Summer Movie Suicide Mission No. 14: The Incredible Hulk

In which one man attempts to view every summer blockbuster for the entire season, regardless of taste, genre, or potentially toxic serum injections.

First thing’s first: I like The Incredible Hulk quite a bit. It’s a fine film that excels even beyond the heights of the earlier, and vastly underrated, Ang Lee version. However, I get the sense that this year’s model will still go down in history as the weak link in an otherwise stellar comic book summer. Iron Man was stellar, and I even find myself violating my “no expectations” policy when it comes to The Dark Knight, which I’ve been anticipating for the past year, and have fallen prey to the mountain of hype surrounding it. And if it’s even half as good as Batman Begins, its predecessor, I’ll be well justified in doing so. If you’ll pardon a silly metaphor, I see The Incredible Hulk as I see The Kinks, as a workmanlike and often brilliant counterpart to The Dark Knight’s Beatles and Iron Man’s Rolling Stones. Still great, and probably worth a critical reappraisal in the future, but not as undisputedly great as the heavy hitters. But, of course, I’m speculating (I haven’t even seen Knight yet), and speculation isn’t supposed to be part of my game.

That all being said, Hulk can come off a little shallow in the middle, but when it hits its heights, it hits them with a huge bang. As with Robert Downey, Jr. in Iron Man, Marvel has done a remarkable bit of casting, resurrecting another fine actor from the cinematic dregs, this time Edward Norton. Norton had built himself a fine reputation early in his career (The People vs. Larry Flynt, American History X, Primal Fear), but has been off the map in recent years. It’s not a groundbreaking role, but Norton delivers a fine take on Bruce Banner, while Tim Roth was an excellent choice for villain Emil Blonsky, bringing his rough-around-the-edges competence to the role. Liv Tyler and William Hurt show up and do a decent enough job, but their roles are mostly forgettable, which isn’t a bad thing. This movie is an origin story for Norton, setting up the climactic battle between the Hulk (in a nice touch, voiced by Lou Ferrigno, who also has an on screen cameo) and the mutated Blonsky.

The Hulk is a character with a great deal of emotional depth, which can get overlooked in a huge blockbuster action film. In fact, a leading theory on the relative failure of Ang Lee’s Hulk was that it was shrouded in too much emotional nuance to please a mass audience, who just wanted to see some good Hulk smashin’ action. But Bruce Banner is an alter ego who constantly resents his power, who just wants to be normal. He uses his physical strength only when he is threatened, or when he loses control. At least in his origins, Hulk is not so much a hero as a tragic figure, trapped in his own form. Director Louis Leterrier does a nice job harnessing the weight of the story, while still finding space for Hulk to wreak some fine havoc.

This is also a movie that looks good all around, and plays a bit with other versions of the story. I give a lot of credit to whoever performed location scouting on this film. The story opens with Banner living in an impoverished hillside village in Brazil, and Leterrier takes great effort to show wide shots of the densely oriented shanties in the town. It’s a breathtaking shot that serves to establish how far Banner has run, and also sets up a riveting chase scene that takes place in the town, where Banner flees the U.S. military and makes his first appearance as the Hulk. Later, as Banner makes his way through South America on his way back to the States, the famous piano cue from the 1970s television series provides the score.

The climactic battle takes place in Upper Manhattan, with iconic backdrops like Columbia University and the Apollo Theater dotting the scene. Leterrier provides a realistic portrait of Manhattan under duress, paying great attention to detail to legitimize the situation.

It seems as if Marvel Studios is really trying to legitimize the whole superhero genre, in fact. Like Iron Man, Hulk seems like a character study that uses its comic book inspiration almost as an afterthought. The characters feel like real people in extraordinary situations, not like cartoons. Sure they give you the explosions, but they provide a real explanation for why they occur. Their filmmakers seem to remember that you can’t be superhuman without being human first.

Film: The Incredible Hulk
Director: Louis Leterrier
Stars: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Lou Ferrigno, Tim Blake Nelson

Viewing Situation: Weekday matinee, half full; digital projection
Rotten Tomatoes Average: 68%
My Grade (Out of 10): 7

Next Up: WALL-E