The Incredible Hulk: Incredible?

June 15, 2008

Well, I wouldn’t go so far as INCREDIBLE. But it was pretty good. Ed Norton is always good, and he was good in this. Tim Roth is always good and a little weird, and he was good and a little weird in this. Liv Tyler played the same sweet, soft-spoken, boring woman she has played in every movie since that one about the record store. I didn’t find the CGI Hulk particularly realistic, but the action scenes were pretty kinetic and fun to watch.

That said, it wasn’t that great a movie, and I blame it all on the purple-pantsed beast himself. I think Hulk, at least in this incarnation, is just not a very interesting character—he’s a very powerful behemoth, but he has no personality (and even if he did, he couldn’t articulate it). And although he is very very strong and pretty nimble, in this movie so is his adversary. So it’s just two bigass monsters ramming into each other, which just isn’t that exciting.

But I very much agree with this review from Slate—more than anything else, The Incredible Hulk was a great teaser for the upcoming Captain America, Iron Man, and Avengers movies (also, they’re making a Thor movie!). As someone familiar with a number of the characters and plot points Marvel is taking from the comics, it was enjoyable to see some long-term threads get introduced, and it will be gratifying to see them pay off in the next few years of summer blockbusters.

Also, Tiger Woods is ridiculous. Anyone think Mediate has a chance tomorrow?

Posted in Movies