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INCREDIBLE HULK
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Movie Review by:
Jim "Good Old JR" Rutkowski
Directed by:
Louis Leterrier
Written by:
Zak Penn
Starring:
Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt,
Running time:
114 minutes
Released:
06/13/08
Rated PG-13
for sequences of intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images and
brief suggestive content |
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"...even the CGI Hulk of 5 years ago is far more convincing then the Xbox 360
version that bounds around here" |
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I wish I could say I was filled with a
joyful giddiness upon leaving the new Incredible Hulk film for it
delivered on non-stop action, a tight story and a psychological
depth brought to it by Edward Norton. Alas, this was not the case.
Although not about the joyful giddiness. Oh no, I still left with
that feeling. But it was because I could now laugh in the faces of
all those who came down hard upon Ang Lee’s version in 2003. For
five years, his Hulk has been the butt of the comic book movie
universe, thrust out into exile much like Bruce Banner himself for
ignoring the origin story, inserting starfish technology and having
the audacity to actually see the drama in his cursed duality. Louis
“Unleashed” Leterrier’s 2008 “version” is twenty minutes shorter,
features the same amount of hulk-outs and manages to deliver no more
action than Lee’s version; the primary source of scorn to the comic
crowd. Out of spite though they may still say it’s an improvement,
proving that some people can be served crap and still spin it as
pudding. Heck, even the CGI Hulk of 5 years ago is far more
convincing then the Xbox 360 version that bounds around here.
Right off the bat, all questions as to whether or not this was a
sequel are answered as a completely new origin story is put into
fast-forward during the opening credits. Well, not completely new.
Instead of the father experimenting on his son, Bruce Banner (Edward
Norton), is trying the gamma technology on himself in the manner
that Bill Bixby did on the TV show. Same chair, same flashing red
DANGER sign. No flat tire to cause the initial change, but you get
the picture. Having nearly killed the love of his life, Betty Ross (Liv
Tyler) during the rampage her father, General “Thunderbolt” Ross
(William Hurt) has made it his mission to hunt down the fugitive
and, well, that seems to be the extent of his plan at first. Bruce
has been hiding out in Brazil, communicating only by laptop to
someone who may be able to help cure him.
General Ross brings in a big gun though named Emil Blonsky (Tim
Roth) once a far-fetched clue traces them to Banner’s whereabouts.
Blonsky becomes intrigued by his adversary’s abilities so the
General informs of the research the Army has been conducting in
search of the super soldier. Seems this was part of Banner’s
experiments (albeit without his knowledge) and Ross, already aware
of the effects on a mild-mannered scientist, decides to give Emil a
little taste. Now with T-1000-like speed and agility, Emil can take
on the Hulk at his own game, even if their fighting weights aren’t
quite matched. While Bruce escapes further capture, reunited with
Betty, he seeks to track down Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) who
has succeeded in developing a temporary antidote for his alter-ego
but might also have just the dose of medicine that Blonsky needs to
go monster-y-monster.
The drive of this particular Incredible Hulk film is more akin to
reading the daily logline than the constant pursuit tension of a
Fugitive or Bourne film. When Marvel and everyone associated with
this project set out to insultingly jettison all memory of Ang Lee’s
approach, did anyone believe that meant regressing it back to the
small screen version? I’m all for paying homage to the show,
included here by a clip of Bill Bixby getting smacked on Courtship
of Eddie’s Father and giving Lou Ferrigno a few lines while Norton
graciously gives him a “you da man.” There’s also a half-hearted
reference to a young campus reporter named Jack McGee (which got
zero reaction from the crowd), the four-note musical theme rears its
sullen head and maybe even an unintended nod to Bixby’s final
appearance in The Death of the Incredible Hulk. (He didn’t quite
make it falling from that helicopter.) But if you can clock a
feature film by its transformations (25-&-50) style and still wish
that you could skip through the commercials in-between, precisely
how far removed are you from what’s come before.
Not that anything around those commercial breaks are worth waiting
for either. With three set pieces distributed liberally while a
lesser version of Banner’s longing and angst string them together, I
challenge anyone to make a convincing argument that the mayhem on
display here is more exciting (or cooler) than what transpired in
2003. Fine, you didn’t like “mutant French poodles” and Leterrier’s
opening chase (a half-hour in) through the neighborhoods of Brazil,
pre-Hulk, isn’t bad. But shading the creature while he defends
himself distracts us from the ensuing carnage. The final
confrontation between Banner and Blonsky’s various incarnations (Try
not to groan when Nelson’s scientist says the various mixtures in
Blonsky’s blood would be “an abomination.”) is Transformers all over
again with two giant CGI creations moving so bullet fast there’s no
time to “wow” at one punch before the one who threw it is thrown
himself across the white section of Harlem which the film takes
gusto in destroying during the Cloverfield portion of the evening.
The only semi-legitimate cool moment allowed to breathe in the
climax we already saw Bruce Willis do to Yellow Bastard in Sin City.
Sorry, not the balls thing. The film would need them first.
Most telling though is the campus faceoff between the Hulk and
Thunderbolt’s army. This is to be the equivalent of the extended
escape into the desert years ago, but its more a test of the
immovable object theory. When Eric Bana’s Hulk emerged from being a
lab rat, he ran like a jet stream, jumping himself to freedom while
tanks and choppers tried to take him out. Edward Norton’s Hulk is a
statue, planting himself on the campus grounds so everyone and their
Army mothers can take a shot at him. Argue away that he stayed to
“protect” Betty, but Leterrier frames the battle from a spectator’s
vantage point and not through the motivation of our hero, draining
the excitement and amplifying the noise to an anti-climax that
carried more emotional pull when I was watching Starman for the
first time. Since everyone is starting over, then we’re being asked
to do the same. There’s no carry over from Bruce & Betty’s
relationship. This is brand new and there’s nothing to convincingly
sell us on why these two characters care about each other. It isn’t
helped that the only time Liv Tyler changes facial expressions is
when she yells at a cab. The writing services none of the
characters, doesn’t even attempt to tap into the obvious
implications of the industrial military complex becoming it’s own
uncontrollable monster, and despite all the ballyhoo over Edward
Norton writing and rewriting most of the script, only Zak Penn gets
final credit and will have to shoulder the blame.
It was bad enough that a five-episode stretch of Sex and the City
was released to theaters a few weeks back, but if all I wanted was
two episodes of The Incredible Hulk I could have busted out any of
the four seasons of DVDs or sit through a marathon on the Sci-Fi
channel. Even fans of Ang Lee’s Hulk (which I’m a proud
card-carrying member) were left with a bad taste in their mouths
during its murky electricity-and-water finale, but there were so
many positives to the way he told the story (origin be damned and
all) that its consistent vitriol over the years with the onset of
garbage like The Punisher and the Fantastic Four films is so
small-minded and puerile. The fact that no other comic book
adaptation since has taken the panel-and-inserts approach that Lee
so cleverly induced only furthers its originality and audacity. As
some final injection of irony, The Incredible Hulk offers up its
coolest moment during the final scene, with a (not-so-secret) cameo
with a final line of anticipatory bliss for comic and movie fans
alike. It’s the only moment that elicited any reaction at the
screening, although it may have been because it offered another
promise to the Hulk denouncers that a good Incredible Hulk film is
on the way. Because this doesn’t even come close.
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INCREDIBLE
HULK ©
2008 Marvel Studios, Universal Picturest, Marvel
Entertainment
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2008 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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