User blog:Hawkeye2701/Review4U: The Incredible Hulk (2008)

To break up what is likely to be a rather monotonous back and forth between Spider-Man and X-Men reviews, I've taken a suggestion from Mako100 and decided to review the 2008 Incredible Hulk Movie. I would like to inform everyone that I encourage comments on older reviews so just cause newer ones come up, don't feel like you can't add to them (Though probably best to avoid going onto the second page if I'm ever gonna see them. XD) I am also still accepting new requests for reviews despite the ongoing and outstanding ones I have (Namely the X-Men cartoon, Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions and I believe someone asked for Ultimate Spider-Man the comic... Yeah that last one is gonna take FOREVER) So let's get on with it.

HULK REBOOT!
After the horrendous mediocrity of Ang Lee's 2003 adaptation of the character, many of us feared we might not live to see a good Hulk movie. Some probably still think that, but whether you like it or not, I don't think anyone could argue that this version is the inferior film.

We open with a montage of flashbacks into the event that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk. Following with the rest of the Cinematic universe, this origin leans more toward the Ultimates universe than the classic, with Banner testing a machine on himself as opposed to being caught in a Gamma Bomb Blast. We see more bits and pieces as the hulk (never shown clearly at this point) trashes the joint and injures Betty Ross before fleeing the scene. Little snippets of newspapers and reports infer Banners escape and the pursuit by the military.

The scene finally fixes when we see Banner (Played by Ed Norton) seated on the floor sweating bullets. A counter to the side reminds us he's been 158 days without incident. We find him living off the books in Brazil and watching Portuguese Sesame Street to try and learn the language. Working with a local martial artist (With some freakishly impressive stomach muscles) to try and control his anger.

Working out of a juice bottling plant to make money, whilst doing an odd job fixing a conveyor control panel, Bruce cuts himself, sending a drop of his blood onto the line. While he cleans up the spot, some remains on one of the empty bottles and gets mixed in with the juice. The day ends and Bruce, while leaving, sees one of the scumbag employees hitting on one of his co-workers. Inviting her to lunch to try and break up the situation, he earns the man's ire and in a scene I personally find quite funny, tries to give the classic "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." line in Portuguese, only to confuse the last word, thus making Bruce Banner the Incredible Hulk only when desperately afflicted with the munchies. The boss interrupts before anything comes of the confrontation.

Going home, he picks up a package containing a rare flower. Setting up his equipment, he contacts a colleague named 'Mr. Blue'. Mixing the flower into a compound that he hopes to purge his blood of its Gamma infusion, it works, but only very temporarily before reverting. Mr. Blue suggests they meet, but Banner pans thee idea. Agreeing to send a blood sample instead.

Jumping to the Pentagon, we see General Thaddeus Ross get a report on a case of Gamma Sickness, complete with Stan Lee Cameo as the old man who drank the juice contaminated with Bruce's blood, officially making this like the only one of his Cameos to actually have an impact on the plot. This mobilizes Ross and his men, his 2IC saying that he brought in an ace, Emil Blonsky, a Royal Marine born in Russia and raised in England. (Pretty sure this second note is purely to account for actor, Tim Roth's accent.) From what I've read this background doesn't match either the mainstream or Ultimates Blonsky, but honestly I don't mind given the original one being horribly dated and the Ultimates one not existing until 2013. Instead, this Blonsky seems more like an old soldier just looking for a good fight, and I quite enjoy that.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, Mr. Blue tells Bruce that his preliminary tests are looking good at curing him, but that he needs the original test data. The military team close in on Bruce, the early warning granted by his faithful dog being the only thing that allowed him to get out the window before they stormed the place, Blonsky shooting his dog in the process. Being chased through the streets, Bruce runs afoul of the jerk coworker from before who he manages to evade with some martial arts moves, but they continue to pursue him along with the soldiers. Chasing him into the bottling plant, the jerk and his friends jump Banner before the soldiers catch up. Beating him up, they throw his bag (Containing his computer, important for later) aside, all the while Bruce's heart rate swiftly climbs as the beeping from his wristwatch heart monitor tells us. They accidentally trigger his transformation into the Hulk, which once again remains unseen for the most part. The soldiers move in, trying to subdue it, but of course, this is like throwing cotton balls at Mothra, it ain't happening for Blonsky and his team. Blonsky trades out his tranquilizers for real bullets as the rest of his team is taken down, but firing them at the Hulk does about as much good and here we get our first proper look at the Hulk's face and Blonsky's realization that something has gone well and truly FUBAR here. The Hulk pitches a forklift at him before leaving.

