The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Directed by: Louis Leterrier | 115 minutes | action, science fiction, thriller | Actors: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Robert Downey Jr., Stan Lee, Tim Blake Nelson, Lou Ferrigno, Ty Burrell, Christina Cabot, Peter Mensah, Chris Owens, Jay Hunter

‘Hulk’ literally means ‘colossus’. In the hit TV series from the 1970s, it was played by a human, the bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno. In this and the previous hulk film, he only acts as a guard, because today’s hulk comes from the computer and has little to do with a human in terms of size. The ancient principle of a raging shadow side that sometimes shows its face is of course well known. Every person has such a dark side and with the famous story of Jeckyll & Hyde this has already been literally shaped. The Hulk is a variation on this, but nicer, he’s on the side of the good guys, so to speak. In addition, he is a kind of Frankenstein, an experiment that got out of hand. And finally a variation on King Kong, also in terms of content, because just like his gorilla brother, this time he also protects a girl.

The title of this film (not ‘The Hulk’ but ‘The Incredible Hulk’) refers very literally to the comic and remains much closer to the original form than the previous film adaptation from 2003. It was made by Ang Lee ( ‘Brokeback Mountain’!), which gave the film a pleasant touch of its own, as befits a good director. Louis Leterrier, the director of this film, is younger, more malleable and so far only made a name for himself with action films like ‘The Transporter’ (1&2). Despite the less clear signature, ‘The Incredible Hulk’ delivers a full-fledged action film.

It has become a nice habit to have comic book superheroes played by good actors, under the motto: “it costs something, but then you also have something.” That also worked out very well with Batman and Spider-Man. This time it’s Edward Norton’s turn. The role of Bruce Banner suits him well, but does not offer him opportunities for great achievements. Still, it’s always nice to see a skilled actor at work. In an exciting first part (about 45 minutes) he is like Jason Bourne on the run from the government, which takes him to exotic places. The sequence in Brazil is well done, beautiful locations, beautifully filmed and also compelling in terms of content.

Gradually, actually from the moment Banner is back in America, the film begins to descend into the usual throwing and smashing work. Norton’s alter ego takes over more and more and the actor is replaced by a green animation. Tim Roth, the hero from ‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992), convincingly takes on the bad guy and makes a good face, but at the end his role is also replaced by a big brother from the computer. In a battle of the titans, the climax must follow, but it is a bit disappointing, perhaps because there are hardly any real actors involved anymore.

Subtlety and substance also lose their role as soon as the cars start flying around your ears again, which in itself makes sense. And okay, it’s difficult to shoot all those shots and certainly well done – recreating a New York neighborhood and then shooting very complicated fight and destruction scenes where computer and real images continuously intertwine is impressive – but it is a bit boring , we’ve seen this so many times. When the Hulk has finally shown everyone who’s boss, he jumps from building to building out of the picture, very reminiscent of Spider-Man. And that’s almost symbolic of the Marvel movies: they’re starting to look alike, like impressive unitary sausages, selling like hot cakes with a tasty sauce, that’s for sure!