The Incredible Hulk
By Matthew Rodgers
Redux, re-imagining, re-birth, just not a sequel to Ang Lee’s stylish, Freudian take on “ol stretchy pants” that perplexed audiences almost five years ago. Going through a change of its own, Marvel’s second studio film (after this summer’s blockbusting Iron Man) cuts Bana, Connelly, and Lee from the pages, replacing them with Norton, Tyler and Transporter director Louis LeTerrier to dilute the dithering and up the action ante, resulting in as many problems as the first film had, it makes you wonder if The Hulk is capable of having a life outside the hand-drawn frame.
Picking up where that “less-than-Hulk Smash” left off, David Banner (Edward Norton – Fight Club) is holed up in a Brazilian Favela, working in a bottle factory and making every effort to stay beneath the radar constantly monitored by General “Thunderhead” Ross, a man who wishes to use his Shrek imitating powers as a military weapon. It wouldn’t be much of a film if things didn’t get ugly for our geeky protagonist and so he has to wrestle with his heart in an effort to protect Betty (Liv Tyler) but more appealingly with tanks, channuk helicopters, and Tim Roth’s general-gone-mental, Abomination, in a series of high-octane set-pieces whose absence blighted HULK mark one.
With the taste of failure (if over $300M worldwide can be called that?) in Marvel’s mouth the initial allure of The Incredible Hulk is its brooding star. More introspective and physically lightweight than Bana, his overall fragility by comparison makes the “Hulk-outs” a more significant process in terms of the struggle with the beast within. But it’s the inclusion of Norton the man that’s the hook; an actors actor who distances himself from such commercial fare as this. Maybe spurred on by the resounding success of Robert Downey Jnr (who is also close to this project as you will see) he has taken on scripting, and if you believe the reports of a studio, director, and star 3-way battle, editing duties in an attempt to add some credos to the summer popcorn season.
It doesn’t necessarily work though. Any influence of restraint is in the films subtle, low-key opening that depicts Banner’s day-to-day routine of making a living and then trying to find a way to live. It’s an intriguing start that rips-off The Bourne Ultimatum with its roof-top chase sequence and includes a factory based smackdown that offers glimpses of the Jolly Green Giant prior to full videogame reveal.
And therein lays the major problem with The Incredible Hulk; in a bid to become the polar opposite of the previous incarnation after the aforementioned opening it becomes akin to watching a Saturday morning kids TV show, not only in its episodic construction but in its hyper-real visuals. Despite having what appears to be more muscle definition Le Terrier’s Hulk is not that dissimilar in looks to Eric Bana’s much maligned blob and as impressive as the mid-section campus carnage is, by the time the Harlem mash-up with Abomination arrives tedium has well and truly set in.
Norton is tremendously likeable in the central role, providing the requisite amount of turmoil needed as Banner wrestles with his inner demons, comedian he aint though. The lighter touch another reactionary measure to the droll proceedings of HULK, asking him to pull off lines such as “You wouldn’t like me when I’m hungry” are a bit much, although the films highlight is a pre-coital exchange between Banner and Ross that’s playfully wicked and once again highlights the imbalanced intentions of the movie. Of the other players Tyler gets little meat to chew on but does so admirably and Tim Roth hams it up with all the verve of a man who knows how ludicrous everything around him is.
Not as polished as Iron Man and only marginally superior than what it was attempting to better, but Norton coupled with some visually arresting set-pieces make The Incredible Hulk just about a successful “difficult 2nd album” for both Marvel and The Hulk franchise. The question remains that after two outings, is there any where else that this monosyllabic 2-dimensional comic book hero can go?
