The Incredible Hulk is back on screen for its second attempt at starting a celluloid franchise after the failure of the 2003 Hulk movie.Edward Norton has taken over the lead and seems to have used Bill Bixby interpretation of Bruce Banner (from the seventies TV series) for his inspiration, the quiet loner!
*** SPOILERS ***
The story starts pretty much where the first Hulk movie finished (although this isn't an official sequel!) in Brazil with Bruce Banner hiding from the US military, trying his best to avoid turning green whilst trying to find the antidote to turn him back into a normal person.
Inevitably he gets tracked down and is pursued by soldier Tim Roth who's working for the US military, they want to use Banner's DNA to perfect super-soldier's. Banner, now the Hulk smashes his way out of Brazil to mainland US. His main objective to find the scientist that has been helping him find the cure.
Its all pretty standard stuff. The whole film itself is pretty mediocre, keeping firmly within the boundaries of the comic book adaptation code. Its fairly enjoyable but nothing spectacular. I guess after Ang Lee's version Marvel wanted to keep the film fairly safe from any experimental techniques.
This to me is what made the 2003 Hulk so special. Lee had the guts to try some truly interesting direction and editing techniques. I loved the transitional effects from scene to scene and the comic style windows. It made the film feel like a comic book. I know I'm in the minority here, most people hated it.
...anyway, back to the 2008 version.
Roth's character volunteers to restart the military's experiments in DNA and gamma technologies so he can fulfill his vendetta with the Hulk and gain some sort of common ground with the green dude.
As we've all come to expect from watching super hero movies, if a bad guy gains super powers its not usually a good thing. The addictive nature of the new powers mutate Roth into a Hulk-like monster (named 'The Abomination'), uncontrollable by the military and hellbent on causing mayhem.
The film ends with a massive punch-up between the two, with the Hulk now fighting on behalf of the military.
Now, its the very last scene of the film that caused me to pay attention with the appearance of Tony Stark (Iron Man's alter ego, played by the awesome Robert Downey Jr.). Speaking on behalf of the agency S.H.I.E.L.D he wants to recruit Hulk to join his task force of super heroes.
This will eventually lead to what will be a totally awesome comic book crossover - possibly in the form of the Avengers. Marvel will probably need to establish all the other members in their own films first so it will probably take a good 5-7 years to come around but when it does its going to be pretty special!
