Movie review: “The Incredible Hulk” (2008)

Let the comic book fans rejoice! We finally have a good Hulk movie.

Before I get into the review, I want to make sure everyone is aware that the reported Captain America easter egg is NOT in the version you see in theaters. We somehow missed this scoop, but a Brazilian paper asked Hulk director Louis Leterrier about this easter egg and he had this to say:

(SKIP this green section if you do NOT want a spoiler that will be on the DVD, and possibly this site in the coming days)

There’s a point when Bruce Banner gives up on his quest for the cure and decides to kill himself. So he travels far North and reaches the Arctic Circle. You might have seen bits of it in some of the promos. The result was a very dark and strong scene, which Marvel, me and everyone else’s considered to be too hard [for] young audiences to take, so we’ve cut it. Having that said, when Bruce arrives at his destination he meets up with Captain America! At some point this week, we will make it available on the Internet – but I cannot tell you where or when – and the material will definitely be on the DVD.

You can bet when we get it, it will be posted here for you guys ASAP.

Also, don’t stay until the end of the credits, there is nothing there. That’s not to say there aren’t OTHER surprises..

Okay, moving on to the review of The Incredible Hulk.

Obviously the comparisons are going to be made with Iron Man, since they both came out in the same summer and both are Marvel productions. Hulk isn’t up to the level Iron Man was, but it definitely made up for the suckfest that was the original with Eric Bana.

The first benefit of the new version is Edward Norton. I thought he was great here, a good casting. He doesn’t do anything amazing, no acting awards would be handed out, but I really felt he looked the part of a guy on the run trying to find a cure for his gamma radiation condition. Liv Tyler is okay, nothing great here, and William Hurt as her father does his normal bad guy routine.

Tim Roth takes the part of Abomination, the enemy Bruce Banner has to face a few times in the film, and he does the job adequately.

The big problem people had with the first movie was the special effects, mostly concerning the Hulk himself. Well, I’m happy to say they are BETTER, but really are never going to be perfect. The “body” of the Hulk is fine, but it’s when you get close-ups of his face that you lose the connection with the character. It just cannot take the place of a real, live actor.

Still, I thought they were pretty decent and the battle sequences astounding. CGI and special effects have come so far in this time that it’s sometimes hard to tell real from fake.

The comic book fans will likely find a few scenes to smile about. Unlike the first one, I really felt this was was WAY more in tune with the original comics and there are a couple of moments that seemed to have come right off the pages.

The movie was far from perfect though, as the writing could have been better and some intentional humorous moments fell a bit flat. It might have been the dead audience I was it watching with, but I just think the feel of the film was far from comedic, so tossing in a joke here and there just didn’t work too well.

Overall, it was a nice, fun movie. It definitely furthers the Marvel universe and makes you eager for the next chapter, which should be Iron Man 2.

Once you’ve seen the movie, come back and tell us what you think!

Mike’s Rating: 7 out of 10