The Incredible Hulk

Ahh The Incredible Hulk, the Marvel film that time, and Marvel just want to forget. But why? Was it really that bad?

Here's a little bit of context.

In 2003, a film simple titled, Hulk, was released. It starred Eric Bana directed by Ang Lee and... I never watched it. Hulk was never really interesting to me, I didn't think it looked appealing, so I can't say whether or not it was good or not. But the rest of the world can as the movie tanked and was a commercial and critical failure.

Enter 2008, only a month after the critically successful Iron Man, Hulk is rebooted after only 5 years and its the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now I should be fair and say its not exactly a movie that everyone has forgotten about. The movie did well at the box office and for the most part the reviews were not incredibly positive, but also not incredibly horrible. To me, the reception of this film, especially in the years since, have been lukewarm. Don't quote me on this but I believe that while it did well at the box office, its the lowest grossing Marvel film to date.

But is it as lukewarm as people often say that it is? Well...

The Incredible Hulk follows the story of Bruce Banner (played by Edward Norton). The film starts out showing the origin story in the credits, of a science experiment with Gamma Radiation gone wrong and Bruce Banner being given the curse of turning into a giant green hulk who goes on murderous rampages when he gets too excited or angry.

It was really interesting how the film did this. This movie was by no means an origin story. The origin is quickly passed over, probably because this was a reboot and they didn't want to waste time telling you the same thing Ang Lee did.

The story is essentially Bruce Banner searching for a cure to his Hulk inducing gamma radiation.

Throughout the film he's communicating with an anonymous source online code named "Mr. Blue" as to how to find a cure for his condition. All the while, the military, headed up by General Ross (played by William Hurt), are trying to hunt him down. Ross recruited the help of a British Special Forces officer (played by Tim Roth) and eventually injects him with the same stuff they injected into Banner.

Roth's character is in awe of the power of The Hulk when he finally sees him, and he becomes mad with power, wanting to become more and more powerful, and is always looking for a fight.

The main problem right off the bat is that, there's not really that much of a story in The Incredible Hulk. Iron Man's story is thin but at least its corporate jargon, The Incredible Hulk is essentially Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde and isn't exactly a superhero story at all. Which is okay, I think Marvel has shown us that they don't need to follow the typical superhero story. However, the redeeming part of Iron Man's thin story is that Tony Stark is a likable character and has his own internal struggle that we can relate to, and cheer him on as he faces the external threat.

Bruce Banner is just not that interesting. And I don't blame Edward Norton, he's actually the part of the movie that I really like. No, I blame the writers for this mess, because while looking for a cure I guess could be considered a story, its so bare bones that its essentially Bruce Banner just running from place to place. I wouldn't say there isn't a story at all, I would just say its not executed entirely correct.

Furthermore, I don't think Bruce Banner is written like an incredibly unique person. You figure out in The Avengers, that Bruce Banner is in fact a brilliant scientist, but in this movie, he's just a guy who needs to learn to control his anger. There's not a lot of parts that really show off that Bruce Banner is a genius of any kind. The way you could see The Incredible Hulk is like a not so great Bourne movie where if Jason Bourne gets too angry, he turns into a giant green Hulk. The science and discovery is mainly done by others and for the majority of the film, Bruce Banner is just running.

What was great about Mark Ruffalo's incarnation of The Hulk in The Avengers was the fact that he was a scientist. He was brought aboard for his scientific knowledge on Gamma radiation (or at least that's what he was told). Bruce Banner was just as interesting as The Hulk was. The reason his and Tony Stark's bromance is so interesting is because they share that intellect.

Then you've got your main villain in Tim Roth.

Now I think Tim Roth was actually one of the better parts of the movie and with a little bit of tweaking, his incarnation of Abomination could have been (and hell even still could be) a really great Marvel villain, and god knows they need one of those.

Roth's character is interesting because instead of running in fear of the Hulk, he thinks its a magnificent example of strength and power and he's jealous. So much that he willfully volunteers and forces Tim Blake Nelson's character to induce a Hulk rampage into him at the end.

The problem with Roth's character is that the whole idea of injecting him with the same thing Banner was injected with, seeing Banner, doesn't make much sense. The military knows that the Hulk is uncontrollable... so they give Roth's character the same thing? I don't care if its in smaller doses, does that at all seem like a horrible idea... at all?

Furthermore, at the end when Roth does turn into Abomination, suddenly all the interesting parts about him being a villain go away and turn into just an excuse to get The Hulk to face off against another Hulk in Abomination. They needed that one last huge fight to make this movie a true action flick.

And why do they fight? Cause Abomination is going rampage. Why? ...Cause he wants... a good fight? I don't know, you could possibly mock it up to, he's just as disoriented as Banner is when he becomes the Hulk but because Roth's character talks while he's Abomination, I somehow get that he's very conscience of what he's doing. So why is he going and running a much in New York.... because that's why.

