Ang Lee's The Hulk was a brilliant, messy failure, an ambitious flop of monumental proportions. Instead of the full-fledged superhero flick many had hoped for, Lee's film was more focused on damaged father-son relationships and suppressed emotional drama that flared up in grass-colored skin and ever-bulging muscles. And the last half-hour was nothing more than a therapy session masquerading as a climactic fight scene ending in a mass bubble of angst being blown away by missiles (yes, that's what literally happened).
The idea of rebooting such a critical and commercial disaster seems an impossible task, close to crazy in fact. But Louis Leterrier, the director of The Transporter 2 and Unleashed, has succeeded where Ang Lee five years ago failed.
Armed with a great cast that's led by Edward Norton as the tortured soul Dr. Bruce Banner, Leterrier ditches the psychoanalysis and cuts to the action. And boy does this movie have action.
We don't have to wait almost an hour before Banner starts bursting out of his clothes and gets all green on us. It happens within the first 40 minutes of the movie.
The origin story is told in the opening credits. The movie opens with Banner as a fugitive working at a bottling company in Brazil and trying to come up with a cure. Hot after him is General Thaddeus Ross, who considers Banner's body the property of the U.S. government. Soon, he's found out, and the chase begins, from Brazil back to the United States.
Emil Blonsky, played by Tim Roth, is an aging soldier who gets a glimpse of The Hulk and wants some of that power. Eventually, he bulks out and becomes the menacing, even more frightening The Abominator.
Leterrier knows that audiences want to see Hulk smash, and Hulk does indeed smash a lot. This is a darker Hulk, much scarier in his power. The action is swift, and Leterrier keeps a nice, rollicking pace.
Elements of the old television show, the one with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, sneak in. We hear the haunting "Lonely Man" theme, and when Banner changes into the Hulk, his eyes go green. And Ferrigno himself makes a memorable cameo.
What the television show got right and what the movie includes is Banner's overwhelming angst over this dark side of himself, this rage that makes him rip his clothes. Norton plays that well. We feel for Banner and his unending struggle to keep himself under control.
Liv Tyler does a good job as Betty Ross, Banner's girlfriend, though here she mostly acts with her incredibly expressive eyes, all flush with emotion.
William Hurt brings heft to his role as General Ross, and Roth is great as Blonsky.
And plus, this movie is a lot of fun, with sprinkles of humor here and there, something mostly missing in Ang Lee's version.
Reports have surfaced that Norton is none too happy about this version of the movie. He had lobbied for a longer, more dialogue-intensive version, but the studios nixed it. And this time, I have to agree with the studios. The movie is lean, it's action-oriented, it's what people want to see.
And unlike Ang Lee's Hulk, this Hulk rocks.
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