This Hulk Captures What I Enjoyed About the Hulk Comics
Written: Jun 22 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Moves forward swiftly and deftly; characters are more fully realized than the first film
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: You've gotta see The Incredible Hulk if you like Marvel super-hero movies
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| swopedesign's Full Review: The Incredible Hulk |
I grew up with the Marvel super heroes. The Incredible Hulk was one of my favored comics, alongside Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four. Despite my fondness for the Marvel characters, I did not much like the first modern Hulk film titled simply "Hulk." It is not like the comic I grew up with; it is slow; it is not much fun; the characters are shallow and wooden with little at stake; the plot is laborious.
This second installment, however, has everything the first does not. It has well orchestrated and suspenseful action scenes (tell me, why do the best action scenes happen in the dark, hmmm?). It is hard to guess exactly what will happen next in these scenes as the characters make choices -- sometimes deliciously unexpected -- which reveal their characters. Such scenes work on multiple levels, at once propelling the plot forward while revealing the hearts and minds of the characters. The primary characters in this film are Bruce Banner, Hulk (Bruce Banner's brutish alter ego), Betty Ross (Bruce's love interest), General "Thunderbolt" Ross (Betty's monomaniacal father), and Emil Blonsky (a special ops soldier who simply lives for a good fight).
Much is exposed during the first major action scene in the film, in which the Hulk/Banner is assaulted by the U.S. Army with heavy arms, artillery and an experimental sonic weapon on a college campus. General "Thunderbolt" Ross (played by William Hurt) leads the assault. Betty (played by Liv Tyler) has been helping Bruce (played by Edward Norton) to find a cure for his gamma-irradiated disease. Throughout the battle, it is evident that the Hulk is not a mindless brute. Though he does not speak, he solves problems. At one point, he uses battle debris like shields, one in each hand, to deflect the assault, and later uses the same shields like shovels to pull himself forward across the earth in the powerful beam of the sonic weapon. These small but important touches indicate that Banner's brain lurks behind the Hulk's anger.
Similar character traits are revealed during the battle between Hulk and Abomination, both gamma-powered behemoths, at the end of the film. When the Hulk tears a NYC police cruiser in two and uses the two halves like boxing gloves to batter the Abomination, bits of the cruiser break off until the cruiser has been obliterated. This creative use of debris once more demonstrates that the Hulk is intelligent, an unexpected problem-solver.
This first major battle also reveals that not only can the Hulk think but he can love, too. During the battle, Betty manages to place herself directly in the path of the Army's assault, in an effort to protect the Hulk. If she is in danger, her father might stop the attack. It is the Hulk, instead, who risks his own life to protect Betty against the heaviest weaponry the Army has yet used against him. He eventually carries her unconscious body away to safety, after having shielded her from the weapons her father has launched against him. Were the Hulk a monstrous brute, he would not be concerned for Betty's safety.
The Hulk in this film is more capable of human emotion than the first film, making this rendition of the Hulk richer and more rewarding for the audience. This development may be due to Bruce's efforts to control his alter ego, bringing his consciousness closer to the surface. Subtitles count the number of days without an incident as locations change, as though Bruce is keeping tally. This tenuous conjecture is nothing more than that, trying to account for the change between incarnations of the Hulk.
Like the Hulk, the supporting characters in this film are considerably better-developed, with clear personal passions and motivations. General Ross is a career man; his only thoughts are for military gain, to develop the ultimate weapon, a super-soldier based on Bruce's gamma irradiated blood. Though he loves his daughter, Betty, he does not love her enough to cancel the mission to capture Bruce by any means possible. Even when his daughter steps into the line of fire, the mission marches forward.
Betty, in contrast, loves Bruce powerfully still, even after 5 years. When she first sees him at the diner, she is nearly overcome with emotion, and thereafter makes every effort to help Bruce find a cure, though it is against her father's wishes and places her at constant risk if Bruce is discovered and attacked. Despite Bruce's transformation into the Hulk, she does not scare. She is certain that Bruce is still accessible through the Hulk. She is the beauty that calms the beast.
Bruce, as one can guess, is focused on finding a cure. He has stayed off the grid as it were as much as possible, moving throughout the world, to avoid detection as he messages Mr. Blue about his condition, etc. He is also committed to keeping Betty safe. Despite his love for her, he has not had contact with her for 5 years, because any contact with her would jeopardize her safety at her father's Army's hands. He works alone as much as possible, purposefully limiting the amount of information he sends to Mr. Blue. He has boxed himself off from the world.
Emil Blonsky (played by Tim Roth), the special ops soldier, loves to fight. He tells General Ross at one point that he has declined promotions to stay in the field because he loves the work. After first encountering the Hulk, he is driven to stay on with General Ross to capture the Hulk, imagining the battles they will have. He is even willing to have a super-soldier serum derived from the same gamma radiation that created the Hulk injected painfully into his muscles and bones. Though this serum makes him fast and strong, it is still not enough for him. He wants to have the god-like power of the Hulk. He soon coerces Mr. Blue, who has duplicated Bruce's blood for experimental purposes, to inject him with a serum made from Bruce's blood. The result is the Abomination.
That I don't mention the cast is testament to their portrayals in this film. Each actor and actress plays his or her part convincingly well. The performances here are, in general, better than the performances in Iron Man, Marvel's other recent super-hero movie, with the exception of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark.
Speaking of Robert Downey, Jr. and Tony Stark, Stark makes a cameo appearance at the end of this film to say that "they" are putting a team together. The team which naturally comes to mind is The Avengers.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Epinions.com ID:
swopedesign
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Member: Mike Swope
Location: Wichita, KS
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Graphic/web designer. Grew brother's retail tire business. Now managing a similar long-established business.
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