Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
6/15/08
Allow
me to start by throwing objectivity to the wind: two movies in, I
think Marvel Studios' attempt to craft an epic, multi-movie saga about
the formation of their iconic super-team The Avengers (my favorite
comic as a kid) is just about the coolest thing ever. It started
with Iron Man, the origin story of armored superhero
Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and continues with The Incredible Hulk,
a quasi-sequel to Ang Lee's spirited but disappointing 2003 flick about
Bruce Banner, the irradiated scientist who reluctantly fights evil as an
angry green giant. Hulk lacks Iron
Man's depth of characterization and hipster swagger, but it compensates
by building a delightful bridge between the monster-bashing adventure of
the comics and the soulful drama of the late 70's TV series. While
the Downey Jr. blockbuster is a comic book movie for the ages, The Incredible
Hulk is satisfied to be a fast-moving summer thrill machine.
But it's a great one, filled with big action, quality performances and
the same high level of craftsmanship we now expect from Marvel's product.
And it's peppered throughout with little flakes of geeky grandeur.
Bruce
Banner (Edward Norton) is on the run, his blood infected during an ill-conceived
experiment with Gamma Radiation that, when he becomes too angry or excited,
transforms him into a gigantic green monster who's virtually indestructible.
He's hiding out in Brazil, working at a soda factory while communicating
online with a researcher he knows only as Mr. Blue who's trying to help
find a cure for his condition. But the man who commissioned the original
experiments, General “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt), has never stopped
looking for Banner and when a drop of his unique blood winds up in a bottle
of soda, Ross brings a commando unit to Brazil for a showdown. It's
led by veteran soldier Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), who gets one look at Banner
when he changes into the Hulk and demands answers. He gets them:
Ross didn't tell Bruce what he was really working with, but it was a variant
of the old World War 2 “Super Soldier” formula designed to turn soldiers
into combat-ready superheroes (the movie dare not whisper the words “Captain
America”, but I'll do so for it), which Banner's own experiments altered
into a Hulk-producing serum. Ross wants it back, desperately, while
Blonsky wants something else: to be a super-soldier himself.
He gets those injections, but a rematch with the Hulk still doesn't go
his way: he needs More Power. And when Bruce reconnects with
his lost love Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) to seek out Mr. Blue, aka Samuel Sterns
(Tim Blake Nelson), the super-soldier may just find a way to become The
Hulk's equal, a super-powered Abomination.
I loved
just typing that synopsis! As James Bond fans were reduced to jiggling
blobs of fanboy goop by Casino Royale,
I can't get enough of the Avengers saga's accumulating comic book name-dropping
and escalating action (if you don't know all ready, I won't spoil it for
you, but WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE who shows up in the final scene!). The
funny thing is, I don't even read Marvel comics anymore, but the fantasies
of our childhoods have a tremendously primal power over us as moviegoing
adults, and seeing them come to life in this way is a delight. Even
without my specific set of issues, The Incredible Hulk is a quality
comic book adventure, weighted toward the spectacular action setpiece rather
than the philosophizing of Lee's Hulk, but so well acted that I
didn't feel cheated on the character level. And while the chase in
Brazil probably goes on too long, a couple of the other sequences are real
show-stoppers, benefiting from Transporter director Louis Leterrier's
skill with fast-paced and cheerful action. First, there's a battle
between the full military might of Ross's forces and The Hulk on a college
campus, filled with unthinkable displays of power and split-second escapes.
Then there's the climax, in which Hulk and Abomination face off in New
York City while the other characters look on. Not only is it one
of the best hero-on-hero fights I've ever seen in a movie, but Zak Penn's
screenplay (with a heavy but uncredited assist by Norton) has brilliantly
moved all its' ducks in a row so that this is not just a slugfest but the
climax of this story, testing Blonsky's lust for endless power against
Banner's need to find a way to be the master, rather than the victim, of
his gamma-warped body. The ultimate geek test lies at the end, with
a simple two-word line of dialog that is probably the silliest thing that
ever made my eyes well with tears at a movie. The CGI effects are
good, with Norton & Roth's own faces mixed into those of the creatures
to create more realistic expressions, and the smash and crush destruction
they leave in their wake is first-rate.
The
Incredible Hulk's
Job One is to do right what the previous Hulk did wrong. Obviously
the full-on embrace of summer movie action and spectacle is the difference
that will matter most to the mass audience, with The Abomination getting
his full due after the previous movie dusted Bruce's evil father David
(an excellent Nick Nolte) with just enough of The Absorbing Man to ruin
the chance to use that wonderful villain in a future installment.
But there's also an important and wise decision to link Bruce to another
David Banner, the one played by Bill Bixby in the late-70's Incredible
Hulk TV series. The opening scenes pack in visual references
to the series, place Bruce in a similar situation as a wandering soul taking
on small jobs and helping random people he meets, and include both a quick
moment of Bixby on a TV on The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and
a few notes of one of the great pieces of TV music, Joe Harnell's wistful
piano piece “The Lonely Man”. The movie's also made room for the
show's one surviving cast member, Lou Ferrigno, who has a fun cameo as
a security guard and provides the Hulk's familiar roaring voice.
The
do-over also involves a total recasting of the three major roles, and the
substitution is most positive in the lead. While Eric Bana never
quite balanced the conflicting roles of victim and hero inherent in Bruce
Banner, Edward Norton does a great job of being everything he needs to
be. He's sad, sometimes even tragic, but he's also always got enough
spring in his step to be fun. The switch from the excellent Sam Elliot
to William Hurt is a wash. Both actors do a great job with the ruthless
General Ross. I'd be curious if Hurt made a conscious effort to mimic
Elliot, because there are times when he cocks his head to the side and
glares and looks JUST like him. As Betty, Liv Tyler's no Jennifer
Connelly (but then, not many actresses are), but she's got quality chemistry
with Norton and their relationship feels genuinely lived in even as the
movie picks it up on the fly. Among the guest stars, Roth is a great
Blonsky/Abomination, feeling really grounded as a realistic soldier until
he encounters the strange world of Super Soldiers and Gamma mutation.
And Nelson is a hoot as the cheerfully amoral Sterns (Hulk comic fans don't
need me to tell them the significance of his character).
The
Incredible Hulk is a lot of fun and a nice do-over for fans of the
character left cold by the 2003 movie. And for those watching the
Avengers saga unfold, its' mentions of Super Soldier fomulas, Banner's
journey toward heroism and that glorious movie-closing cameo are a sugar
rush of icing on the cake. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!!!
Told
you I wasn't exactly impartial on the subject... |
