‘The Incredible Hulk’ (2008)
I confess that I have been dreading having to see this film for this challenge ever since I saw the list of Marvel movies I had to watch. I’ve never been a fan of the Hulk character, and it took Mark Ruffalo’s performance to finally make me warm up to him a little.
But The Incredible Hulk, although part of the MCU, does not feature Ruffalo, but Edward Norton in the title role. And just like with the Hulk, I’ve never been a fan of his work, so I wasn’t particularly excited about seen it.
To some extent, I got exactly what I was expecting. The Incredible Hulk has a few good moments, some flashy action sequences, and effects that looked mostly passable. Yet, there’s little to be said about the character development in the film. In fact, our main character starts and ends the movie in pretty much the same situation: ostracized, still trying to take control of his green situation, and having learned…I’m not quite sure what. Which begs the question: why tell this story at all?
Not to mention, I feel like Bruce’s smile at the end doesn’t add up to what we see of the character by the time The Avengers happens, which makes it even more confusing.
Granted, telling this type of story cannot be easy. And perhaps, having both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk coming out on the same year meant the latter got the short end of the stick.
Still, it feels like such a dream team could have given us all much more. Instead, this Hulk elicits no sympathy, even when some flashy inserts try to put us inside his troubled mind.
The main villain (Tim Roth) is also uninteresting. He is there to turn into a monster so we can have a CGI fight between two colossal creatures. But that’s it. There’s no depth or reason to his madness. And our other antagonist, General Ross (William Hurt), is equally inefficient in having a compelling arc.
On the good side, I did enjoy the film’s attempt at giving us a slightly ‘scary’ Hulk. As he moves through the shadows, hunting his pursuers, the monster is genuinely intimidating. You can actually feel the weight and danger of his presence. Unfortunately, it’s a sensation that dilutes more and more as the movie progresses.
The comedic exchange after Betty (Liv Tyler) loses her temper was also one of my favorites. It’s a short yet fun moment, the likes of which I would have loved to see more throughout the movie.
Another moment I loved? Bruce buying a pair of sweats while he’s on the run. Simple yet absolutely hilarious.
In the end, The Incredible Hulk is perhaps one of the least memorable of the Marvel movies. The good news: it could only go up from there!
This is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Challenge: I’ll be watching 1 Marvel film each week in preparation for the release of Avengers: Infinity War.
