New Hulk Smashes into Box Office

By Adam Pope June 26, 2008 Issue

Arriving swiftly on the heels of Iron Man, which recently topped over $550 million in global revenue; The Incredible Hulk looks to cash in on the Marvel logo. For those unfamiliar with the Hulk, he is in essence a 10-foot tall humanoid wrecking ball with green skin and even greener eyes that emerges from sophisticated scientist Bruce Banner when he loses his temper. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s angry.

For most, it is hard to think of the Hulk without remembering Marvel’s first stab at the character with the 2003 Ang Lee effort simply called Hulk. That film was mildly enjoyable but quickly became bogged down with intense psychobabble mish-mash trying to decipher Dr. Banner’s fragile psyche and not enough of the carnal violence for which the Hulk is known and respected.

The 2008 version solves this problem with a flair and tenacity that delivers a comic book punch in a movie theatre setting. The special effects are brilliant, and Marvel has been open publicly with the tremendous amount of the movie’s budget that was spent on making a convincing and believable Hulk that audiences could really get behind. The film is also rounded off by inspired action sequences by French director Louis Leterrier of the Transporter films and a knockout performance by Edward Norton, who delivers a compassionate and noble performance as Banner while also maintaining the ghost of a sinister underbelly. The effect is a character that the audience can really get behind, an everyday guy with an 800-pound skeleton in his closet that could shatter the door at any moment.

Norton is complimented by Liv Tyler as his love interest Betty Ross—who can seemingly forgive Bruce for endless destruction and mayhem—and William Hurt as General “Thunderbolt” Ross who will do anything to harness the military applications of the Hulk. Tyler and Hurt give decent enough performances, but they really aren’t given much to work with in the form of dialogue of character motivations. This is the Banner/Hulk show (for good reason) and all other characters soon fall to the side except for our emerald hero and the equally brutal monstrosity played by Tim Roth. These two meet up in several one-on-one bone-crunching battle sequences that constitute the backbone of the film. The story—Banner trying to medically cure his gift while eluding Gen. Ross and the military—is tedious at times and irrelevant at others, but serves as an acceptable avenue to deliver us back to the visceral action that recoups the ticket price.

In short, The Incredible Hulk is another solid offering from Marvel, whose recently independent movie studio is beginning to look like it may give Paramount a run for its money. The film serves as the perfect counterpoint to Iron Man for the best one-two punch available this summer season. While Iron Man was focused on being sleek, witty, and sophisticated, The Hulk is a mindless, pulse-pounding clobberfest that delivers on a primal level to anyone who loves a good adrenaline rush.

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