I’ve just finished reading a couple of Incredible Hulk comics, and I’m starting to gain an appreciation for the characters. You would think this would help me come to a greater appreciation of the Incredible Hulk movie, but somehow…not really. I think this is the third time I’ve seen the movie now, and my reaction is about the same as it was before.
Ehh…
This movie is okay, but it’s certainly not great. In contrast, Iron Man is a GREAT movie. But this Hulk movie just doesn’t do it for me. I talked last time about movies that lack humor, and I think Hulk suffers from that a bit. The characters are all so deadly serious. There’s only one funny line I can recall from the entire film: when Banner and Betty are in New York City, considering a ride on the subway, Banner says “Me in a metal tube, deep underground with hundreds of people in the most aggressive city in the world?” and Betty agrees, “Right. Let’s get a cab.”
Now there might have been other funny bits, but if there are, they just didn’t register with me. Also, last time I talked about movies that are all “non-stop” action, and this movie almost falls into that category. However, between the scenes of incredible action, violence and mayhem, 
we have these really…sappy….well, I guess you could call them “love scenes,” though not really. Banner and Betty have this unusually angsty relationship that plays out a lot over violin music, with long painful gazes into each others’ eyes. Now, as a girl, I always do love a good love scene, but honestly, these scenes were just way too sappy. Even for me.
So in a way, I felt like this movie was “all or nothing at all.” We were either being bombarded with the most incredible superhero/monster feats, or subjected to so much heavy-handed angst. I found it all a bit uneven, like this movie couldn’t figure out what it wanted to be.
I liked all the bright colors and shiny places of Iron Man. But everything in Hulk was much more subdued and gritty. Too real? I think I want my superhero movies to look like they take place in a comic book world, and this one didn’t. Is that unreasonable of me? I don’t know. It’s just what I like.
I mentioned last time that I couldn’t imagine anyone but Robert Downey playing Tony Stark. However, I think I could easily imagine any number of actors other than Edward Norton playing Bruce Banner. To me, he doesn’t look like a scientist. In the comics (at least in the early comics I’m reading now) Banner is tall, and wears glasses, and looks extremely intellectual. Not so, Edward Norton. For my money, even Bill Bixby pulls it off better than Norton!
I really feel like I’m bashing this movie, so let me repeat, I’m not saying it’s a bad movie. I mentioned that it was “okay,” but I’ve come to expect so much more than merely “okay” from Marvel Entertainment.
Now, there is one “Wow Factor” that I must mention, and that’s the special effects. The portrayal of Hulk was fabulous! He’s big and green and muscular and very intimidating. And what great expressions on his CGI face! 
Also loved his deep-seated rumblings and groanings. The Abomination, too, was truly abominable. The way the two of them cut cars in half to use as weapons against each other…well, you’re not likely to see something like that in too many other movies, I’m sure! The fight scenes and the action scenes are powerful. I just wish that maybe there were a little less of them. Grandma would probably be appalled if she saw the amount of violence in this movie. Well, first she’d be appalled, then she’d be bored. Either way, not a good movie for Grandma.
Probably, mostly though, a good movie for boys. This was definitely not a girly type of superhero movie. There was nobody SEXY in this movie. Now, maybe it’s just me, but I think superheros should be sexy. Hulk is not. Banner is not (at least not in this movie.) So, for me at least, this movie did not impress.
But actually, there is one more thing I want to mention, one way in which this Hulk movie did in fact impress. And this is not just something that was done in this movie, but a trend I have seen in other Marvel movies. First, I have to preface this comment by saying that you may not have had the chance to learn this about me yet, but I am extremely big on CANON. I don’t generally like it when filmmakers mess around with the situation as originally set down by the author. In most cases, that really rubs me the wrong way.
But Russ has explained to me that very often in Marvel films, the screenwriters will take liberties with the storyline, but they generally stay true to the characters. Having seen a few Marvel films now, I think I agree. As a Canon Girl, it’s sometimes difficult for me to wrap my mind around the changes, but I think I’m getting used to it, and a little more accepting of these liberties in comic book movies, than I would be in other adaptations.
There is one area, though, in which I highly approve of this departure from canon. Now, I don’t know what happens in the later comics, written in the 90’s and beyond, but in the 1960’s origin stories, a lot of times the female characters are merely window dressing. They don’t really play a pivitol part, they are just there for the hero to have someone to fall in love with. In the case of The Incredible Hulk, Betty Ross is an excellent example. But in this Hulk movie, Betty is not just the General’s daughter, mooning over the dreamy Dr. Banner. She’s got a career, she’s got a life of her own. She’s a modern woman. And I’m glad Marvel Entertainment made the decision to take her character in that direction.
For one thing, it makes her a more interesting character, and she can be more pivitol to the story. But mostly, it would just feel odd and antiquated to have a female character walking around in white gloves and a pillbox hat, swooning. Unless this movie was set in the 1960s (which it’s not), it makes much more sense to step outside canon regarding Betty Ross. (Who here is called “Elizabeth,” which I guess makes her sound more like a scientist.)
But actually, I didn’t find her so incredibily interesting that I would be upset if I don’t meet up with her again in a future Marvel movie. In contrast, as I mentioned last time when I reveiwed Iron Man, I am hoping to see Pepper Potts again. And of course I know I will! But more on that next time, when I have a word or two to say about Iron Man 2, our next stop in the Marvel Movie Marathon!
