Incredible Hulk [Blu-ray]

This movie, which I believe is supposed to be a sequel to the first starring Eric Bana, is weak. The creature doesn't have any of the "attributes" of the Eric Bana version like, he grows larger and stronger when made more angry, his leaping ability is cut way down in terms of distance. I mean, what the hell did they even make this flick for if they were gonna change aspects like those that basically "define" the creature's fury from the beginning. The only reason I gave it 2 stars is because the Tim Roth character steals the show from Edward Norton's weak display.

If you are interested in a Hulk with high calibre acting and character investment but that's short on The Hulk and action sequences then go watch Ang Lee's The Hulk instead. If you felt that Ang Lee's The Hulk was like something out of a Danielle Steel novel and just want to see the comic book realized onto the big screen with lots of action upon action and are prepared to sacrifice character content for monsters throwing each other through buildings then The Incredible Hulk is exactly what you want.

The Premise is quite simple and works as a sequel to Ang Lee's The Hulk even if it does change the story somewhat. Bruce Banner (Norton) finds himself in South America learning martial arts techniques to control rage while the military try to get him to convert his unique biology into a weapon and dose up a super solider to track him down only to find that the super solider has lost control and so they need The Hulk to save the day. That's it in a nutshell.

Overall this flick is pure cannon fodder. You can sit through it and come out satisfied that you have finally seen Marvel's The Hulk on the big screen. At the same time it is no Batman or Spider-man but that is probably the character's limitations even if Norton does but in a good effort. If you want to see things getting trashed left, right and centre with some very good special effects then The Incredible Hulk is where it is at.

Let me say straight away, this film is much better than the Ang Lee/Eric Bana mess, but really that's not saying much. Look, Im no fan of Edward Norton, he's surly, unattractive, and never has any chemistry with his female leads, I suppose maybe they find him as hideous as I do, but I digress. Honestly, he's not bad in this, Banner is sort of a loner and skin flint, so it works in this role, though again no sparks between he and Tyler. The Abomination is a great choice as a villian, he's as stong as the Hulk and much more destructive, the Hulk was never as blessed as Spider Man when it came to villian in the Marvel Universe, the Abomination is about as good as he ever got. I wish he had appeared earlier in the film, we only really get to see him in full form at the end when he tangles with the Hulk. The million dollar question is..did the CGI Hulk work this time, and in my opinion he did, he looked much more real, though still obviously CGI, but his face was more expressive. The pace of the film is a bit slow, but not nearly the glacial pace of the Ang Lee film and as it neared the end it really picked up, though ironically I feel the best part of the film was the begining when Banner is chased all over the slums of Rio, yes, it was very "Jason Bourne", but all action films crib from Bourne these days. Overall, hardly Ironman, but a pretty good action film, and as a huge Hulk comic fan when I was a kid, Im very grateful about that fact. Oh and the camios by Lou Ferrigno, Bill Bixby and the iconic Stan Lee are all nice touches.

I don't think this is any better than the 2003 version. It starts very well with Dr Banner in South America trying to control the urge within him. This reminded me of the first part of Batman Begins. Controlled film-making where you get to know the characters and they develop in front of your eyes.

After that it was a little bit downhill. Too much CGi that wasn't always that good and the battle of the giants at the end was entirely predictable.

Edward Norton was fine, when he was Banner, and its a shame we couldn't have had more of Tim Roth, but once they both morphed into their respective gamma-fuelled monsters I was less impressed.

That said the use of the still memorable TV series theme tune, was a great idea, and there were lovely cameo roles for Stan Lee, Lou Ferrigno and Robert Downey Jr. Overall its certainly worth seeing but not quite the film I was hoping for....

I had a good time watching this movie. Was fun and exciting at the same time. At times a bit loud but I got past that. It is just what it is a make believe character doing make believe things.