The Incredible Hulk

Film Review by Paul Greenwood | 11 Jun 2008
Film title: The Incredible Hulk
Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt
Release date: 13 Jun
Certificate: 12A

Not a sequel, no no. Not a remake either. Not even what’s recently been coined a reimagining. They're calling The Incredible Hulk a reboot. After Ang Lee’s brave, interesting but deeply flawed 2003 Hulk failed to engage either audiences or box office tills, the future of the big green smashing machine seemed in serious jeopardy. But Marvel and Universal are back for a second crack with a new director and an all new cast, and hopes are high.

Wasting not a moment, the Hulk appears within the first minute as part of a stunning credits sequence that neatly fills us in on how Dr. Bruce Banner (Norton) has been tampering with gamma radiation and his resulting monsterisation without the need for a whole new origin story. Now living in quiet hiding in Brazil, and 158 days Hulk-free, he’s searching for a cure and the only thing that would make him go back to the States is his love for Betty Ross (Tyler). But the army, led by Betty’s father, General Ross (Hurt), are still intent on harnessing his power, and Roth’s attack dog marine is dispatched to bring Bruce in.

Ditching Lee’s attempts at depth, darkness and style, but still finding room for dramatically satisfying themes, the reboot has plenty in its favour – more action and less pretension keeps the pace up, while wonderful use of the haunting score from the original television series adds poignancy, reminding us Banner really is a man without a home. Leterrier doesn’t always manage to make the action as coherent as it should be, but he’s still capable of presenting rampant destruction on a grand scale, with Hulk’s two big face-offs against heavily armed troops, and a final showdown with a monster called Abomination truly spectacular. With a sly late cameo neatly tying together and setting up characters from the Marvel universe, the future’s bright, the future’s green. Forget the ponderous first film because The Incredible Hulk does, indeed, smash. [Paul Greenwood]

 

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