I definitely don't think Abomination is the worst Marvel villain to date, in fact I think there are parts of him that are actually really interesting. However, his final scene and lack of motivation to just go on a rampage, kind of makes this villain not that great.

On the other end of the villain role in this movie is William Hurt playing General Ross. While I don't think he's awful, Ross is your typical military general type who cares more about creating weapons than scientific research of whatever Banner's research could be used for. Its been done better and in the end, General Ross is one of those characters that just kind of disappears into obscurity in the superhero film realm.

The truth is, I like William Hurt. I know he hasn't been in great films but I still for some reason kind of like him. I think General Ross could have had a bigger role in the Marvel Universe had this movie been better and his character been more interesting. But for what it is, the best purpose General Ross will serve is to create that end credit scene. I'll get to that near the end of the review.

And then we have Betty.

While not the worst performance Liv Tyler has ever given, you have to go into this knowing that this is a Liv Tyler performance. She's very good at whisper acting... if that were a thing, and when she's screaming, it just seems strange. On top of all of that, she's just not a very good actor. I think she has roles that work for her, like That Thing You Do and Lord of the Rings, but those roles didn't really require too much of her. Here she's expected to be the female lead and carry the movie. In reality, she's just not a strong enough actor to really make me care.

The relationship between her and Banner is just down right strange as she is engaged to Ty Burrell, but hey, its Edward Norton, who wouldn't say screw it to every vow you intended to make and try to get with that?

The fact of the matter is, their relationship is made up of nothing. That was the one downfall of the credit montage of the origin story, we assume there was something there but we don't know what their relationship was like so when she's making out with Bruce Banner, it doesn't look too great for her when we know she's engaged.

But on top of all of that, the major downside of this film is the romance. Not only do the two of them have almost no chemistry, the romance really takes away time that could have been spent developing Bruce as a character, or adding a little bit more to this pretty thin story. Bruce could have been gathering resources to make a cure, dealing with sporadic Hulk occurrences, something that would have put a little bit more tension into the film beyond "Don't let the Army get me". But instead the movie is bogged down by this romance, and another element, in jokes.

Ha! Get it? Cause the Hulk had purple pants in the comic, the TV and other interpretations of the comic! I like a few references to the source material here and there, but this movie just seemed to be poking fun at itself left and right. The Pants, The Lou Ferrigno cameo, it goes on and on.

I did think Banner struggling with Portugese and saying you wouldn't like it when I'm hungry was kind of funny, but when the movie just keeps on poking fun at itself, it breaches the point of not taking itself seriously enough and suddenly I lose interest. A clever nod here and there to the source material is good, but when the cameos and nods are so obvious, it just get obnoxious.

I've been shitting on this movie a lot, and rightfully so, but the truth is, I actually really like this movie. A lot of people complain about the final fight scene but despite the circumstances leading up to Abomination's rampage, I thought it was a really cool fight scene and a great way to show off The Hulk's power against someone his own size. While I don't think Bruce Banner is by any means a Bourne like character, I did kind of like the evading the military element of the story. Again, I think he'd have to be tweaked a little bit, but I would actually love to see Tim Roth return as Abomination in future movies.

And in a strange way, a good thing to come out of this movie was that it really didn't create any hurdles for Mark Ruffalo when he took over.

Maybe that's an insult to the movie, but the fact of the matter is, it was so thin, especially when it came to Bruce Banner as a character, that Mark Ruffalo could really come in and could have played any type of character and it probably would have fit in pretty well with continuity.

Again, I don't think the movie was Edward Norton's fault and I think Norton actually tried to edit the script a little bit to give him some more character, something I believe Marvel shut down pretty quickly, but there wasn't much to have to build around for Mark Ruffalo when he came into the Hulk. I don't know the whole story of Norton's departure from the project so I won't cast blame or point fingers, but I think, in the end, Ruffalo will make a better Hulk. I would say has made a better Hulk but to be honest, we've only seen him in one film, a film he had to share screen time with. I'll say he did a good job, but let's not claim Ruffalo is the Bruce Banner we've been waiting for quite yet, at least not until we see Age of Ultron.

The other thing worth mentioning is that post credit scene.

It served a purpose. It wasn't necessarily good, it wasn't necessarily bad, it just served a purpose. Looking at things now, the scene doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Tony Stark during Iron Man 2 is still kind of in the dark about The Avenger Initiative. In the Avengers, Banner is brought in more for his scientific knowledge, not the fact that he turns into the Hulk. I'm really glad it didn't turn out the way it kind of sounds like it was going to turn out by this post credit scene.

But again, this scene served a purpose. They could have had Samuel L. Jackson come in, do the same thing. But instead they choose Tony Stark. Why? To show that these characters exist in the same universe. Its one thing to have SHIELD pop up here and there (references that were actually really subtle, so way to go Marvel) but its another thing to show Tony Stark, coming right off his huge success not a month earlier, and say we're forming a team. Again... it served a purpose.