Heading back to Ross, Blonsky hands over Banner's backpack and expresses his dismay at the Hulk's appearance and Ross explains that the Hulk is Banner, though the details of how this happened are kept from him at this point.

Waking up in a stream, Banner finds himself lost, the days without incident meter resetting to 1. Managing to hitch a ride, he finds that he is no longer in Brazil, but Guatamala which (According to the map I found) means that during that one incident he had to cross at least 5 countries to reach and puts him just south of Mexico... In presumably one night. Ho~ly Sh*t.

Back at base, Blonsky expresses his interest in taking another crack at the Hulk and also tells Ross that whatever team he puts together next should be informed and ready to fight, or else.

Back with Banner, we get a lovely blast from the past in the form of the famous "Walking Away" music clip from the live action television series as Bruce is reduced to begging on the street. He eventually gets up the money for clothes before setting off back for the U.S.

With Blonsky once more, Ross finally deigns it necessary to fill him in on the whole picture. He reveals that the project Banner was working on that transformed him into the Hulk was an attempt to revitalize 'Force Enhancement' research, or as Blonsky put it 'Super Soldiers'. Banner's being early phase work that was not even weapons application, the scientist thought he was working on radiation resistance, but, having been so sure of his work and not aware of its true purpose, tested it on himself. (If the Hulk isn't weapons grade, I dread to think what they were planning for.) Blonsky takes to the idea quite well, intrigued by the prospect, they discuss the nature of old soldiers before Ross not so subtly offers Blonsky a shot at the weapons grade serum that did come of Ross' work.

At Culver University, where the first incident took place by this movie's canon, Bruce scopes out the situation, now sitting on 17 days without an incident. Unable to enter the building without an ID, he leaves, but not before checking up on Betty. Heading to a nearby pizzeria owned by a friend, Bruce convinces the man, named Stanley, to give him a hand. They discuss Betty's new boyfriend, a psychiatrist (Whom I recently found out is the Doc Samson of this universe. Probably the only bit of casting that truly disappoints me in this film) Anyway, borrowing some pizzas, Bruce pretends to be a delivery guy in order to sneak into his old lab. The guard he bribes in this scene is in fact Lou Ferrigno, which is cool. The guy he gives the other pizza to is apparently Amadeus Cho... Okay, two casting choices I'm not thrilled about, but this is such a bit part I'll ignore it.

Logging onto the computer, he unfortunately finds all the test data and his own files missing. Contacting Mr. Blue, he relays the disappointing news before leaving. Back at the Pizzeria, Betty and her boyfriend show up, resulting in a rather depressing scene where she looks for Bruce to no avail after having spotted him in the kitchen. Tracking him down, the pair reunite in the rain. Bringing Bruce home with her, she reveals to him that she saved the data of their experiments.

At the base, Ross thaws out the serum.

Back with Betty and Bruce (God scenes in this film are short) he expresses his need to leave early and a rather awkward tension passes between them. Heading to bed, Betty and Bruce in their separate rooms lay awake apparently lamenting the situation.

With Blonsky, Ross informs him that he's only receiving a very low dosage of the serum, and that the first sign of any side effects and he's off the team. The procedure goes ahead, Blonsky receiving injections into the deep muscle and bone marrow (Which is cringe worthy)

The next day, Bruce and Betty prepare to leave, but Bruce spots the military closing in on them. Taking off, Bruce attempts to run. With a small army chasing him, we see Blonsky amongst the soldiers easily outpacing men decades his junior without a sweat, not only leaving them in the dust, but not breaking a sweat doing so. Heading into a nearby building (I can't tell if it's a church, a library or part of the Culver campus) Bruce stops just long enough to swallow a flash drive.

