What Exactly Was The Incredible Hulk? (Make Mine Marvel #2)

PHASE ONE

Discovery

"I don't want to control it. I want to get rid of it."

The filmography of Marvel Studios is still so small (Age of Ultron will be only the eleventh film from the company) that it truly is surprising, especially when considering their tremendous influence on the pop culture zeitgeist, that one of their big budget summer blockbusters could slip through the cracks and become relatively forgotten. But that's the fate that has befallen The Incredible Hulk, a 2008 attempt to revive the beloved character of The Hulk after the 2003 feature from Ang Lee went nowhere except for the $5 dollar Blu-Ray bin at Wal-Mart.

What's really peculiar about this Hulk movies reputation is that its titular character is beloved now, with The Avengers finally bringing one of Marvels most popular characters to the big screen in a manner that resonated with audiences. By contrast with Mark Ruffalos turn as Bruce Banner and his rage fueled alter-ego, The Incredible Hulk is the one film from Marvel Studios that just hasn't left a big footprint on the overall universe. In fact, its contributions to the overall realm of the MCU is in Easter eggs, like when The Abomination got mentioned on Agents of SHIELD last season and the climactic duel between the Hulk and The Abomination getting briefly referenced in The Avengers and the Daredevil TV show.

Is this all a long-winded way of saying that The Incredible Hulk is a terrible movie or something? Not exactly, but it is an oddball film, both considering it in the space of the cinematic universe it inhabits and as a feature in its own merits. Here, Edward Norton gets to play Bruce Banner, replacing Eric Bana from the 2003 movie, and he's just sort of middling in the role. He lacks the subtle touches of Ruffalos turn as Banner (the little things like neurotic twitches or constant hand wringing he brought to the character really made him come alive in The Avengers), and he lacks a clearly definable personality for much of the story.

When we first meet our hero, he's stuck in Brazil, where the most interesting portion of the tale unfolds. There's more than a hint of Jason Bourne in these sequences, which emphasize Banners man-on-the-run personality as he tries to lead a quiet life while attempting to figure out a cure for his anger issues. When various soldiers, led by General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt), finally manage to corner Banner, he begins to turn into the gigantic green monster that we all came to this movie to see. This movies Hulk form, unfortunately, only further makes one appreciate the interpretation of the character in The Avengers; in that 2012 film, advanced motion-capture technology finally allowed for The Hulk to actually resemble his human counterpart, making the anger fueled entity feel like an extension of Banners personality.

Here, The Hulk really doesn't resemble Norton in any shape or manner. There's really no attempt, aside from a brief scene between the beast and Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and a tender moment at the end, to translate Banners personality to the creature in any way. That kind of just leaves The Hulk as a generic CGI creation responsible for some memorable action beats, but otherwise, matches the film he's starring in and doesn't leave much of an impression.

The rest of the cast follow suit in terms of quality, particular Tyler as Betty Ross. What Malakith in Thor: The Dark World is to Marvel supervillains, Tylers turn as Betty is to Marvel love interests. She has pretty much no chemistry with Norton, making scenes like their reunion in the rain aimless. On the flip side, Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns is goofy fun, even if his final scene, teasing his transformation into the supervillain The Leader, will likely never get a proper conclusion.

A proper bad guy does manage to emerge in The Incredible Hulk, in the form of Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), a fellow who starts out actually kind of interesting (he yearns to continue his combat duties despite getting older) but soon just becomes a generic CGI creation for The Hulk to punch in the finale. At least their duel is well filmed, as is much of the fighting in The Incredible Hulk actually. Louis Letterier directs these sequences with a kind of clarity that nicely contrasts with The Hulks more primal form of violence, and I do like how some of the settings (namely, a soda bottling warehouse and a college campus) for these fight scenes are kind of unique. They're smaller in scope than most environments we see in these MCU movies (except for Thor and Iron Man 3), and they help lend a distinct identity to the various skirmishes the Hulk finds himself in.

It's not exactly a shocker that The Incredible Hulk has managed to become the closest thing the MCU has to a "forgotten" entry considering Edward Norton doesn't really shine as Bruce Banner and the films depiction of The Hulk is still spotty (though the way he delivers the line "Betty" is well done). There's still some fun action to be found, but like I said, I'm not surprised to see this one has receded from most peoples memories even as the popularity of the MCU continues to grow exponentially. The movies post-credits scene (which weirdly takes place right after the movie ends instead of waiting until, y'know, after the credits) does a solid job of summarizing the feature as a whole; in this short scene, Robert Downey Jr. waltzes into a bar and begins to talk about The Avengers initiative with General Ross. It doesn't really make sense in the context of the larger universe, but it is fun to see this sort of continuity (I remember audiences going crazy when Downey walked on screen) and the moment, like The Incredible Hulk, is breezy and pleasing enough to watch.