The Incredible Hulk is back....,

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The Ang Lee take on The Hulk was... disappointing. There was a lot of complains from critics, fans and general audience alike that The Hulk from 2003 was too psychological and not humorous enough. Good news here is that the new Hulk-movie (a re-boot after just one film) is more action-oriented, but the psychological aspects of The Hulk is not completely ignored. Which I think is a good thing, as when you think about it, The Hulk is a quite psychologically interesting character. It's about the beast within, and great powers that the possessor unfortunately can't control. The Hulk is quite different from other super-heroes, as he creates more damage against general society than against super-villains (maybe I shouldn't talk too much about what kind of super-hero Hulk is, as I've never actually read the comics).

The beginning credits haven't even ended before we catch a glimpse of the experiment that Bruce Banner performs on himself and the subsequent destruction that Hulk causes in the laboratory. The origins isn't explained throughoutly before well into the movie, which is not a bad thing, because that separates it from a lot of other super-hero flicks where everything is told chronologically. Besides, as clichéd the super-hero genre and comics is at times, we don't need that much of an explanation. Experiment went wrong. Nuff said.

Edward Norton (who is producer as well as star of this film) is clearly a fan of The Hulk comics, as there is many humorous (and to people unfamiliar with the character from before-hand, probably quite unnoticeable) references to the comics and the cheesy 70's and 80's Hulk movies, in the form of a Lou Ferrigno-cameo. Speaking of cameos, as always, Stan Lee makes a cameo in another Marvel-movie. When you see a Marvel-movie for the first time, you can play the game "Where's Stan Lee?", which is similar to "Where's Waldo?". The first person to find him can say the following sentence out loud in the theater: "Look, it's Stan Lee!" Despite of Norton clearly being a fan, there has been made one notable change, which is one of the most well-known characteristics of The Hulk. In the comics and earlier movies, BB turns into The Hulk because of anger or fear, while here, his pulse has to reach 200. While anger and fear is the things that most effectively triggers the "Hulk-gene" in BB, he could turn into The Hulk just by running really fast for a while. I don't think the change was for the better, as I believe The Hulk is really a metaphor for the blind rage in humans, and the fact that other things can now turn him into The Hulk make that metaphor loose a bit of power. The pulse-thing may make more logical sense, but did a big, green, muscular giant make that much sense in the first place? Another thing that's flawed about the new Hulk movie is the relationship between Elizabeth Ross and Bruce Banner. I didn't feel a chemistry nor did I feel that these two people had a history or that she had much importance, although she actually do have a lot of significance in the film.


The action-scenes is where this film shines. A giant, green and angry mutant thing versus a third of the American Army. The same giant, green and angry mutant thing versus a even bigger, gray and power-exploiting mutant thing. Along with wrecked cars lying in the street that they use to hit each other with, this is great fun that does really good on the big screen.

Made by a fan, for fans and general audience alike. Mixed reviews have proved that this film apparently isn't for everyone, but try to mention one movie that is for everybody, and everybody alike, and I'll give you a big kiss on the mouth, no matter what gender or age.

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Movie Trailer