So where does that leave us now? What is the future for The Hulk and where is his place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Well we know now that Mark Ruffalo is going to be the Hulk for quite a while. We know that he kicks ass, we know that he, for the most part, has control over his Hulk abilities, he's now a full fledged member of The Avengers.

We also know that something is going to go terribly wrong with him in Age of Ultron.

There's a lot of theories, one that he's being possessed by Scarlet Witch, another that the start of Civil War is already happening in Age of Ultron.

Here's my theory. There's hints of Bruce Banner and Black Widow having somewhat of a relationship that is first shown in Age of Ultron. At first I didn't really think that much of it, but then I think back to the images shown in the Age of Ultron trailer.

Images of Bruce in the middle of the woods looking like he's in pain and looking like he's going to turn into the Hulk again. Sequences of him fighting Tony Stark clad in the Hulk buster armor.

My theory is that Tony Stark creates Ultron in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure off the Avengers and their superheroing around the world. Banner sees this as an opportunity to try and get rid of the Hulk and live a normal life, possibly with Natasha. His experiments go wrong and suddenly he starts losing control of his ability to change in and out of the Hulk.

Maybe its rage induced rampages, maybe its Tony Stark thinking that he needs to control the Hulk suddenly that makes Bruce Banner snap, but eventually, Banner is going to lose his temper and go off the handle causing the battle between him and the Hulk Buster.

Add a couple details in there, shift it around to fit with the larger story, but I am putting money on the theory that Bruce Banner is going to have a huge part in Avengers Age of Ultron. And the consequences of his actions in this film, are going to spark events like the Civil War and later events.

Nothing has been mentioned and I'm not totally sure I want this to totally happen, but I'm convinced that down the road, Bruce Banner is getting a one way ticket into space, courtesy of Tony Stark.

 A lot of people are speculating that eventually we're going to get a planet Hulk movie.

I don't want to see that.

I don't know the entirety of the storyline, but the way I understand it is that Hulk is sent off into space, he lands on a planet and becomes king of the planet.

Honestly, I could care less about Hulk becoming king of a planet but hey I've seen a Racoon and a Tree entertain the hell out of me, and hey maybe that's where there could be a cross over of the two. What if the Hulk shows up in Guardians 2? Huh? Maybe Hulk will be sent up into space at the end of Ultron, he crosses over with the Guardians. I would actually be kind of cool with that. But from what I understand of the Planet Hulk storyline, I don't really have much of an interest in a Planet Hulk movie.

However...

Hulk coming back and swearing revenge on whoever sent him up to space, whether that's Tony Stark, the US government, whoever, I would be interested in Mark Ruffalo playing the Hulk, as the villain of a Marvel film. That, I think, could be a lot of fun.

Maybe while he's doing his crossover with the Guardians, he meets Thanos, Thanos persuades him to help him find the rest of the Infinity Stones, Part one of Infinity Wars is Avengers vs Hulk, then Part two is when Thanos double crosses Hulk and then its all the Avengers vs Thanos in Part 2. I don't know, I'm just spitballing at this point.

Marvel is saying that Hulk is going to have a big role coming up in the next phase but that's kind of hard to believe when there's no sequel to this film, no movie just focusing on The Hulk.

But I'm gonna wrap this up.

The Incredible Hulk has a lot of things going for it. The Hulk is an interesting and nonconventional superhero (if you can even call him one) and I think in comparison with Ang Lee's Hulk, this movie was great. But the story is really thin, there's little to no character development, and the movie is just bogged down with romance and the fact that it doesn't take itself seriously enough.

I think Marvel knew this movie wasn't great but by the time the movie was released, they didn't really care because Iron Man had done so well. Their cinematic universe had at least lifted off and as long as the movie was better than the previous Hulk film, it didn't matter that its still the lowest grossing Marvel movie.

And Marvel has gotten to the point where they don't need to do another sequel. If fans are calling for more Hulk, they can tag him onto another property just to give that lesser known property a little bit of a boost and they don't need to go through the process of writing another standalone Hulk film.

As much as I would have liked to see a sequel to this film, I think its probably best if Hulk remains an essential side character, as opposed to carrying his own film. Could I see Mark Ruffalo carrying his own film as Hulk? Well... I'll have to see what they do with him in Age of Ultron, if my theories are even half of what they end up doing, I think I'll be pretty happy. And you know what, it doesn't matter because Hulk gave us this scene.

So what do you think of The Incredible Hulk? Is it right to say that its the movie Marvel forgot? Which Hulk do you prefer? Ruffalo or Norton? And what place do you think the Hulk is going to have in the MCU moving forward. Comment and Discuss below! Also shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 and follow me on Twitter to get updates on movie news and reviews.