It isn't often that a comic book fan can sit down to watch a comic book movie and walk away not only happy, but completely buzzed from excitement. ON a personal note, The Incredible Hulk has long been my favorite comic book character, and after the utter failure of the first movie I was a little hesitant to give this one a try. I am so glad that I did.

Starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, and William Hurt, The Incredible Hulk is a high action movie with a cast that delivers. The acting as a whole may not be spectacular, but compared to other comic book movies it is actually quite admirable. There aren't a bunch of cheesy one-liners, and the script is actually pretty competent. If you have seen Iron Man yet, you'll have an idea of what to expect; we can only hope that the coming Marvel movies continue in this direction, because they're definitely off to a good start with this generation of films.

Without giving away too much of the story, we begin in Brazil where Bruce Banner is learning to control his heart rate and avoid ever becoming the raging Hulk that he fears and hates so much. It has been a long time since he has had an incident, and he has all but fallen off the grid when it comes to General Ross' hunt to find him, but a mishap at Banner's work causes the General to pick up his trail and send a team of agents to capture him. It isn't long before we see Hulk back in action, more reckless than ever, and the hunt to bring him back to military headquarters and dissect him continues.

So what happens when a man like Bruce Banner, who turns in to the world's most unstoppable living force when he's angry, is hunted by a mad General with a rather large assortment of army soldiers and vehicles at his command? Action. And lots of it.

Sure, there are plenty of scenes in this movie that don't consist of things getting smashed, bashed, crashed, or otherwise pulverized – such as those where Bruce is having chat sessions with an anonymous Mr. Blue, fellow scientist, who thinks he might be able to help Dr. Banner (aka Mr. Green) resolve his anger management issues – but everything comes back to epic battles of one not-so-jolly green giant against an army of troops, tanks, helicopters, and various other methods of warfare.

Voiced by TV's original Incredible Hulk, Lou Ferigno, and rendered in CGI that is much more impressive than the Hulk's last movie, our favorite green fighting machine tears up the big screen (okay, okay I'm done) with action sequences that look like they were inspired from the video game Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. Hulk tears apart cars and uses them as boxing gloves, bull rushes through men and large, inanimate objects, leaps from one building to another, and destroys a whole lot of property. There are so many wonderful scenes of wanton destruction (as Hulk fights for his life, of course) that Hulk fans and action fans in general will be completely charged with adrenaline by the time they walk out of the theatre, and every single one of these scenes is top-notch.

On a lighter note, there's plenty to see here for people who need a few breaks between their action scenes. Liv Tyler plays Betty Ross – Bruce Banner's old girlfriend and the one person who seems to be able to make the Hulk calm himself after an outbreak. There's plenty of tension in the air surrounding her though, since General Ross – the man hunting the Hulk – is her father (if the last name didn't give it away), which makes for some rather interesting conflict between the two of them. There is also plenty of intrigue as General Ross attempts to create a super soldier to combat Hulk, which leads to a finale that you certainly must witness.

To top it all off, the music, sounds, and special effects are what you would expect from a modern action flick: just as big, bombastic, and wonderful as ever. There really isn't much to say other than that they're on par with other big budget films these days, but is that really a bad thing? The music is pleasant and sinks comfortably in to the background, the sound effects are often booming and really help put you in to the action, and the action is dressed up with plenty of explosions, gun shots, flying cars and collapsing structures.

It's about time comic book movies started taking a turn for the better, and The Incredible Hulk is one not to disappoint. Even if you're not as big a fan of the green guy as I am, you owe it to yourself to check out this one on the big screen where everything is much larger than life, because that's exactly what this movie is.

Stay for the Credits? No
(What does this mean? It means I, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend and anyone else I went to see a movie with, have stayed through the entire credits so you don't have to. If the answer is "yes" it means there is some sort of post-credit "teaser" that you might want to wait around for. If "no" then you might as well pack up and leave with the rest of the crowd.)

Recommended? Yes


Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing