The Incredible Hulk

OK, let’s just get this out of the way right up front: “The Incredible Hulk” is very different from Ang Lee’s 2004 movie “The Hulk.” Almost every review I’ve read compares “The Incredible Hulk” to Ang Lee’s “Hulk,” and most critics whine about how that movie was so much more artful and introspective, and this one’s just out to make money (Lee’s version tanked at the box office.) I don’t think the comparison is fair, or even very fruitful. “Hulk” had its strengths and weaknesses. “The Incredible Hulk” does too. If this movie were much like that one, there’d have been little point in making it, or seeing it. You can complain about this being purely a moneymaking venture, but wouldn’t you say the same if the sequel was just like the original? In my opinion, reimagining Hulk is far more daring, creative, and inventive than its makers are being given credit for.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the movie. Overall, “The Incredible Hulk” follows a pretty basic summer comic book movie formula. “The Incredible Hulk” is not as fun and engaging as “Iron Man.” It’s not nearly as ridiculous and loopy as “Indiana Jones.” It’s not as heartwarming and geeky as the “Spiderman” or “Superman” movies; Hulk’s plight is grim, so the tone of the movie is somewhat grim. But it’s solid, enjoyable, summer movie entertainment. It wisely borrows from lots of other great action flicks. Its opening act in Brazil, is remiscent of the “Bourne” movies, which have been hands-down the best action movies made in the last few years. More summer action movies should be borrowing tricks from Jason Bourne. Then there’s a reference to “King Kong,” and even a shout out to the 1977 “Superman,” when a damsel-bearing helicopter careens out of control and must be saved by our hero. “The Incredible Hulk” is not breaking any new ground, but it does showing a deep love for the movies that have come before it, and a surprisingly high level of expertise and craft over the ground it covers.

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Paq4617Wo]

Naturally, the movie revolves a supervillain. This is Emil Blonsky, who becomes, with some chemical aid, Abomination. As an aging soldier looking to extend his action, Tim Roth is a perfect fit in this role, and fun to watch. Blonsky gets injected with some experimental stuff by the Army and then some other stuff by a crazy scientist, and becomes an updated version of Hulk – but, of course, an evil version. It might be hard to believe that anyone would look at Tim Roth and see a candidate for experimental anything; on his best days he looks two notches away from Raving Maniac. But the Army’s never been famous for their discretion and judgement, I guess. Now the guys in green need the big green guy to stop what they’ve started. The final showdown’s a little anticlimactic – I thought the earlier action sequence on the college campus was much better, more graceful, more fun to watch – and is the weakest act of the movie. By the time it’s over, you feel like the director, and perhaps the cast, had much more energy and imagination when they started filming than when they finished.

I’ve heard complaints that this is a shallow Hulk, really just a big guy who can smash things up real good, a 3000 pound version of that other Hulk, last name Hogan. I don’t think that’s true. This Hulk is truer to the comic book hero, and that character has resonated with readers for 50 years. (If you think that bar is too low, you don’t know comics. New heroes come and go. Only the ones that hit us where we live in some way stick around.) I think the Hulk, even without the trappings of a tortured childhood, megalomaniac father, and surpressed memories, fascinates us because he represents a more primitive, more powerful version of us. Perhaps each of us, or enough of us, believe –or fear– that there is a part of us we can’t control, a part that is immensely powerful but beyond the realm of reason and intellect. We hope against hope that whatever is deep within us is good, and will fight for good. But we can’t be sure.

Recommended

• if you’re a fan of Hulk comics, and were disappointed with the last Hulk movie.
• if you were a fan of the Hulk TV series. Lots of nods to that in this one.
• if you’re looking for some good, solid, smash-’em-up action.
• if you need to spend some time pondering the nature of your inner beast.

Not Recommended

• if you think Ang Lee’s Hulk should’ve revolutionized comic book movies, and it still hurts your feelings that it didn’t.
• if you just don’t like action/superhero movies.
• if you’re looking for an intellectually stimulating summer movie (um, good luck.)
• if you just can’t understand how a 160 pound guy and a 3000 pound monster can wear the same pair of pants.