Review : The Incredible Hulk

Having been one of the people who actually liked the first Hulk movie , I must say that I was shocked to know that Universal was preparing itself to make another film , not a sequel , but a new interpretation of the adventures of the non jolly green giant . When it was widely reported on the press that Edward Norton had signed on to play the part of Bruce Banner , the Hulk´s alter ego , I was extremely suspicious , considering that Norton is seen as an extremely serious actor , who apart from one or two light movies , alwas seemed to have a thing for dark projects such as "Fight Club" amongst others . This new version , or reivention , obviously needed a new director , so the studio decided to hire a french director Louis Leterrier , the man behind the "Transporter" films , something that made me think that this project was doomed from the start , and not even the fact that Liv Tyler and William Hurt jumped on board , made me reconsider my point of view as far as considering that a new Hulk film wasn´t needed was concerned . So what do I have to say , now that I´ve seen the film ? Is this new Hulk better than the 2003 version ? One of the things that people will immediatly notice is the change of tone . Whilst Ang Lee´s film really had very few romantic and funny moments , this one gives enough space for the relationship between Bruce and Betty to blossom , and we do find ourselves thinking that their relationship is really what drives the film , considering that Betty is the only one who manages to calm down the beast . The fact that if people thought that there wasn´t any chemistry between Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly , they will be extremely disapointed once the first scenes that show Edward Norton and Liv Tyler appear on screen - there isn´t a chemistry , only one or two moments when we could feel that the two actors were really trying to make that fictional relationship work . I couldn´t help but to think that Tyler actually had far more chemistry with the Hulk than with Norton himself . As for Edward Norton , all that I can say is that he´s a better Bruce Banner than Eric Bana , even though sometimes we feel that he just couldn´t care less for what he was doing , and Bana seemed to have taken the job more seriously - too seriously for a comic book movie . The truth is that Ang Lee´s film tried to be more than a simple super hero flick for it dealt with matters that one may find in the books , but certainly doesn´t expect to find them in a movie which is mostly targeted at children or youngsters who only want to see the Hulk smash and destroy everything that stands in his way . This film is more of an action movie , and the action sequences are quite impressive , especially the first time we have the chance to see the Hulk , or glimpses of him , on screen , while he´s fighting a bunch of bad guys in a brazilian factory , and the final battle between the green monster and the Abomination , played by Tim Roth , who is the one who delivers the best performance . Liv Tyler tries to convince us that she really is the new Betty Ross but there was something about her performance that made me doubt her acting skills , even though Betty does have more to do in this film than in the previous one . William Hurt delivers a boring , if yet sometimes truly menacing , performance as General Ross , but after one or two lines , one feels that his character is extremely one dimensional . What really steals the show are the special effects , which are quite incredible , even though the Hulk sometimes looks like a doll and so does his arch nemesis , but still , the film really is a visual feast , an amazing spectacle to watch in front of the silver screen . Marvel fans will certainly recognize certain elements that are a trademark of the Marvel universe , such as references to other characters like Captain America and of course , Tony Stark aka Iron Man , who appears in the final scene .

Had the story been smarter and some of the performances better , I could say that this film was better than the one that was released 5 years ago , but for now I shall say that it´s neither better or worst , they´re both at the same level , the only major difference being that Ang Lee´s version was more introspective and this one focuses more on special effects and action sequences , sometimes failing , sometimes succeeding .

The Incredible Hulk : 0 to 10 : 6