Yes, it's time to re-start my Marvel Cinematic Universe retrospective I suddenly stopped a little over a year ago. Why? Oh, it's very simple...
...I got lazy.
...that's it.
Still, with Avengers: Age of Ultron on the horizon at the time of writing, I think it's time to pick back up where I left off and see what I can do about retrospecting the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Because the sad truth is that this film as well as Iron Man came out seven years ago. Why yes, that does make me a bit sad.
However, getting to the main point of this particular review - the Hulk. As the opening monologue tells, Bruce Banner was working on a form of bomb powered by gamma radiation. Accidentally caught in the blast, Bruce was surprisingly not burned alive by atomic fire but instead found himself cursed with a forced transformation into the giant green rage monster known as the Incredible Hulk, the strongest there is.
Now, some of you might remember at this point a 2003 film known as Hulk that starred Eric Bana and was directed by Ang Lee.
...stop it. Right now.
Mostly due to the fact that this version ignores all of that and doesn't have the unbelievable sin of opening credits that drag on for half of the film's run time or the Hulk poodle. In fact, the opening story is summed up rather nicely via a montage in a nice send up to the opening title sequence of the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno television show.
As it gets implied in this film (and outright stated in The Avengers), Bruce Banner (Eric Norton) was performing tests with gamma radiation in order to try and replicate Doctor Abraham Erskine's original Super Soldier serum. But a horribly accident occurred that left Bruce's lady love Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and her father General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) heavily injured and their lab destroyed.
Unlike the television show, however, the world does not think that Bruce Banner is dead. With General Ross on his trail, Bruce has been forced to be out on the lam in Brazil, where at the beginning of the film he's had nearly one hundred and sixty days without an incident. So, for the one white guy in all of Brazil, he blends in pretty well and keeps his head down.
However, following an accident at the factory where he works, some of Banner's blood gets traced back to him and the government closes in on them. Eventually one of their number, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) ends up being injected with a similar serum to Banner's, which inevitably turns him into a monster not unlike the Hulk and forces a showdown between the two.
I will say, right off the bat that Edward Norton has a lot of love for the character of the Hulk, that much is unquestionable. His performance as Bruce Banner shows a great deal of heart his performance reminds me a great deal of his in Fight Club, what with contending with a similar alternate persona that the plot revolves around (spoiler alert - though the film's been out since 1999). However, instead of Brad Pitt...it's a giant green rage monster.
I like that the film takes great pains - much like The Amazing Spider-Man - to show off the fact that Banner is a scientist, doing things such as repairing machinery in the factory where he works in Brazil and working on cure for his gamma poisoning while learning various anger management techniques in order to keep his heart rate at a manageable level.
Liv Tyler's version of Betty Ross is several steps above Jennifer Connelly's in...that other film, but both of these are due to this being a far more superior film. Though heartbroken at losing Bruce, Betty has moved on with her life and even became engaged to Doctor Leonard Samson (Ty Burrell), though predictably Banner being thrown back into her life flips the whole thing upside down. I know she gets garbage for being the bland, uninteresting female love interest in many films (Armageddon and Lord of the Rings come to mind), but she actually is good here and - like Gwen Stacy in the later The Amazing Spider-Man films - actually has some use to the plot and does things rather than standing around looking utterly helpless the whole time.
...at least until the final fight, but anybody who willingly gets in the middle of the Hulk and the Abomination fighting has got to be suicidal.
Or Thor.
And speaking of foolhardy warrior types, we have William Hurt playing General Ross and he's surprisingly fresh out of his incredibly bland monotone that usually carries his performances (Lost in Space, anyone?), though I'm beginning to wonder if that's just from the director he usually gets, since director Louis Leterrier has coaxed a rather good performance out of him. Though I'm not as big a fan of the Hulk as some, I know enough about Ross to know that he's a man who is enraged at how much of a fool that Banner made him look like and, enraged, is perpetually hunting the man and failing and then becoming further enraged and emasculated because he cannot capture Banner, who he uses as the scapegoat for his failures.
Rounding out the main cast we have Tim Roth playing Emil Blonsky. Though in the comics he was a Russian KGB agent, in this modern retelling he's a Russian born British commando. In dealing with his advanced age and lack of advancement within the army, begins sufering inadequacy issues after fighting the Hulk and actually managing to survive the first time, Blonsky volunteers to undergo testing that will give him the same powers as the Hulk, but end up turning him into a twisted Abomination. He's also, amazingly for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the main villains who isn't outright killed by the end, and so perhaps might appear in another Hulk film.
Oh, and also of note is Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) who Banner has been working with via encrypted computer transmissions to try and find a cure for his cellular mutation. Eventually, he will become the villainous Leader as we see here with him mutating from some exposure to Banner's blood. With any luck he, too, will also show up in a future Hulk film. Here, though, he's a well-intentioned extremist who wants to use the Hulk's blood for medicinal purposes. A noble goal.
I mean, incredibly stupid given what is known about it, but noble.
The story is pretty solid, though the rewrites do so themselves in a few places. Overall, however, it's a pretty good story that shows a lot of love for the characters of Banner and the Hulk, as well as the mythos that surrounds them. The performances are very solid thorough and there are more than a few little mythology gags spread around (such as Banner mocking the stretchy purple shorts Hulk is iconically known for), which make for an enjoyable time.
We get Banner having to not only deal with the beast within, but the fear that that beast may spread and harm others, thus doing all he can to see that it doesn't happen. It's suitably dark, heavy, and tragic for a story about the Hulk. But as I said with the purple shorts, it's not afraid to occasionally point and laugh at the silly bits that pop up because this is, after all, a comic book adaptation.
Speaking of the adaptation side of things, we get a nice little post credits scene at the end where Tony Stark shows up to Ross in a bar and mentions that a team is being brought together. And since we've finally gotten to that film...guess where we'll be going next time?
Stay tuned!
The Incredible Hulk is now available from Marvel Studios, Valhalla Motion Pictures, and Universal Pictures on DVD and Blu-Ray.
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