The Incredible Hulk (film review; opens June 13)
When hired to direct “The Incredible Hulk,” French filmmaker Louis Leterrier was ordered to make the $150 million picture bigger, stronger, faster than director Ang Lee’s “Hulk” (2003), a notoriously unsuccessful Marvel comic adaptation. Leterrier, who has enjoyed success in Europe directing the “Transporter” and its super-charged sequel, certainly followed the suggestions from the studio chiefs. He fills the screen with deafening explosions, endless machine-gun blasts and comic-book characters who grunt and groan more than wrestlers during a steel-cage match, and the result is a lean and mean movie that too often resembles a loud and long video game.
The gifted Edward Norton (“Fight Club”), who plays the title role, has declined to promote the PG-13 film due to his dissatisfaction with the director’s slam-bang approach. He feels that approach robs “The Incredible Hulk” of some of the tenderness it clearly needs to give viewers an emotional charge, a la “Spider-Man” and “Iron Man.”
Sitting through “The Incredible Hulk” is like being kicked in the head. Leterrier, who takes an attention-deficit-disorder approach to the material, throws everything from rage issues to romantic interludes at audience members without giving them a moment to digest what’s happening on screen.
Certainly fans of the Marvel comic will find much to enjoy in “The Incredible Hulk” as the computer-generated title character, who looks like the Jolly Green Giant on steroids, stomps everyone in his path. Those less familiar with the force-of-nature character, however, may feel like inserting ear plugs.
During the opening credits, Leterrier, who borrows themes from “King Kong,” “The Fugitive” and “Beauty and the Beast,” shows how an experiment with gamma rays transformed Bruce Banner (Norton) into a green creature capable of inflicting incredible damage whenever his anger reaches a certain level.
At that point, all hell breaks loose.
Banner goes on the run after the military, represented by Gen. Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt of “A History of Violence”), seeks to take his blood and create “super soldiers.” His biggest regret is not having contact with Dr. Elizabeth “Betty” Ross (an underused Liv Tyler of “The Strangers”), his lover who moves on with her life after Banner goes into hiding.
A freak accident in a foreign land causes Banner’s position to be compromised, and soon, heavily armed military members are blasting, burning and bombing any building visited by the Hulk. A lifelong soldier, Emil Blonsky (an unimpressive Tim Roth of “Pulp Fiction”), leads the hunt for Banner and agrees to participate in an experiment that transforms him into The Abomination, a creature with destructive powers that equal or surpass those of the Hulk.
The film suffers due to the comparisons to director Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man,” which stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a playboy/arms manufacturer who becomes a superhero. That film, which was released just six weeks ago (and is still going strong at the box office), benefits from a sly sense of humor, involving supporting characters, a thoughtful story, timely messages and an appealing offbeat hero, elements mostly lacking in “The Incredible Hulk.”
Some themes about the power of love and the ability for a person to tap into inner strength resonate, but in the end, “The Incredible Hulk” is more about destroying property than touching hearts.
Postscript: Sharp-eyed viewers should look for Stan Lee, who created the Hulk comic with Jack Kirby in 1963 for Marvel. Also briefly appearing is Lou Ferrigno, who played the green creature on CBS’ “The Incredible Hulk” (1978-1982), and a brief clip of the late Bill Bixby, who portrayed Bruce Banner on the TV show.
Also, the Hulk will be back on screen in 2011 when he joins Thor, Iron Man and Captain America in “The Avengers,” based on the Marvel comic. A surprise guest at the conclusion of “The Incredible Hulk” sets the wheels in motion for “The Avengers.”
FILM REVIEW
“The Incredible Hulk”
Grade: B- (for fans of the comic book only)
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth and William Hurt; written by Zak Penn, based on the Marvel comic by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; produced by Avi Arad, Gale Anne Hurd and Kevin Feige; directed by Louis Leterrier.
Running Time: 114 minutes.
Parental Guide: PG-13 rating (intense action violence, frightening images, suggestive sexual content).