Marvel has clearly decided to embrace its own movie universe. The Incredible Hulk is a great movie, but there is a wealth of material aimed directly at the fans. General Ross' group is a division of SHIELD; their equipment is provided by Stark Industries; they are trying to recreate the super-soldier serum of the forties; they have memoes from Nick Fury...the list is quite long. Of course the cherry on the cake is Robert Downey Jr's cameo appearance at the end as Tony Stark, bringing to General Ross the same message that Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) brought him at the end of Iron Man. How exciting can Marvel make it for the fans?
Of course it isn't just the comic fans that are being given treats - a cameo appearance by Lou Ferrigno, who also provides the voice of the Hulk? Paul Soles, voice of the Hulk in the 1960's cartoon, doing a camero apperance? It's a veritable pop culture wet dream.
Now, for those of you who know me even remotely, you will probably be aware that my feelings about the Eric Bana Hulk movie were not particularly positive, due mostly to a misjudged central performance. Bana seemed to believe that repressing your emotions meant acting like a plank of wood. He was, of course, wrong, and so it was not without a sense of some relief when I heard that Dr David Bruce Banner was going to be portrayed by Edward Norton. Norton is a brilliant actor who has been wasted over the past few years; his career seemingly to have come to a bit of a cul-de-sac. Superhero movies don't seem to be doing any harm to any actors, with people like Wesley Snipes and the aforementioned Downey Jr getting acting kudos for their performances (and of course it certainly hasn't turned Hugh Jackman's career into a car wreck). Norton seems to have got the feel for Banner just right. He is a geeky, gawkish, wimpy but with a tremendous anger lurking beneath his submissive exterior.
Initially the movie appears to serve as a relative sequel to the Bana version, but as the film progresses it becomes clear that there is no way that this can be anything but a reboot (apparently at the insistence of Norton who had a great deal of imput into the script). That said, they have to be thankful for the original because it allows for shortcuts in retelling the origin story (and lets face it, the majority of the audience will just see it as a sequel regardless of what Norton wants).
As Iron Man was essentially the story of "Iron Man versus Evil Iron Man", the only real negative side to The Incredible Hulk is that it is also essentially "Hulk versus Evil Hulk". Tim Roth (and what happened to this fine actor?) plays Emil Blonsky who later becomes the Abomination (the evil Hulk) due to his desperate desire to become the ultimate soldier, and his incredible awe of the Hulk - a power that he believes is wasted on Banner. Roth plays his part well, but the true villain of movie, really, is William Hurt's General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross who cruelly manipulates Blonsky, Banner and even his own daughter in an effort to create fantastic new military hardware. Naturally he comes to recognise his mistake - obviously when the Abomination turns on him - and finally ends up drinking away everything he has lost in some bar. Sucks to be you Thad.
Liv Tyler takes on the role of Betty Ross for this film, and puts in a credible performance (although not one that is particularly scintillating or emotionally grabbing). The only thing that really needs mention for Betty is a scene in which, in a white shirt, she runs to Banner in the pouring rain. One begins to wonder if director Louis Leterrier spent a little too much time on a certain scene in Spider-Man when he was preparing for the movie.
Ultimately the movie is pretty much an action-packed joyride with Edward Norton given the opportunity to provide us with a very sympathetic character in a situation that is well and truly outside of the world in which he is used to. Hopefully Norton will get the chance to play the part again soon - opposite a certain red and gold character - which should be a truly explosive movie.
"A-"
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