'The Incredible Hulk'
Reviewed by Martin McGrath

As one of the few people who enjoyed Ang Lee’s take on The Hulk (2003), I approached this relaunch of the franchise with a quiet dread. For all its faults Lee’s film at least had the strength of obvious intelligence and a seriousness of intent, even if it did eventually subside into a low-rent pseudo-Freudian drama.

Having had the intelligent outing – the Banner side, should we say – then the news that the director of the new film would be Louis Leterrier (whose previous works include only the ultraviolent Danny the Dog and the silly Transporter 2) did not inspire confidence. This, surely, would be the violent, stupid, green side of the franchise – a big, dumb action movie that cast aside subtlety in place of big action sequences.

But the truth is that such assumptions are too crude. Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk features an intelligent cast, led by the excellent Edward Norton and Tim Roth, giving strong performance in a film that manages to pack plenty of action but also find time for some really strong character development and realistic human relations. Indeed, in many ways this film is more subtle than Lee’s earlier effort. Lee’s film concerns itself with archetypes – particularly in the father/son relationship – to the point where there is little room for anything that might recognisably be Bruce Banner and all other relationships fall into the shade.

Where Ang Lee was happy to confess that he’d never read a single issue of a Hulk comic while planning or making his film, Leterrier (and co-write Norton) are clearly fans both of the comic book and of the 70s television show, which is repeatedly referenced by the film (not least in the cameo given to Lou Ferringo). The Incredible Hulk is filled with characters and incidents and background details from the character’s history. And the story is pure comic book – with a neatly encapsulated origin story and an increasingly dangerous foe from The Hulk’s rogues’ gallery leading to a cataclysmic final confrontation.

The film opens with a stunning sequence set in Rio de Janeiro, as Bruce struggles to make a living, find a cure for himself and remain calm but is, inevitably, dragged back to his green half by a military led by Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt) and back to North America in search of a cure. Meanwhile Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) is moving in the opposite direction, seeking the power that will allow him to challenge The Hulk and eventually transforming into the terrible Abomination. The two men come together in three fantastic set pieces – perhaps the best being the middle one in which an enhanced but still human Roth takes on The Hulk on a university lawn. The special effects here are superb (and are bound to leave fans wondering what might be possible if The Hulk ever got to go toe-to-toe with Wolverine or Captain America on the big screen).

Between the action sequences, Leterrier very sensibly makes plenty of space for the characters. The relationship between Banner and Betty Ross (the luscious Liv Tyler) is handled with surprising tenderness and the two have a number of genuinely affecting scenes. It is the fact that time is taken to make sure that we care for these characters as humans – and the quality of acting on show – that raises The Incredible Hulk above standard action movie.

That said, the money has been spent on the action, and The Incredible Hulk does deliver. The final confrontation between The Hulk and the gruesomely transformed Blonsky is a sense-stunning spectacle that manages to be shockingly brutal. The final defeat of the Abomination is bloodily not to say terrifyingly achieved with The Hulk’s ferocious power finally revealed.

Marvel Productions have followed Iron Man with another pitch-perfect comic adaptation. There’s plenty here to appeal to the hardest of hardcore fans but there’s also a strong human story that should attract to those looking for a decent quality action movie with a bit of heart.

But, for fans, the biggest thrill in The Incredible Hulk might well come after the action subsides with the appearance in the last reel of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr), approaching Thunderbolt Ross in a bar and telling him, “We’re putting a team together...” Can you say “Avengers Assemble!”?