*** Official THE INCREDIBLE HULK Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

This film takes a little while to get going when it opens in Brazil, catching the audience up with Bruce's life, and quest for a cure, but the middle section has some crazy action, though it kind of stumbles through the relationship beats between Bruce and Betty, but thankfully the pacing keeps the audience from dwelling on such emotional undercurrents that could have stalled the film's momentum. The last part of the film is filled to the brim with CGI-on-CGI violence and action, which the crowd ate up, though I felt it almost bordered on the cartoonish side at times. For a second, I thought we had another Cloverfield on our hands (if you seen the trailers, you'll know what I mean), but that feeling passes by quickly.

The script picks its spots judiciously to bring out bits of humor, so as to not lose sight of the drama and pace of the story at hand.

Stan Lee actually has a quick, but integral, cameo. Plus there is also some love shown to the principles from the TV show. The CGI is good in spots, but too obvious in other spots, but not enough to be distracting as long as you buy into main super-powered characters as CGI creations. Sometimes the scale of the Hulk looked a little off (compared to Betty), but those scenes are fairly minor and short.

Ed Norton's thin, lean, physique actually works for Bruce, a scientist. The on-screen chemistry between Ed Norton and Liv Tyler was average, again, not so terrible that you don't buy it, but it just takes a little getting used to for it to feel organic enough to invest in these characters and the situations they find themselves in while seeking a cure for Bruce.

Given its lightness in the dramatics department (never really entertaining the notion to go back down the road of psycho-analysis for character motivations), and a heavier focus on Hulk-centric action sequences, it will play much better to audiences, and garner better word-of-mouth, I suspect. It's almost the anti-thesis of the Ang Lee version, which should delight those who didn't enjoy the first Hulk film.

I give it 3 stars or a grade of B.

P.S. There is no extra scene at the end of the credits (at least not after the midnight showing I saw tonight).

 

[troy evans]

Patrick, I agree with you almost 100%. I loved this movie. If you are a fan of the comic or the tv show you will be rewarded. Some great cameos and mentions here. There is a very nice surprise at the end of the film a few minutes before the credits, but, I will not give that away. Iron Man was awesome and now the Hulk follows, man, I'm glad Marvel has more control over their properties in films. Fans are finally getting what the've been screaming for. As far as the brawl between Hulk and Abomination....Absolutely Stunning! The movie is just fun as hell and Marvel looks to be on a "hot streak" again in films. With Iron Man and now, Incredible Hulk the bar for The Dark Knight just got raised another notch as far as I'm concerned. I'm really hoping to have a summer comicbook movie hat-trick this year.

 

[Ed Moroughan]

Saw it last night. Good movie, nice nods to Bill Bixby and the show. Cool Stan Lee cameo, interesting look for the Hulk himself, works better for me at least versus the previous movie's Hulk. Abomination was interesting in his design. Fairly good action sequences and stunts. "Hulk Smash!" works really well, it got lots of cheers. I just wish they had worked in a "Puny Human" or "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" line. Overall, maybe a B+.

 

[Brent M]

Went to the midnight showing and REALLY enjoyed this flick. I'd put it right there or maybe just a slight notch below Iron Man, it's than much fun. The action sequences are fantastic, Ed Norton is great(as usual) and there was even some well-placed humor. Thankfully there is now a Hulk movie that erases the Ang Lee disaster from my consciousness.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "The Incredible Hulk". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

 

[Todd H]

Finally they got it right.

After the abysmal Ang Lee picture, I was worried that we may never see another Hulk movie. Thank goodness Marvel decided to give it another try. While not as good as Iron Man, it was a solid B+. Great action. Nods to all us fanboys. Go see it.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Absolutely loved it.

There were so many references with regards to the Marvel Universe in general especially Captain America that I almost thought that he would be introduced at some point. I really enjoyed how William Hurt introduced the whole concept.

