MovieRob Milestone Marathon – Countdown to 6K (#2 of 23) – The Incredible Hulk (2008) – Encore Review

“I’ve had missions go wrong, and seen good people go down, all because someone didn’t tell them what they were walking into. I moved on because that’s the job, and that’s what we do. But this… this is a whole new level of weird, and I don’t think I want to step away from it. Sir, if you’re going to take another crack at him, I want in. And with respect, sir, you’ll need a team that’s prepared and ready to fight, because if that thing shows up again… you’re going to have a lot of professional tough guys pissing in their pants, sir. ” – Emil Blonsky

Number of Times Seen – 3 (17 Sep 2008 and 8 Jan 2014 and 5 Dec 2019)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – Bruce Banner remains in hiding in Central America all the while trying to find a way to keep his alter ego The Hulk from emerging.

My Take on it – Even after seeing this film once again with fresh eyes, it’s quite difficult to not believe that this is by far the weakest film in the entire 23-flm (so far) franchise of the MCU.

The story is not intriguing enough and they rely much too heavily on special effects than on trying to develop the characters in a much more sympathetic way.

Edward Norton does a find job in the lead, but it’s quite easy to see why they chose to replace him with Mark Ruffalo in all subsequent appearances of this character in the MCU franchise.

He has no chemistry with co-star Liv Tyler which hurts things even more.

The special effects are done well, but something constantly feels off when trying to care more about the character ad situations that arise.

Tim Roth is a strange choice as the villain and doesn’t manage to hold his own.

The fight scenes are done well via CGI, yet they constantly still make the viewer feel as if something is missing along the way.

Bottom Line – Weakest of the films in the franchise because both the story and the character just don’t work well enough. Norton is fine in this film, but it’s also easy to see why he would eventually be replaced as this character. His character has no chemsitry with Tyler which is a shame. The special effects are done well, but the way that things are presented here makes it more difficult to connect to the character of The Hulk as is seen possible with his later appearances in the series. Roth isn’t a very good villain and the CGI fight scenes between the characters leave the viewer wanting something much more entertaining.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Edward Norton, who had previously re-written films he starred in, wrote a draft of the script, which Louis Leterrier and Marvel Studios found satisfactory in establishing the film as a reboot of Hulk (2003). As Norton explained, “I don’t think that in great literature and films, explaining the story’s roots means it comes in the beginning. Audiences know the story, so we’re dealing with it artfully.” Norton’s re-write added the character of Doc Samson, and mentioned references to other Marvel Comics characters. He also wanted to put in “revelations about what set the whole thing in motion” that would be explained in future installments (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10) (downgrade from original review)