Review of The Incredible Hulk (2008) by Chads. — 14 Jun 2008

Only five years after fanboys pooh-poohed Ang Lee's "Hulk", the adjective is back, David Banner(hey, what happened to Dick York, I mean, Ed Bana) is back; still green, still angry, and still hasn't found what he's looking for.

But can "The Incredible Hulk" right the Marvel ship and turn the American moviegoing public into Taiwanese deniers? Probably. It's a faster-moving "Hulk"; so fast, apparently, there's no time to land the plane, or give poor David a parachute.

He jumps out of the aircraft during the final action set-piece, in which, he apparently breaks every bone in his body upon contact. David should be a parapelegic, or dead, but no, he's the Hulk. And then "The Incredible Hulk" delivers, what Lee didn't deliver; a knock-down-drag-em-out altercation between rock 'em sock 'em abominations of mankind.

..that lasts a long time. The "Bewitched" analogy doesn't work with Betty Ross(Liv Tyler substituting for Jennifer Connelly), because there was only one Samantha. When Banner(Edward Norton) and Betty decide to abstain from some heavy-duty canoodling in the motel room, "The Incredible Hulk" misses a golden opportunity to dramatize the reason they can't be together.

Ang would throw no caution to lust; Ang would understand that Betty has to be thrown in harm's way to make the love story resonate.