The Incredible Hulk begins with one of the most well crafted credit sequences in recent memory. Its not the credits themselves that are memorable, it’s the fact that the brief sequence distills everything one would need to know about the Hulk into a neat little montage. This allows the film proper to skip the overused “origin story” section of the superhero genre and jump right into what everyone paid to see: the action.
It is the aforementioned action that was frustratingly absent from Ang Lee’s Hulk and the opening montage also serves the secondary function of announcing to the audience that the film that follows is going to act as if Lee’s film was never made. In this regard this is the Hulk’s equivalent of Batman Begins rather than Superman Returns, both in the sense it is a complete restart and in terms of overall quality. The rest of the film lives up to the pace and style established by the opening sequence, with a handful of moments that will likely elicit gasps from even the most ardent CGI-haters. Norton’s Banner/Hulk is perhaps the screen’s most accessible superhero to date. He’s able to convey the loneliness and sadness of the character without the “woe is me” histrionics of the Spiderman series. Norton also deserves credit for making the non-action scenes believable and entertainingÑthe small children in the theater with me seemed as mesmerized during dialogue as they did during the destruction.
2008 seems to be the year of the good superhero film with Iron Man already setting the bar and the much-anticipated The Dark Knight yet to come. I put The Incredible Hulk just a notch ahead of Iron Man. It may be merely personal preference, but I enjoyed Norton’s sympathetic but admirable Banner over Downey Jr.’s loveable rogue in StarkÑgeek heresy, I know. The Incredible Hulk, for all the noise and destruction, ultimately feels the more mature film of the two when compared to Iron Man’s adolescent fantasy indulgences.
Don’t bother staying past the credits. Marvel’s smart enough not to pull the same trick twice.
by David Carter | Source: Theatrical Print
14 Jun 2008 8:07 PM | Submit Comment
