Joe’s Review: The Hulk (2008)

For anyone who thinks that this movie even closely resembles the debacle that was the previous incarnation of The Hulk, I’m going to dispel that right now. The Incredible Hulk was quite decent. If I had to describe the movie in one word, I’d have to go with: LOUD. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a movie quite as loud as this… well maybe I have, but it was definitely way up there. Every roar, smash, and gunshot in the movie was deafening. Did that make the movie good? Read on!

Since he was first irradiated by gamma radiation and became The Hulk, Bruce Banner (A capable Edward Norton) has been declared an enemy of the United States Military. He was considered to have stolen military secrets, something the army wants back so they can use what happened to him as a weapon. However, Banner wants no part of this, and is doing his best to stay out of the whole situation. He has escaped to South America, doing odd jobs in a local bottling factory. In his spare time, he communicates with “Mr. Blue” under an alias to try to find a cure for his situation. Despite all of “Mr. Blue’s” help, their efforts are in vain. Everything they tried ends up failing.

However, after Dr. Banner sends a sample of his blood to “Mr. Blue”, a solution is found. Unfortunately for Banner, the US military is on to his location after a mishap with his blood ending up in an energy drink in the US. The US sends their best to trap Banner and bring him back, but they fail as The Hulk emerges. With Banner gone again, the military is left with just some traces, and a lot of questions as to what they have to face.

The story actually is more complicated than that, but you’ll have to see the movie to know what happens. I really enjoyed what they did with the story, and I personally think it works really well.

Now lets talk cast. Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/The Hulk really worked in my opinion. He really seemed to make the character his own, and in my personal opinion, was very much more believable as Bruce Banner than Eric Bana was. No offense to Eric, but I think Norton really just did it better. Now as for the heroine, I think Liv Tyler was adequate, but for some reason I kept seeing someone else in the role. I kept thinking Anne Hathaway… but that might be because they looked really similar in this movie. Also, the fact that I recently saw The Strangers made Liv Tyler a bit of strange choice. It’s a sharp contrast in the type of movie.

Overall, I’m going to say that I enjoyed The Hulk. Yes, Iron Man was a better movie, but nevertheless, the Hulk was enjoyable. I guess that does say that this prediction was wrong with the gross. The combination of action and development in the story worked for me. I’ll have to say that the volume (loudness) did detract from the movie for me, but that could be location specific so I’m not going to hold it against the film. I

Now that you have my ranking (below)… what did you think? Like or Hate it? Did you like the Green Man when he was angry?

‘m going to give it:

Rating:

- See it if you get a chance!

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