Outside, Betty attempts to stop her father, but fails. Seeing Bruce trapped in a glass walkway, the army fire tear gas in to subdue him. This only succeeds in doing exactly what you'd expect him to do, Hulk out. Breaking out of the walkway, we get our first fully lit body shot of the hulk and I won't lie, f*cker looks scary. The army unloads on him, but anything short of a grenade launcher do little more than piss him off. Blonsky attempts to take the Hulk one on one, but despite a general advantage of agility, doesn't seem to be doing much better. A pair of sonic cannons are directed at the Hulk and used to subdue him (Actually fairly similar to real life experimental riot control tools from what I know) Whilst very effective, the Hulk ultimately trashes them both. Blonsky tries again, but the Hulk kicks him. That's pretty much that as Blonsky flies across the lawn and slams into a tree. Betty runs up to the Hulk, and although he seems calm for a moment, the gunship that proceeds to fire on the area doesn't help his disposition. He takes it out easily enough, walking out of the wreckage with an injured Betty in his arms, the Hulk flees the scene.

Later, Ross takes all the remaining sensitive material from Betty's house. Addressing Samson, who had been waiting outside, he reveals it was the psychiatrist who called in about Bruce. Samson confronts Ross on his BS, and while I'm still not keen on the casting, I appreciate his decency as a character.

Switching to the Hulk, he carries Betty to a cave out of the rain. Coming around, she freaks out, batting at the Hulk and causing him to smack his head against the ceiling where we see some very human reactions and poses from the not so jolly green giant. A bolt of lightning distracts the Hulk though, causing him to roar at the clouds, but Betty calms him, showing us much more of the misunderstood Frankenstein type character.

At the hospital, Blonsky is doing his best mummy impression as he is head to toe in casts and bandages. The doctor comments that his bones are essentially paste, but that his heart is like that of a race horse. Ross leaves at this point, but we see Blonsky's fingers begin to twitch and the soldier open one eye.

Back at the cave, Betty awakes and rouses Bruce. Going to a motel, the two take stock of their situation. We also get a nice joke here with Betty having gotten Bruce a nice big stretchy pair of purple trousers.

With Ross, he watches footage of the fight, including two Sophomores who witnessed the battle and give us our 'Hulk' name drop.

Back at the Motel (I need a frickin' bungee cord for how much this movie back and forths.) There is a rather nice scene between Betty and Bruce here as the two try to get 'intimate', but is abruptly cut off as Bruce's heart monitor starts to go off, kind of ruining the mood for obvious reasons.

At the base, Ross is informed that Blonsky is, miraculously back on his feet and ready for another go of it.

At the motel, we get another humourous scene where Bruce says they can't use anything in Betty's bag as it can be tracked, her pointing out the obvious exceptions of her lip gloss and glasses. To try and get more money to move on, Betty pawns her mother's necklace.

At the base, they begin tracking Bruce again, Ross at this point revealing that Bruce was on the run 5 years. Bringing up that Bruce's online alias, Mr. Green and Mr. Blue had been added to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s watchlist. during which time we see Bruce contacting Mr. Blue, thus providing Ross his lead as we see a visual representation of the Shield mainframe track Mr. Blue back to a Dr. Samuel Sterns at Grayburn College.

On the ride to meet Dr. Sterns, Betty and Bruce discuss the Hulk and Bruce makes his feelings very clear on the matter, that he doesn't wish to control the Hulk, he wants to be rid of it.

With Blonsky, he is seemingly preparing himself for a second round of the procedure.

Meanwhile Bruce and Betty hit New York and find Dr. Sterns. Heading into his lab, Sterns expresses his concern that his cure, while guaranteed effective, might only suppress a given episode and not stop the Hulk permanently.

Elsewhere, we see Blonsky after his latest round of injections and quite frankly, he looks only a couple of notches healthier than a crack addict at this point, his spine in particular looking very pronounced. Packing up, he gets on the chopper to go for one last confrontation.

Back at the lab, Sterns sets up a dialysis machine in order to mix his cure with Bruce's blood. Inducing an episode, Sterns is, in no uncertain terms, surprised as Bruce transforms before his eyes. The cure takes root, turning the Hulk back into Bruce. It's at this point he reveals that he had test subjects, namely a massive supply of Bruce's blood he cultivated in order to test his theory on lab animals. While Sterns sees great potential, Bruce is less inclined, demanding he destroy it, but before anything can be done, Blonsky storms the room, trying to bring out the Hulk before the rest of the military arrives and takes Banner into custody. Getting him onto the chopper, Blonsky stays behind, knocking out the soldier left with Sterns and demanding the scientist infuse him with Banner's blood. Sterns implies that with what's already in him, it could make Blonsky an Abomination (NAME DROP!) As the chopper takes off, Sterns fills Blonsky up. Smacking Sterns aside, the scientist cracks his head open on the machine, allowing some of his concentrated Banner solution to drip into his head, causing it to swell (Thus the Leader was Born!)

