The Incredible Hulk
In 2003, one of the early superhero adaptations came to theatres. From
the very beginning ‘Hulk’ was The Gamble Movie of that year. This was because
the character of Hulk had only been visualised in a 1970’s TV show, which
worked to that extent. Another wild card was the casting of Eric Bana, who
certainly appeared as an interesting choice to play Dr Bruce Banner / Hulk to
the rest of the world, but everyone in Australia was totally stoked! We Aussies
knew Eric Bana from Chopper yes, but we also knew him and loved him most in
“Full Frontal”. For my non-Australian readers, Full Frontal was a comedy
variety/skit show that ran for about six years in the 90’s. The ensemble cast
were very talented, especially Bana who played several iconic characters. Out
of the TV show’s cast he was the only one to go on to bigger and better things.
And finally, another fact of 2003’s Hulk making it a long shot was the guy
calling the shots. Ang Lee of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” fame helmed the
directing duties; an unusual choice of director for a summer blockbuster, as he
was more known for his art house films. If he pulled of Hulk, it would make him
one of the most versatile directors working in the world.
Unfortunately, Hulk didn’t quite pay off like many had hoped. It was
overlong, overdramatised and lacking in solid action. The effects appeared to
be somewhat unfinished as well. Hulk had a few good moments, mainly towards the
end where the angry green beast goes on a rampage through San Francisco.
Overall, it was more of a miss than a hit. The filmmaker’s hopes to launch a
new franchise looked dead… or so it seemed.
Four years later, and superhero films were now big business at the box
office, thanks to the success of characters like Spiderman and the X-Men crew.
The character of Hulk was only lying dormant, as he had plenty of anger left in
him for another film. Filmmakers believed he was a comic book hero with
substance and wanted to have another crack at it. To lay to the rest the
memories of the first try, a new director, new cast and new look were
incorporated and in 2008, we met “The Incredible Hulk”.
The story follows on from the first one, where Dr. Bruce Banner (now
played by Edward Norton) is on the run in South America. He has learnt to deal
with his curse of turning green and grumpy whenever he gets angry, by closely
monitoring his body’s signs to avoid any unplanned visits from his inner beast.
Feeling safe and in control, Banner lives a peaceful life. But the military are
still hot on his trail, and General Ross (a returning character from the first
film) wants to capture Hulk for an army project to create super soldiers using
gamma ray radiation; the same source of power that originally turned Dr. Banner
into the Hulk.
Of course, Bruce Banner wants no part of this and cleverly avoids
capture several times. But things get complicated for him when his former love
Betty (the Generals daughter) shows up to stir his emotions and a hot-headed
soldier named Blonksy wants the Hulks power for himself. He finds a way to tap
it and becomes a monster equal to Hulk in power and size; the Abomination. When
these two meet on the streets of Harlem, the stage is set for the ultimate
smack down!
Incredible Hulk was a far superior film from the 2003 attempt. The
filmmakers here did not set out to make a sequel, even though this instalment
follows on from the first film. The intention here was to reboot the character
and set things up for the Avengers. As Incredible Hulk was released the same
year as Iron Man, the filmmakers were either very smart or over-confident that
an Avengers movie would happen. Instead of waiting to see if Iron Man was a
hit, they went ahead with another Hulk film. And this time, they got it right.
Sorry Ang Lee.
* Post-Credit Scenes - A disgruntled General Ross slams down drinks
at a dusty bar, soaked in self-pity and failure for not capturing the Hulk for
his own intentions. Into the bar walks a smarmy looking man in a suit who
approaches the general and says “Ahh… the smell of stale beer and defeat” It’s
Tony Stark (Iron Man) who advises the general that his Super Solider program
was cancelled for a reason. Stark has paid the General a visit to tell him he
has a solution to his problem. Stark offers a proposition “What if I told you
we were putting a team together?” Stark asks. “Who’s we?” the General asks.
Stark doesn’t answer, instead just stares at the beaten-down general with a
knowing, confident smirk.
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