dan coulter.com

This review is a bit overdue, but I do have something to say about the film.  First a recap… Ang Lee makes a campy cartoony Hulk Movie with Eric Bana, Jennifer Connely and Sam Elliot’s mustache.  No one likes it because it’s campy.  A few people say that while it is flawed, it has very interesting characterizations and does a good job of illustrating the struggle he undergoes.

Now, flash forward to 2008.  An entirely new “creative” team tackles the franchise.  A man who has directed exactly two films (The Transporter and The Transporter 2) has been allowed to direct this version.  Instead of Eric Bana’s nerdy passive Bruce Banner, we get Ed Norton’s brooding, lean and muscular Banner.  Instead of Connely, we get Liv “looks too much like her father” Tyler.  Substituted for the interesting characterizations in Lee’s film are extremely long scenes of smashing, interspersed with references to the TV show.

Honestly, I don’t remember too much about this movie.  If you are nostalgic for the TV show, or think that “Hulk smash” is as complex as this movie needs to be, you just might like it.  Basically, it seems that all this movie set out to be was a setup for the Avengers movie.  Sadly, it follows another Avengers setup movie that actually stood on its own (Iron Man).