The Incredible Hulk

Marvel Studios has really impressed me with its first two films, but more importantly, its marketing and vision for future franchises and spin offs. The subtle integration of characters is delicately and deliberately placed in the first two films as just a slight tease of things to come. This strategy plays well, creating openings for limitless opportunities, and with the successes of Iron Man and the Hulk, the foreseeable future looks good for Marvel.

The Hulk of 2003 was decent, but still a disappointing artistic endeavor by Ang Lee that was viewed as nothing more than a long, muddled mess of a story with dazzling special effects. The updated version, which for all intents and purposes is the sequel, is much more concise and true to its purpose and audience. Even from the beginning, the entire back story is shown through snippets of newspaper clippings and flashbacks over the course of the opening credits. Too many films of this type (an extensive back story) spend too much time getting the audience up to speed, but this version handles it over the course of just a few minutes.

From there, the story builds with the help of some great actors, and although it is nothing more than a misunderstood science experiment gone wrong, it is an entertaining and reasonable story nonetheless. I think what makes it work is that there isn't a false sense of tension or emotional crescendo, it's just plain fun. The writer, Zak Penn (superhero films and video games are his specialty) does a great job of maintaining the levity with tongue-in-cheek dialogue, and inside jokes that make fans of the genre giddy.

Norton, Hurt, Roth and Tim Blake Nelson were all improvements over the original cast of characters from 2003, but unfortunately Liv Tyler was weak, and much less of a screen presence than Jennifer Connelly was as Betty Ross in 2003.

Some of the special/visual effects along the way were a little bit disappointing, but the final battle made up for that, and the length of the final battle was impressive as usually they seem to fizzle after just a few very deliberate scenes. The real kicker that kept the energy level up was the cameo at the end by Tony Stark (Iron Man) who blatantly set up buzz for a 2011 release of the Avengers (comprised of Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Thor and some lesser known super heroes). As mentioned earlier, Marvel has brilliantly marketed their first two movies, and if the global gross is any indicator of future films by the studio, they will be a major force in Hollywood for some time to come. Hulk good. 8/10.