THI was the second movie to be released by Marvel Studios as part of the the "Marvel Cinematic Universe". It attempted to right the many (perceived) wrongs of Ang Lee's previous take on the character by being more action orientated and taking more influence from the fan favorite '70s tv series with Bill Bixby. These things the movie did, but in doing so did it lose out on what DID work in Ang Lee's film? The answer to that question will depend of course on what you want from a Hulk movie, and indeed movies period.
Directing duties fell to Louis Letterier, a long time fan who had previously lobbied to direct
Iron Man. The decision was made to pretty much disregard all of the events from the previous film, but at the same time (despite a revamped origin title sequence) Letterier's flick continued on after the events of Lee's, even beginning where the last movie ended in South America. This has split opinion as to whether THI is in fact a true reboot or more of a "requel". One thing is for sure, there are very few similarities between the two. Edward Norton takes over from Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, desperately trying to find a cure for his slightly anti social affliction. His search takes him back to the US where he reunites with Betty Ross (Live Tyler) and once again comes into conflict with her father General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt). But it won't just be the army that Banner will be up against when he "Huks out". Soldier Emil Blonskie (Tim Roth) ingests the same super serum as Banner and later when he is blasted by Gamma radiation becomes an Abomination. This time around Hulk will have plenty of opportunity to smash.
The movie definitely improves on Ang Lee's
Hulk in many ways. There is significantly more action, and it's all handled very well by Letterier. The plot races forward with a sense of urgency in pretty much every scene and the set pieces are all very exciting. There is also an element of fun that was missing before. The special effects are good, but not great. This version of The Hulk is smaller and more sinewy than the last one but to me actually looks less real at the same time. And along with improving on certain things, Letterier's movie also falls down in areas where Lee's excelled. Principally a conection to the people in the story. Say what you want about
Hulk but at least the cast did a great job and the characters were fully realized. Here the performances are merely adequate. Nobody is bad, but nobody stands out as being very good either. Even the usually excellent Norton kinda phones it in. The script is solid but again, nothing special. And while the final scrap between Hulk and Abomination is really cool, at the end we don't really get any kind of proper resolution. Yes, these movies are always left open for sequels but this just feels too rushed.
But all that being said there is no denying it's a damn entertaining movie and big Hulk fans will love it no doubt. Personally I don't prefer one Hulk over the other, I love and hate elements of both. One had the action and one the emotion. Could the perfect Hulk movie be a mixture of both? For now we will have to see how Joss Whedon handlkes the big green fella in
The Avengers.
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