I am not sure but when the Hulk first fights with Blonsky, I would have thought that it introduced Cap's Shield or am I seeing things.

Stark was continually being mentioned that I was surprised to see him at the end. Totally works imo.

With regards to Mr Blue, to me it looked like he could be The Leader from the comics. Any truth to that ?

Stan Lee's cameo was actually quite well done and was part of moving the story forward.

I really enjoyed Lou F's cameo as a security guard while McGhee was also introduced. Nice touch to the original Hulk TV show.

Having seen both Iron Man and now this, you could really tell that there is some sort of masterplan put into place for the future movies.

 

[Jose Martinez]

I actually was hoping that Mr Blue would turn out to be:

The Beast. After all he is blue and was also an Avenger

But YES, absolutely loved the movie!!

 

[Sean Bryan]

Really good movie.

This is what a HULK movie should be.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Well, it has moments of being uneven, but the whole package works very well. I was most impressed by the direction, which was always good, and often inspired. As already discussed, there were quite a few nods to the comic and the TV show, but most felt organic to the film (with one exception that I still liked a lot).

I do prefer Sam Elliot to William Hurt as General Ross. And I usually will praise Tim Roth. Here he was decent, but I've seen him be much better. It was still nice to see him. But the principals are very good. Ed Norton was exceptional, as we've come to expect from him. I most appreciated his ability to bring small moments of levity to a fairly depressing role. His scenes passed a lot of information about Banner and the Hulk and his past without the need for exposition. Much credit to Penn and Norton and Leterrier for that. And not everyone feels this way, but I LOVED Liv Tyler. She nailed the scene where she first sees him and re-establishes contact, and she's so sweet after that. She even has a few moments of fire, and she handles all of them well. Not a huge role, but she really impressed me. However, I'm a romantic and they were romantic scenes.

There is not a huge story there, I'll readily admit. Things just happen. But the direction lifts the film out of that little trap and makes the events very compelling. The factory scene plays well as a horror film (lifting a bit from the Bourne series and the first appearance of Batman in BB). The Hulk was shot very well, often in silhouette or backlit. I thought the action scenes were very inventive and appropriately brutal. The sonic blaster and the tail end of the Abomination fight were pretty special.

I guess we have to talk VFX. The VFX were good, not great. But the design was exceptional, and the direction of the VFX was great. SO the net effect really worked for me. Special notice to the sound department. The film sounded great, especially the Hulk's bellows

Well worth a trip the theater.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Really enjoyed it! Not as good as Ironman, but i was pleasantly surprised. Sometimes it felt as if the pacing was a bit off, but still was a lot of fun. Very excited for the IM2 and Avengers movies to come now.

By the way, don't take your 5-6 years old to see this. It's pretty violent at times and has what you could consider "scary" images. I saw some young kids crying in this, what are these parents thinking?

 

[JeremySt]

I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. Good movie.

 

[Ron68]

I really liked this movie, especially all of the references to the TV series. The movie felt like a retread of the series mixed with elements of the Ang Lee movie, which I liked, but it still worked. I would liked to have seen more of Banner becoming the Hulk than what was shown, I think it would have helped the movie. I would have emphasized with Norton's Banner more.

I loved the action scenes. The battle between the Hulk and the Abomination was the best destruction of a city in a movie since Superman II. The only thing is I didn't feel like anyone was in any real danger, except for the helicopter scene, even though people were running for their lives. It would have been better if, say, Betty had been captured by the Abomination and Hulk had to save her, or something like that

The CGI was better than I had expected, especially with the Hulk. He looked more like the Hulk from the comics, that I remember, than any of the other live action interpretations. I thought he looked more correctly proportioned than the Ang Lee version but he still looked like a video game character. I also wished he looked greener. It was hard for me to tell that he was green in some shots. My only other complaint is with the transformation scenes. They were too fast, lacked the dramatic nature the the transformations from the series had. Plus, with the movie being so close to the series in story and style, that I kept thinking about the music used on the series when Banner transformed into the Hulk. If the movie had been more original, I don't think these things would have bothered me as much. Overall, it was a really good, I hope the 70 mns of deleted scenes flesh out the story more.

