himself. Tim Blake Nelson is also in the movie as Samuel Sterns a character who is mentioned throughout the film as Mr. Blue, but is only revealed for about fifteen minutes. He’s a character that probably will have a big impact on the rest of the MCU, unfortunately he’s been forgotten like the rest of the film.
I like to call this the red haired step-child of the MCU. Marvel never likes to mention this movie in the other films. It’s almost like they want it to go away, the movie has a very strong and different feel to it and I think that’s what makes it special. Marvel even went out of their way to retcon the stinger in the movie, which oddly enough isn’t during the end credits, it’s actually placed right at the end of the movie before the credits, I made a post last year about the Marvel One-shots where I talk more about the stinger so I suggest you check it out if you want to learn more about it. Another issue about this movie is that characters are never mentioned again, where is Sterns? This is the guy who will become the Leader, who is basically the Hulk’s Joker.
I think Marvel likes to forget about this movie because it was still a Universal studios picture, not Paramount (who owned the MCU before Disney). The movie is darker, grittier and has a very melancholic tone to it. Bruce Banner is a tragic character and I don’t want a fun happy-go-lucky movie like the Iron man films, tragic characters should have tragic movies. Hell, even in the very bloated Phase 03 that’s coming up there isn’t even talks about a second Hulk movie. It seems that the Hulk will never get a proper standalone sequel to this underrated movie.
The Incredible Hulk is a fantastic movie, it has the makings of a perfect comic book movie and has one of the best climaxes in the entire MCU. I’ve still yet to see a final fight that’s even as good as the Hulk Abomination fight.
The Incredible Hulk is easily a 8/10
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