Ryan McNeil
If at once you don’t succeed, try “try again”. That’s what they say, right? Figure out where you went wrong, make a tweak here, and adjustment there, and mulligan your way to success. We all do it, whether it’s in trying to beat a video game or cook a recipe we’ve never tried. Right this moment, I’d wager that somebody in the world is saying in whatever language they speak “let me try that again”. Look at where you went wrong, right your course, and try once more. Chances are you’ll do better. After all – THE INCREDIBLE HULK certainly does.
It is absolutely impossible to judge this movie on its own merit. When sizing up where the movie succeeds or fails, we must first remember the 2003 mess directed by Ang Lee (that one simply titled THE HULK). Comic book franchises were hot property back then, so an origin story of everyone’s favorite jolly green giant must have seemed like a great idea. throw in Eric Bana, Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas and Jennifer Connoly and you’re laughing your way to box office gold, right? Not so fast. The movie – while stylistically gorgeous, was an over-stuffed, clunky flop. So how to reload?
THE INCREDIBLE HULK picks up where THE HULK left off, paying that origin story a few minutes worth of lip service over the opening credits. We come in to find Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) holed up in Brazil. A fugitive from the American military, he spends any moment away from his humble job at a bottling plant desperately trying to cure himself of the gamma-ray exposure that turns him into The Hulk. It’s a slow process, but Banner’s in no hurry. That is, until a freak accident tips off the US military to his location. They send a squad of soldiers to capture him and bring him in, but that squad quickly discovers that they don’t like Banner when he’s angry.
Among the battalion is a hired gun from the British military, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth). After witnessing what The Hulk can do, he forces an explanation from General Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt). Hearing of Banner’s gamma exposure, he talks his way into getting a dose himself – thus beginning a slow descent into monstrous darkness for Blonsky.
His cover blown, and no more help possible without data protected by those who wish to capture him, banner goes home to America and finds the woman he left behind, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). Together they flee to New York City in search of answers. And while the city that never sleeps does provide a few answers, it also becomes a war zone when Blonsky becomes a power-hungry Hulk Abomination…and Gen. Ross has no choice but to turn The Hulk loose as a counter attack.
Sounds fun, doesn’t it? It is – and that’s where this movie shows what it learned from its big brother. It wastes precious little time in labs, and wallowing in back stories of dysfunctional families. Instead it lets The Hulk do what he does best – namely, roar and break stuff. The movie is even cheeky enough to poke a few jokes at The Hulk’s own legend (I’m not gonna spoil ’em – they’re too much fun). Not enough fun for your summertime dollar? How about a few cameos to boot? Three of them as a matter of fact.
During a scene where Banner and Ross prepare for an experiment that may cure him, an NYU professor played by Tim Blake Nelson explains that if their calculation is off by even the smallest integer, then the whole thing could be a catastrophic failure. No sooner had he finished saying that, then did I ask myself “Is he talking about curing Banner? Or making this movie?”
More than once, I’ve mentioned that I make it a habit to sit down to a movie intending to like it. However, that wasn’t quite the case with THE INCREDIBLE HULK. I didn’t expect to hate it, but I had mentally prepared myself for a mess. Between the bad after-taste of the ’03 movie and the reports of squabbles between Norton and Marvel over creative direction, I had the hunch that I was about to be served a big steaming bowl of thirteen wasted dollars.
Instead I got a plot that was nuanced, yet direct. Acting that was self aware, yet on point. And a movie that found the proper balance between discussing human choices and watching stuff get blown to pieces. The movie isn’t perfect – nor is it even the best superhero movie this summer. But it is well constructed, and a lot of fun.