The Abomination begins his rampage, taking out what military forces remain in the area. The chopper gets word from the ground that the Hulk is on the street and Ross, knowing this can't be the case, gets them to turn around. Seeing Blonsky on the monitor, they watch as Blonsky takes an RPG to the chest willingly and smiles before taking out the men who fired it at him. It's at this point Bruce volunteers himself, or more precisely the Hulk to combat the monster. Throwing himself from the back of a flying chopper, it seems Bruce's ability to change had gone right until he hits the ground, doing more damage to it than the other way around.

It's at this point we get what I think is one of the best scenes in this movie, the Hulk's confrontation with the Abomination. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts and what is likely hundreds of thousands of property damage, the Hulk seems outmatched for Blonsky's strength and intelligence. When Ross' chopper tries to intervene to attack Blonsky, he attacks it, attempting to bring it down. Crashing onto a rooftop, the chopper is left perched precariously on the edge while the two titans continue to batter one another. The gas tank on the chopper catches fire, prompting the Hulk, with Betty being in danger, to gain the upperhand, slamming Blonsky into a wall before putting out the fire with a thunderous clap. This momentary lapse however lets Blonsky start wailing on him with two pillars slung between a heavy chain. After knocking the Hulk down, Blonsky turns his attention to Betty and Ross and asks the question "Any last words?" The reply is of course.

"HULK SMASH!" The only clearly spoken words by the Hulk thus far (A muffled 'Leave me alone' featured in the bottling plant, but wasn't too clear.) Hulk gets the better of Blonsky, nearly choking him to death with the chain, but stopping just short of killing him thanks to Betty. The Hulk and Betty share a tender moment before, with more choppers in coming, Hulk flees the scene.

Some time later, we arrive in British Columbia where we find Bruce running. Heading to a small cabiin, he makes himself a coffee and opens a package marked 'David B.' (No doubt a reference to the old TV show) which contains Betty's mother's necklace. Sealing it in an envelop addressed to Betty, he gets up. We then see him sitting on the floor meditating as the sound of a rapidly increasing heartbeat is heard. We once again get the days without incident counter telling us it's been 31 until Bruce opens his eyes, revealing them to be emerald green as the counter resets.

The movie ends with Ross drinking himself into a stupor when Tony Stark walks in, dropping a hint towards the Avengers.

The Review
In a similar vein to my game reviews, I feel I have to break this up into sections.


 * Story

As an origin movie I think this works really well. Unlike a lot of Marvel heroes, what actually made Bruce the Hulk isn't the interesting part and I don't think that sort of call to arms change like Tony Stark or Steve Rogers works here and it would of wasted a lot of time retreading that old ground. No, I think it's in Bruce coming to terms with this thing inside him and learning to turn it into something positive is what really works for the Hulk story and this movie does it really well. For most of it Bruce is on the run and it's only really when he decides to use the Hulk against Blonsky that he becomes a hero.

I made reference to the constant scene changes and while the shortness of some was irritating, I think it worked because they were telling two sides of the story, we saw Bruce running from the military and from this power he already had, while we're also seeing Blonsky in a constant pursuit of that power. Only when Bruce accepts it does he become the hero, but it's Blonsky's overwhelming drive for it that turns him into a monster. As weird as it sounds, despite the Hulk being one of the more fantastical heroes in Marvel, I find a lot of this story is told very well from a very grounded perspective. Until Blonsky totally flips his lid I can't even call anyone in this a real villain, just an antagonist. Banner wants to keep it out of military hands, Ross wants to put it to use, Sterns wants to turn it into a cure for all mankind and until he flips his sh*t and starts attacking his own, Blonsky just wanted the best fight he could find, which while not exactly nice, isn't evil. As a story it's full of moral greys and centered around the pursuit and use of power, which is a theme you can find in Iron Man and Captain America though it's a bit more transparent there as one side is definitively evil and the other good.

