The Incredible Hulk or, Emo Hulk Live At The Apollo! (2008)

Directed by: Louis Leterrier
Written by: Zak Penn
Based on comics by: Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

I can hear the music now…just after these previews.

MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA–I have no idea what this movie is actually about, but I want to see it. I guess it has something to do with a man who fought in WWII with the head of an Italian statue. Then, after he grew old, he shot a man who fought there with him. It has Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Derek Luke, John Turturro and John Leguizamo. And it apparently has the same plot as an episode of “The Simpsons.”

I’m so there.

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPIRE–Couldn’t Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh get better roles? And couldn’t Michelle get SOME billing?

Fuck this movie. Let’s move on.

Now, can a Frenchman make good on what a Chinese man couldn’t? Let’s find out.

When last we left Bruce Banner (Edward Norton this time out), he had fought his father and was on the run, once again, with his gamma infected blood in tow. He still goes green ocassionally, but he’s learning to control it.

Now in Brazil, he is communicating with Mr. Blue (Tim Blake Nelson), who says that he may be able to cure him of his greenening. But he needs data from the original accident which can only be gotten from computers back home.

So, off Bruce goes to New York to try to find the information. Of coruse, he runs into Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and her father, General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt doing a good Sam Elliott impression).

General Ross is trying to get Bruce back for more military research. He employs Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), a slightly over the hill, but still bad-ass Russo-British soldier to hunt Banner down. They start to treat Blonsky with the same serum that started Banner’s problems and things go…well…a little funny.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a complete reboot of the series. This is actually a sequel to the 2003 Ang Lee film. But don’t think that this is going to be as cerebral as Lee’s film. This is an action movie, through and through. There is still some of the though-provoking stuff, but there seemed to be more Hulk and less think.

And this isn’t a bad thing. It’s a really good movie. Better than the first one (and, remember, I actually kind of liked the first one) and certainly better than the 70s tv show, which there are many homages to. The story moves faster, the bad guy is more convincing (and less confusing) and the cast is…well, they’re just as good. It’s hard for me to say that Liv Tyler is better than Jennifer Connelly. I mean, come on!

For some reason, it’s difficult to review this one without comparing it to the first one. It’s a really fun movie with some killer special effects. And it’s not every day that you see two giant monsters laying waste to Harlem.

Was it amazing? No. Was it a lot of fun? Hell, yes. I liked it a lot. And I can’t wait to see what Marvel has in store for us next.