Customer Reviews
Dumbed-down generic action movie - By: Mr. A. F. LESTER-GEORGE, 22 Nov 2008 
With the two modern entriesin the Hulk franchise viewers will largely fall into 3 categories - 1) people who prefer this Ed Norton vehicle to Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk because the latter was "too arty" whereas this is more of an action movie; 2) people who prefer the Ed Norton/Louis Leterrier project because it is closerin style to the 1970s Lou Ferrigno TV series; 3) people who prefer the Ang Lee experiment because it drew its influence more from the paper source material & generally felt like a more-rounded movie.
I fall firmly into the third category, although I came into The Incredible Hulk (2008) without any predefined opinions, simply hoping that it would live up to the first film. I was aware that Marvel had decided to distance itself from the 2003 outing with its reboot because the former had received mixed reviews for being too cerebral & too long & because it had not performed as well as expectedin the box office. With the promise of an extended CGI-heavy climax, it was evident that the new direction would lead viewers down a more action-led route, however,in taking this approach & deliberately keeping the running time to under 2hrs, something important has been lost - characterisation.
Ultimately, the Hulk character suffers a massive flaw - being that this not-so-jolly green giant is all but invincible, it makes him something of a one-trick pony ("Hulk smash!") so it is important that you sympathise with the mild-mannered alter-ego. In the case of Eric Bana's Bruce Banner, sufficient time was spent getting to know the character & you came to develop an emotional bond with him. Not so with Ed Norton whose interpretation feels more like a parody & the opening "last time on "Hulk"" sequence does little to help. The pacing of the film only serves to reinforce this sentiment -in trying to please action fans by having the Hulk appear within the first 10mins you remove all sense of peril from Banner's character. He may be chased through Brazilian favelas by a crack assault team butin the end you know that no harm will come to him. There was a clever attempt to instil a sense of danger through the use of a heart monitor where a pulse of over 80bpm denotes an imminent transformation - something the protagonist wants to avoid (well, he says he does but you don't particularly feel that he cares either way). At the end of the day though, this technique was employed more effectively with Keanu Reeves on a bus; the heart rate premise has no time to build up - it happens almost immediately - so all the potential of this cinematic device is squandered, like opening the oven too soon when making a soufflé.
Aside from this, the supporting characters do little to engage. Liv Tyler pouts & whines & looks distressed but again doesn't seem as committed to the Betty Ross role as her predecessor, Jennifer Connelly. Tim Roth does a good turn as Emil Blonsky (and, crucially, does not attempt an American accent) & possibly gets the most laughs out of the mediocre screenplay. As an enhanced human his character actually presents the Hulk with an interesting counterpart - a monsterin the form of a man fighting a manin the form of a monster. When he transitions to the `Abomination', however, there is a return to the sense of futility inherentin characters that cannot die. The much-publicised climax between the two creatures boils-down to a wrestling match where the winner is simply whoever gets tired last - there is nothing particularly originalin this sequence & that's a shame because you already know who's going to win so you just end up watching 2 CGI creations hitting each other with CGI props. It all seems a bit pointless, which might not have been the case if the effects were awe-inspiring but, like the characterisations, they remain underdeveloped & simply middle-of-the road. When your title character is reliant on this technology you really need to deliver the goods.
At the end of the day, The Incredible Hulk feels like an excuse to get the character on screenin preparation for an Avengers movie where his role has the potential to be used more effectively. Ed Norton seems bored, Liv Tyler looks lost & only Tim Roth seems to be having any fun. It gets 3 stars because it is a perfectly passable action movie but,in trying to emulate the (somewhat trite) TV series, Marvel has done little to tell us more about the Hulk character. In this regard, Ang Lee succeeded and, ultimately, this was reflected at the box office:
Hulk (2003) opening weekend: $62m
The Increduble Hulk (2008) opening weekend: $55m
If You like superheroes's movies is a good film - By: Empe, 20 Nov 2008 
Better than Ang Lee version, based on a very good cast (expecially Roth as the villain, & Tyler - Bellucci-like) with Norton not at the same level "matching with the character" of Bana. Good CG special effects, a good plot. Only the possible mixingin a sequel with Iron Man (by the last scene with Downey Jr) is a phantom menace ....
What was the point of the original Hulk movie? - By: T. Cowell, 17 Nov 2008 
Let me state straight out that me & my missus like the original The Hulk movie. No, the cgi isn't wonderful & yes, it is a bit talky but it is still, essentially a good popcorn movie. The Incredible Hulk, however, is boring & so cliche-ridden that we almost turned off after half an hour (We couldn't even get our 15 year old to watch it because of the negative reviews his friends had given the film). The director obviously plays on his XBox too much & the film is, as with AVP, etc, etc basically a Video game, & a pretty naff one at that. The Hulk, himself, has undergone an "Upgrade" which shows off every sinue & tendon only to make him ugly (almost as ugly as the monster that Tim Roth becomes - oh & by the way, is the monster a brother of another monster from Resident Evil????).
My main gripe, however, is that it completely ignores the original - admittedly flawed - movie & instead takes its cues from the Incredible Hulk TV series. I half expected Bill Bixby to turn up!
Another case of style over substance.
If you can't get a teenage boy to watch this then who exactly was it aimed at????
YEP!! - By: Garry Williams, 16 Nov 2008 
Wow!!! Much better then the hulk. I was excited to see Ed Norton to play Bruce & he was A ****** Great storyline & left open for a Ironman vs Hulk movie which would be ace. The only thing I didn't like was there wasn't alot of the actual hulkin the film but apart from that I give this bad boy 5 ************ all the way.
A big improvement on the last movie......... - By: chuckles, 10 Nov 2008 When I sat down to watch this movie, I had no real expectations as the last Hulk movie was very poor, however with the recent spate of excellent Marvel films I was keeping my fingers crossed. Firstly I must say this was a huge improvement from the movie a few years back. The CGI was a lot less obvious & the movie had a much fuller story. Nice cameo from Lou Ferrigno as the security guard & of course Stan Lee. Major downside for me was Liv Tyler, just didn't find her at all convincing.... to girly, breathless & pouting for a top scientist. Nice tie-in at the end with Iron Man as well..... Looking forward to the Avengers! Summary is good movie, just not quite up there with Iron Man & the Dark Knight