Not much of the screen time is wasted, there's a few wee scenes here and there that maybe could have been removed without worry, but there's nothing that really detracts from the film. A lot of the references to the old show were nice and the comedy, while more sparse than some others was still pretty good. Also, I won't lie, every time Lou Ferrigno appears in a Hulk movie, I do a little jump for joy.


 * Characters

Okay, I know a lot of people love Mike Ruffalo as Bruce, but that doesn't mean Norton is bad. I'll admit, he might not of worked so well in the Avengers, what with Julius from Pulp Fiction, That chick from Eight Legged Freaks and Two Members of the Invaders there, but he still worked here. I think he does a very good job of not only looking the part but acting it. He's not the typical Hollywood handsome, so he makes a believable scientist, not like if Brad Pitt was playing the part or something, his reactions are typically very awkward and clumsy, for a man who's been on the run 5 years, social interaction is clearly not his strong suit and when he gets flashes of the battles the Hulk has, he jumps back in terror. He's not a soldier or a fighter like Blonsky, he's a nerd in a very bad position and I think Ed Norton portrays that brilliantly.

Liv Tyler, I'll admit I don't feel as strongly about her as I do others characters, but she does a good job of portraying both the emotional and intelligent sides of Betty, even if her voice could do to drop an octave.

Tim Roth. I Mother F*ckin' Love Tim Roth. He's an excellent actor and I really don't think they could have picked better here. This Blonsky might not match up to comic canon, but the original was just some dumbass spy who was in the room when Banner tried to kill himself with radiation exposure, so this guy, the smart, tactical, downright creepy at times Blonsky who would hunt Banner to the ends of the Earth to suit his own needs, this, this I like.

With the exception of the Amadeus Cho cameo, the other actors, Ross and Sterns play their parts well. Sterns comes across as ambitious, but not malevolent at this point, which I think is good and Ross, while certainly an asshole for most of it, there are those parts where you can honestly see where he's coming from. You don't tell every Tom, Dick and Harry you tried to make a super soldier and it ran away, that is literally the plot of Universal Soldier and that movie sucked! He tries to protect his daughter, though admittedly badly, but the intent is there and while admittedly providing Blonsky with the tools, he made it clear side effects were to be expected and not tolerated, and this was done in response to the Hulk. The very definition of go big or go home.


 * Style

I love how they did this movie. Like I mentioned, a lot of it seems a lot more down to Earth and grounded than other Marvel movies which seems to work well for the story. Everything you see is done very realistically. The soldiers use Tranquilizers quite simply instead of some insane techno variant, Banner who is on the run has a make-shift lab with a crappy satellite computer and while certainly intelligent, has been in Brazil five months and is still screwing up angry and hungry, so he's a genius, but it's not like he's Rain Man here. Blonsky's procedure is notably painful including multiple injections not only deep into his muscle tissue, but into his bones, which would realistically be what would required for something like this. Stern's cure is administered by a dialysis machine that seems kinda iffy as opposed to trying to blast him with some Anti-Gamma beam or something. The most advanced piece of technology in this seems to be the Sonic cannons, which I already covered, while kind of fanciful in the pulsing effect maybe, are theoretically in the same vein as devices that are actually being designed for anti-riot actions. Basically once you've accepted that whatever Bruce did to himself can transform him into a 12ft tall green giant with super strength and near indestructible skin, the film makes the rest easy to accept for the suspension of disbelief.

The Hulk and Abomination as the two big CGI parts of this film, I'll admit I don't like the Abomination's look, not because I think it looks bad, but that face creeps me the hell out. The Hulk, while not only a notable improvement on the giant green snot glob from Ang Lee's movie, I think is probably the best looking Hulk. It's this massive dude just made of muscle, you can see the strain of his skin and the veins beneath it, those glowing green eyes and like the tone of the movie just feels much darker than the other variants. I mean I really enjoyed Ruffalo's sort of simian Hulk, this sort of bounding ape type beast and it also came across as very strong and powerful, but this one to me just looks so much more the monster part.

All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. While maybe not as strong as some other Marvel Movies in places, I can't say there's anything particularly weak about it. Unless you were really looking you wouldn't of even caught Samson or Cho in the movie and considering what they would have had if they remained more faithful to the comics, I really can't blame them for changing it up.

So once again, I am Hawkeye2701 on behalf of Mako100. So if you'll pardon me, I'm going to get something to eat, because you really wouldn't like me when I'm hungry.