Incredible Hulk, The (DVD)

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Okay. It goes like this. Eric Bana is a better Bruce Banner. "The Incredible Hulk" is a better Hulk film. Ang Lee´s previous "Hulk" starred Bana as Banner, but his film was too heavy in plot and didn´t quite connect with audiences. The latest cinematic incarnation is intended to tie into a brand new Marvel universe and while it is only a slightly better film, it flows far smoother and is far easier to sit through and enjoy. Unfortunately, I´m not sold on having the capable Edward Norton, Jr. cast as the iconic gamma ray infected doctor for a couple reasons and the decision to have the Hulk face off against the near mirror image Abomination felt tired and unoriginal as so many super heroes seem forced to square off against their evil doppelganger. "The Incredible Hulk" is a better film, but Hollywood has yet to produce a truly iconic film starring the big green guy.

The film begins with a clever animated sequence that tells the entire backstory of the Hulk character through comic book styled frames. Writer Zak Penn had originally penned this story as a sequel to the 2003 Ang Lee film and matured the film through multiple versions. Edward Norton stepped in after being cast as Bruce Banner and rewrote the work done by Zak Penn to present the story as a ´reboot´ of the franchise and treat this as an entirely new story that ignored what was presented in the Lee film. Norton is treated as a shadow writer and was not given credit for the work done on the film as he kept much of the essential plot of Penn´s story, but changed the tone, characters and tweaked the plot to ignore the Lee movie. Norton argued that audiences didn´t care to sit through the characters familiar origins again and "The Incredible Hulk" moves quickly into action.

Dr. Bruce Banner (Norton) has fled government capture by General Ross (William Hurt) after his involvement in a secret super soldier project leaves the scientist transformed into the Hulk (voiced by Lou Ferrigno) and Ross´ daughter Betty (Liv Tyler) is injured during Banner´s first angry transformation into the gamma infused beast. He finds employment as a handyman in a soda factory in Brazil where he does everything from clean floors to fixing faulty electrical work. Banner takes Judo classes to learn to control his anger and heartrate and works hard to find a cure for the gamma radiation that turns him into the Hulk. After an incident at the factory leads an innocent consumer (Stan Lee) to become infected with gamma sickness, Ross traces the whereabouts of Banner to Brazil and sends British military specialist Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) to tranquilize Banner and capture him alive.

This first meeting between Blonsky and Banner results in Banner getting hungry angry and turning into the Hulk. Blonsky´s men are easily defeated and the British soldier is amazed at what unfolded in front of his eyes. Both men return to the United States through their separate ways and Blonsky has General Ross inject him with a serum developed through Banner´s work to turn him into a super soldier. He is given a control dose that will elevate his abilities, but not turn him into the monstrosity that Banner becomes. Banner, on the other hand, returns and has a run-in with Ross´ daughter, his ex-girlfriend Betty. Their reunion is cut short when Ross´ men and Blonsky discover their location and Banner is cornered and forced to transform into the Hulk. The empowered Blonsky and the Hulk fight in hand-to-hand combat and the over confident Blonsky is nearly killed by the Hulk.

Banners then searches out "Mr. Blue" who had been helping him find a cure to the gamma radiation. He visits Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) in the Big Apple. During their encounter Sterns makes it clear to Banner that he does not intend to cure Banner´s condition, but produce a large number of evolutionary humans with some Hulk-like traits. This brings about a heated discussion between the two, but Blonsky appears with his soldiers and ends the discussion by capturing Betty, Banner and Sterns. This leads to Blonsky using the doctor´s formula and becoming a Hulk-like monster known to Hulk fans as the Abomination. This leads to a major confrontation in New York City between the Hulk and the Abomination and another confrontation in the long line of super hero films where the villain is an evil doppelganger.

Before breaking down my thoughts on the film and the story I´ll discuss why I do not like the casting of Edward Norton, Jr. as Bruce Banner. At least the filmmakers didn´t call the character David, but I felt that Norton just didn´t quite fit the historical persona of Dr. Banner. Perhaps the dark hair of Bill Bixby and Eric Bana have me simply revolting against the brown haired Norton, but shouldn´t the Hulk looked more like Norton after the transformation? Granted, this isn´t the crazy green hair of Ferrigno during the television show, but I just couldn´t buy into Banner turning into the film´s version of the Hulk and Norton just doesn´t pass as a good looking genius, but as an every-day man who should be drinking a beer and not trying to cure gamma radiation. I´ve also greatly respected Norton and didn´t enjoy him taking part in a large blockbuster. The same could be said about Robert Downey, Jr., but this just felt like a miscast.

The story itself wasn´t all that terribly bad and I found it to be a lot of fun at times. The relative ease in which Ross was able to locate and harass Bruce Banner was full of plot holes and the film never tried to delve too deeply into the humanity or character of either Banner or the Hulk, which caused the Ang Lee film to always feel heavy handed. This picture was meant to bring the character in line with Marvel´s plan for a reboot of their franchises and intertwine the familiar heroes into one large universe. They are looking to make the Hulk a menacing mound of muscle and anger that is fun and exciting. This is a film that is far more accessible to a mass audience and generations brought up on Playstations, Xbox and MTV. It lacked the depth of "Iron Man" and "The Hulk," but it was certainly a faster-paced romp than what Ang Lee delivered and the depiction of a nine foot tall Hulk was easier to stomach than a fifteen foot beast. Thankfully, this film didn´t take forever to get started like the last one.

While I found "Iron Man" to be far more enjoyable and didn´t think "The Incredible Hulk" could lay a hand on "The Dark Knight," this is a good comic book adaptation that may very easily be the best live-action treatment ever given to the Hulk. It didn´t have the silliness of the television show or many of the comic stories, but it was full of action and the Hulk smashing things. Of course, it didn´t have Nick Nolte and I would have loved to have seen Eric Bana given another chance in this role. I´m interested to see what Marvel does with the rest of the Avengers. I know a Captain America film is in the works and they are already moving forward with a sequel to "Iron Man." The eventual Avengers film may very well be the next time we see the Hulk after somewhat disappointing box office returns, but this film was entertaining enough that I´ll be looking forward to seeing that Bruce Banner does next in whatever installment follows.