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The Incredible Hulk
Reviewed by Theo Michelfeld
Posted: June 14, 2008

I may be the only person I know who thinks Ang Lee did better than completely botch the first Hulk movie. Granted, all the psychological pretensions wore out their welcome by the end, and the climactic battle was somewhat overly abstract. But like any enjoyable, imperfect movie, The Hulk had too much going for it to write it off because of its missteps. For one thing, Ang Lee knows how to stage a scene and frame a shot. He could make his hero look enormous by squeezing him into a room one minute, or by plunking him down in the middle of the desert the next, and either way the sight was strangely beautiful. More importantly, he understood the profundity of repression and rage, and he made sure that The Hulk's rampages were about catharsis, and not about mere spectacle. The monster was a human subconscious made manifest and run amok, and thus the loud and violent trashings of technocratic environments, followed by the cleansing voyages into the vast American wilderness, had psychological, emotional, and even political meaning. Those scenes, for me, are wonderful feats of filmmaking, endlessly enjoyable, and perfect examples of the kind of entertainment that cinema, like no other medium, can provide.

However, the movie was a critical failure and, despite decent box office numbers, it is generally considered a flop because its weird self-seriousness didn't leave viewers clamoring for a sequel. No matter, Marvel Studios simply jettisoned their masterful director, along with the entire cast of the first movie, and started over. With this year's The Incredible Hulk, they promised more action and less Freudian psychobabble, and to be fair they've delivered exactly that. But is it a better movie? Not even close.

This time around Bruce Banner is played by Ed Norton Jr., a superb and versatile actor, who, for this role, is inferior to Eric Bana. Angst, anger, valor, and wistfulness—these are qualities Norton can summon in his sleep. But the innately intense Bana brought a spring-tight mysteriousness to the character that really looked like a monster lurking within a man. Norton, for all his talent, doesn't manage the same feat. It seems somehow he forgot the whole dual-nature angle.

There is not much plot to speak of. Banner is seeking a cure for his gamma radiation problem, but the government keeps trying to kidnap him and turn him into a weapon. Every time they do, he goes ape-shizzle and smashes all their Tonka toys. Banner's girlfriend's dad, General Ross (portrayed with sheer class by the reliable William Hurt) finally gets the regrettable idea to inject a character named Blonksy (portrayed unremarkably by Tim Roth) with Super-Hulk-Fighting fluid, and unwittingly creates an indestructible, unstable, rampaging beast. Banner Hulks up to save New York from the Uber-Blonsky monster. And along the way, viewers are subjected to no Freudian psychobabble whatsoever. Yay!

There are cameos by Stan Lee, Lou Ferrigno, and Robert Downey Jr., each designed to trigger brief flashes of joyful in-the-loopiness from the audience. There are Peter Jackson-style sweeping helicopter shots, Matrix-style sudden slo-mo shots, and Cloverfield-style handheld faux-video-journalism shots. And there is tons of CGI destruction, all of which feels driven by demographic research, and none of which feels driven by rage. Folks, you may have felt disappointed by Ang Lee's take on The Hulk. Heck, I was, too. But at least that film wasn't crafted in a boardroom. It may have been misguided, but this new version is like watching a research and development team paint by numbers. Frankly, I'd rather watch a genius make a mess.

Copyright © 2008 Theo Michelfeld