Hulk Smash
Monday, June 23rd, 2008 | Posted in moviesSPOILERS FOLLOW
The movie started with a brief montage showing how an experiment gone wrong turned Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) into the Hulk, and put his lover Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) in the hospital.
We catch up with Banner, who is lying low in Rio De Janeiro, working in a Guarana bottling factory. He also works on his self-control by practising Aikido, and breathing techniques (I loved the instructor’s impressive diaphragm movements).
Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, General Ross (William Hurt) tracks him down, which leads to an amazing chase scene through the favelas (with occasional brief rests to stop himself from Hulking-out). Finally Bruce is cornered in the bottling factory, and out of options he gives in to the rage.
The first appearance of the Hulk was amazing, in the dark he seemed even more huge and deadly, and gave the General’s men a good thrashing.
So forced out of hiding he moves on and returns to Virginia where he is spotted by Betty, who was apparently in love with another guy but drops him like a hot rock as soon as Banner shows up (and strangely he didn’t seem too angry about it).
Meanwhile, hardcore soldier Emil Blonsky (born Russian, bred in Britain - Tim Roth), who was lucky not to get pulverised in the Rio factory, wants a piece of the Hulk and convinces Gen. Ross to pump him full of super soldier serum. Emil gets the chance to try out his enhancements when the General tracks Banner down again at a college campus, and he actually does pretty well against the Hulk (for a minute).
I enjoyed the scene with the Hulk and Betty in the cave, though it reminded me slightly of King Kong. Somehow those quieter scenes made me more aware that Liv Tyler would have had to imagine the CGI Hulk, that he would have been slotted in after her performance. Despite that, the scene helped to show the Hulk as a more sympathetic. more human character. The love between Bruce and Betty is vital to the movie, as without it we’d just have a 2-hour soulless CGI-powered wrestlemania bout, plus she’s the only one who can connect with the Hulk, which is handy.
So later on, Blonsky wants another shot at the Hulk and gets himself turned into the Abomination, who is larger and more powerful than the Hulk. By this time we’re in New York (of course) which becomes victim to the Abomination’s tantrum. So in an echo of the death of the Hulk in the series, Banner jumps out of a helicopter, but survives to fight the Abomination.
During that last fight scene I liked the bit when fire threatens Betty and despite his hands being full, the Hulk does some kind of hand clap and puts out the fire. What I didn’t like was when Betty told him to stop his choke-hold - which was an anticlimax for me.
At the end there’s an open ending, and the potential for a sequel, which I’d definitely go to see. Overall I really enjoyed the movie; it wasn’t perfect but it was a fantastic interpretation of this modern Jekyll and Hyde story. I really appreciated Edward Norton in his role, as he personified the cerebral scientist who contrasts so much physically and emotionally with the Hulk. I wasn’t totally into Liv Tyler, who seemed too sweet at times. William Hurt was pretty good, quite intimidating. Tim Roth was intense, and increasingly creepy as his body changed during the movie. (Interesting that though the Hulk looks like a big green human, Blonsky looks like a misshapen reptile hybrid with protruding bits…) The main source of humour is the character of Samuel Sterns, an eccentric scientist who has an important role in the plot.
Other things that stuck in my mind:
- In Rio, why did Banner have to come across his pretty co-worker while she was undressed? Bit of a cheap way to perk up the horny lads.
- I liked the scene in Mexico when he bought some trousers and asked if she had stretchier ones.
- My friend noted that the first two times that Banner changed into the Hulk we only see a portion of his body, thereby maximising the tension of his metamorphosis. It was only later in Sterns’s lab that we see the full change.
And the essential cameos and self-referential bits:
- Stan Lee in an amusing bit
- Lou Ferrigno as a pizza-loving security guard, and the voice of the Hulk
- The late Bill Bixby from the original series in a dubbed tv show (blink and you’ll miss it)
Plus the well-publicised Tony Stark scene (I also noted the Stark Industries logo during the opening credits). - When he tries to say, “Don’t make me angry, you won’t like me when I’m angry’ in Portuguese - and fails amusingly.
And here’s a funny video review of the movie that I found:
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Urban Recluse Rating: 
I’m very tempted. 
If you could choose any superpower, no matter how devastating or nefarious, what would you choose? 