 

[Tim Glover]

Just saw this last night. I really liked it. This will age me but I grew up on the Hulk tv show as well as The 6 Million Dollar Man series. Bill Bixby possesed that human quality that really made me empathize with Bruce Banner.

Edward Norton pulled this off as well. He's always pretty good though and really it was his name that even got me there. Liv Tyler, well, she's an Angel on screen & makes me forgive any movie related issues when she's present. Quite mesmerizing. Not only is she angelic, she too possesses talent that enables one to care. That's no small feat.

The story could've used a tad more depth but it still works. I did like how it takes place after the 'accident' as opposed to re-playing how Banner becomes the Hulk.

My biggest issue is with Tim Roth. I just think he was the wrong choice here. I know alot of actors are short.

but there were a few moments when he was next to Hurt that he truly looked like a hobbitt. One scene is particular that took me out of the film a bit. I have nothing against short people though. But it can pull one out of the illusion in some roles. It did for me here with Roth. His age worked for the role as he desired to be stronger again so it wasn't that.... Also, with someone in the services, wouldn't they have shorter hair?

Regardless, it's quite a compliment that I really enjoyed The Incredible Hulk in spite of my Roth issues.

I also thought the CGI served the film well. And the sound mix was the best I've heard yet this year. I'm sure The Dark Knight will sound awesome too but Hulk sounded very dynamic. I can't wait to get this on Blu-ray.

Solid 8/10 from Timobi.

 

[Chris Atkins]

8/10

Liked it, didn't love it. Felt like a lot of the film was on the cutting room floor. Loved Norton, Tyler was shaky at first but got better. Didn't care for Roth much at all.

Ironically, I think this film works much better when viewed as a sequel to Ang Lee's film. I say this because the pace in this one is about as methodical (or slow, depending on your perspective) as Lee's film. I just don't think this film works at all as an origin, though I couldn't really tell whether you were supposed to view it as such or not.

I thought the direction was pretty pedestrian...some flashes of brilliance but nothing too exciting overall. At least, nothing on the scale that was attempted by Ang Lee in the first film (whether you loved, liked or hated that film, you have to admit that Lee took a lot more risks in his choices).

 

[Brian Borst]

Well, Bruce says 'You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry' to the thug, mispronouncing the sentence in Brazilian. I apparently was the only one in the theater who got that (it's generally not a good thing when you're the only one laughing ). And of course the several references to the comics, SHIELD and the Avengers. The only problem I had with the film was that I expected a Captain America being frozen in ice, and found out it had been cut when I came back. Oh, well.

 

[Ron-P]

I watched this for the first time on Blu tonight. Very good film, as good as Lee's version, no. Lee had much better acting, better storytelling and overall, a better Hulk.

Between Roth (who Tim mentioned above) and Tyler, I chalk this up to one very miscast film. Did anyone else think Liv was on Valium the entire time? Very, very boring on screen, as if sleep walking and Roth was just not a good, bad guy. Norton was great as always though, the saving grace of this film.

The very best part of this film was the end, I had the biggest smile on my face. Proof that...

Iron Man owns the comic book movie genre


I will add that the Blu-ray has one of the most impressive DTS-MA tracks I've ever heard. The channel separation is amazing with a very immersive sound field. Amazing soundtrack.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I just finished rocking the joint with this on Blu and I freakin' loved it! The Ang Lee Hulk blew tremendous chunks but this one made up for it in spades I thought.

I would say that it's just as great as Iron Man but for different reasons, it certaintly equals it in fun and sheer fan-boy exhuberance.

Two different heroes with two different tones and they both nailed their respective targets with a bullseye.

Master stroke having Tony Stark show up at the end.
The end battle between Hulk and Abomination made my nipples hard.