Hulk's back in banner film
Hulk's back in banner film

Published: June 13, 2008

Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk,” a love letter to the 1970s series that mixes "The Fugitive” with "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Norton's Hulk, a CGI-creature, isn't all Hyde, however. While he's fueled by rage, he maintains some of Banner's emotions, and can be calmed by Elizabeth Ross (Liv Tyler), Banner's former girlfriend and scientific colleague.

Banner was accidentally irradiated in a lab accident, which caused him to turn into a super-strong green giant. Anytime his pulse races beyond a certain point, it triggers the transformation. Banner goes on the run, as Gen. Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt) wants to use Banner's blood to create an army of hulkified soldiers. He seeks the aid of mercenary Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), who wants any experimental process the general has to up his abilities to take on the Hulk.

The screenplay is by Zak Penn ("X-Men 2”), and French director Louis Leterrier ("The Transporter”) takes the directorial reins this time around. While 2003's "Hulk,” directed by Ang Lee, mixed angst, art-school style and comic-book panels into an interesting hybrid that didn't please the target audience, "Incredible Hulk” is a much more straightforward action film, but one that satisfies. The film is at its best when Norton is onscreen, which means the final CGI-versus-CGI battle isn't the strongest portion of the movie, but it's the perfectly accepted method of concluding these sort of things.

There are cameos aplenty in "The Incredible Hulk,” and dozens of nods to Marvel fans, but none of them detract from the film.

— Matthew Price

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