I think what left me a bit disappointed with the film was how unimaginable its ideas are. It basically plays things out as you’d expect them — Banner on the run, the army catches up with him, he changes into the Hulk, manages to get away, and at the end there is a fight scene between him and the obligatory matching adversary. It’s not that it’s a bad film - far from it, because of how it plays things as expected - but it’s just not a great film because of it. Having said that I loved the way you can feel how the film builds to the final battle, and although shorter than I had heard and would have liked, it does deliver. The action fan in me just finds something satisfying seeing two giant creatures knocking the crap out of each other for minutes at a time. Something tells me the novelty will last a hell of a lot longer with this film than it did with Transformers, which wore off before I even left the cinema.
All those people out there who expected one thing from 2003’s Hulk and got another, less appealing thing will be satisfied with this version. It delivers the “Hulk-smash” mentality that people were looking for and it’s a satisfactory entry into the blockbuster season of 2008. However I can say with a straight face and a sense of conviction, and I have no doubt I am in the minority, that I preferred Ang Lee’s more ambitious version to this one.
Article comments
1 - Jordan Richardson
Count me as one of the 27 that enjoyed Lee's Hulk. To be honest, this one doesn't interest me that much. CGI looks kinda sloppy and the whole thing seems rather predictable. I liked Lee's grappling with the character and thought the action sequences that were in the film were incredible. I may see this one, but I'm in no real hurry to do so.
Cool review, by the way.