It's the golden Nolan standard which Universal is trying to achieve with The Incredible Hulk. And unlike Indiana or Spiderman, Edward Norton's project shares Batman's arguably enviable position of having a disappointment (critically; but worse, commercially) precede it. Unlike Batman, Hulk doesn't have the burden of reviving interest in its comic-family franchise on his huge shoulders. That task was carried out mercilessly by Iron Man.
Appropriately, given the current comic movie zeitgeist, The Incredible Hulk will be unstoppable.
Rewind 5 years.
I hadn't given Ang Lee's take on the temperamental green giant a second glance since my 15 year old self was soundly disappointed in theaters. As the opening credits rolled for Incredible, I began wondering whether my enjoyment would have been enhanced or ruined if I had revisited that alleged catastrophe. So, one of the first things I did when getting back from the movie was immerse myself in YouTube videos and reviews of the first movie.
My first thought was that critics and viewers liked it a lot more than I would have expected. They praised the psychological subtexts, comic homages, and performances. It enjoys a technically "fresh" rating on Rottentomatoes at 61%, only 5% less than this summer's movie. And it had Jennifer Connelly. How did this movie go wrong? Did it actually go wrong at all or was it just Universal bitching that it didn't make Spiderman-like profits?
It's more surprising when you realize that one of the major differences between the two movies is a lack of rich character/relationship exploration in Norton's flick. Typically, I criticize a lot of comic book movies for being too shallow. I refer you to Fantastic Four and its successor, Rise of the Silver Shitter. Yet, somehow, Incredible managed to sidestep Freud and all those "Sins of the Father" concepts and provide a more satisfying experience.
I think it's about pretense. The Incredible Hulk doesn't have any, but it doesn't stoop to the lowest common denominator either. By contrast, Ang Lee attempted to make a movie that was both a family analysis and a comic book action-fest. I'm not saying it's an impossible or unworthy goal, but it is a volatile risk and Marvel shouldn't have let Lee take those chances with a franchise as valuable as the Hulk.
Basically, Lee's movie was still a dumb, high-octane popcorn flick throughout and the exploration of daddy issues were never handled seriously or thoroughly enough to make a significant impact. Worse, the action scenes in Hulk 2003 actually hammered the nails into the gamma-laced coffin. No amount of interesting Nick Nolte-Eric Bana interaction is going to make up for Hulk Dogs and My Father, The Cloud as the main super-baddies. I mean, let's not kid ourselves. This was not meant to be Brokeback (which was also BORING) or Sense and Sensi-sissiness, it was primarily a way to make mounds of money and play with computer effects and it failed at at least one of those aspects.
Ironically, new Hulk director Louis Leterrier's most famous body of work is The Transporter movies and somehow he delivers a movie that is more upfront about its intentions, but subtly meaningful.
Ang Lee comparisons hopefully stop...now.
Eric Bana is a good actor and all, but...Shit. Re-do.
Edward Norton is crucial to this movie. He's the right amount of geek to portray a gifted scientist, but we all know from his prior performances that he is also a badass, so it's not a surprise when we see him outrunning military special operatives on foot in a way that would make Matt Damon and Daniel Craig eat their hearts out.
The movie throws fans of the last movie a bone by starting the narrative with Bruce Banner lying low in South America. It also focuses mercifully little on the simplistic and well-known origin story. Rather, the film's theme is Banner's unique relationship with his superpowers: They Suck. The man blacks out more than my uncle at a month-long moonshine convention, only remembering bursts of bullets and fire in his face the next morning. His Hulk Hangover reduces his clothes and stretchy pants to tattered shreds that induces the sympathy of even the scrawniest Mexican beggar boy. And what good is dating Liv Tyler if you can't have her roleplay as Arwen for too long before you kill the 7-Eleven clerk in search of kilo-magnum rubbers?
Peter Parker's whining about his powers being a burden and a curse fade into yesterday's Myspace bulletin when we see Dr. Banner's plight. Spiderman ultimately adapts to his superhero duties. Tony Stark relishes the opportunity to missile terrorists. No one has it as bad as Bruce; his life is actually ruined by his rage, not enhanced, and that's a truth simple enough to resonate in several moviegoers. This movie is about Bruce's quest to get rid of his major selling point -- the unstoppable CGI behemoth.
Speaking of the Hulk himself, I really enjoyed the design of the monster. You'll still find people complaining about CGI usage coming off as cheap and distracting, but I think it's some of the best use of digital effect technology to date. Hulk's shade of green is more organic and the attention paid to detail is amazing. His muscles, bones, and sinews are clearly defined. His roar vibrates in your chest. Best of all, his face is capable of many convincing expressions besides bloodlust. One of the best liked scenes will be the moment Hulk and Betty Ross are in the cave during the thunderstorm. It's perhaps the best example of that subtlety this movie achieves.I wish I could say Liv Tyler's acting was as satisfying. She's not an offensive choice as Dr. Ross, but the script gives her some sickeningly domestic lines to work with which she somehow turns even more pathetic. Factor in her frou-frou bangs and the distracting presence of Steven Tyler's lips aching to eat Edward Norton, and I really started to miss Jennifer Connelly. Then again, I always miss Jennifer Connelly.
OR
Bruce/Betty in general fell kind of flat, but The Incredible Hulk isn't a love story to a much greater extent than any other major franchise release, so it doesn't sink the production. It's something they'll have to work on if they explore the dynamics of a Hulk-Betty relationship in future movies. They did establish that Betty Ross is the Hulk's emotional anchor, so it's not like she's irrelevant, but I'm willing to concede some awkward initial flirtations. As a matter of fact, there are a couple of moments which are actually poignant and convincing, such as Betty kissing Bruce's cheek rather than going straight for the soap-opera tongue-lashing technique and the aforementioned cave sequence.
As for the other actors, we get fitting performances from William Hurt as General Thunderbolt (no, they don't call him that) and Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky (a.k.a Abomination a.k.a. that Other Huge Green Thing you saw about to pound Hulk's face to slushee in the trailer). For most of the flick, the General and Blonsky seem like very unique villains exploring a gray area of morality rather than the standard megalomanic comic book enemy fare. Then Blonsky blows it in the third act, but that can be forgiven, because it sets up a very entertaining and vicariously bone-crushing final fight. At first, I heard this was going to be about 30 minutes long and was frightened. Now I wish they had delivered on that threat, or at least made the fight a tad longer and more brutal. Still, it was nice to finish Hulk and realize it had taken less time than, say, a thorough colonoscopy.
The last little gripe I would have is the musical score, but it's not like you can really hear it over Hulk screaming bloody murder anyway.
Basically, The Incredible Hulk is not as good as Iron Man, nor should we expect it to be, given that Marvel hasn't released Thor and thus, still can't harness lightning to strike the same spot twice consecutively. But this film is in the same vein of quality and that is a very good thing for the upcoming universe films. Norton and Leterrier were wise to approach this reboot with a very basic premise rather than overstuffing it with villains and subplots (*coughSamRaimicough*), because it lays a very firm foundation for a potentially titanic series.
Hulk Smash. Hulk Smash indeed.
SPOILERS. Oh, and I expected a much cooler Tony Stark cameo, not a rehash of Sam Jackson. I guess putting the scene before the credits is supposed to drive home the fact that they're REALLY making this Avengers crossover and it's REALLY going to be canonical for these movies, but I found it kind of tacky. Still....I will be lining up to see it. END SPOILERS
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