Written by Zak Penn
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Abomination: "Any last words?"
Incredible Hulk: "Hulk ... SMASH!"
Remember a time when the MCU Hulk wasn't Mark Ruffalo? Yeah, that was a thing if you cast your mind back to 2008 and the second movie of the MCU had a very different take altogether. That and a different actor of course.
Yes, it was Edward Norton who first played Dr Bruce Banner/Incredible Hulk in the MCU and sometimes I do wonder how things would've played out had he remained in the role. Saying that, I do like Ruffalo in the role that he's made definitive for him in the last decade.
Getting back to this movie though, Banner fled the United States and was hiding out in Brazil, generally trying to avoid General Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), who wanted to weaponise him as the Hulk. He was also desperate to find a cure for his condition and almost came close to it in this movie.
Then there was Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). Yup, Bruce's former girlfriend and the general's daughter. She had gotten together with Leonard Samson (Ty Burrell) but was still willing to defy her father and help Bruce on his mission with cellular biologist Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) also chipping in to help.
Of course there was a snag and that was the villain of the piece. Yup, this was the movie that debuted Emil Blonsky aka Abomination (Tim Roth) and I gotta admit, he's actually a pretty decent foe during the first phase of the MCU. The fight scenes between Hulk and Abomination are rather decent to watch.
As for the end of the movie, needless to say it's not a romantic reunion between Bruce and Betty but at least they're on better terms than beforehand. Not to mention the final shot of Bruce's technique for controlling his rage was rather good.
- There's a scene where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) approached General Ross in a bar to lay the groundwork for The Avengers.
- The Stan Lee cameo had the poor guy drink the soda that contained some of Banner's blood. It didn't agree with him.
- There's appearances/voiceovers from both Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno during the movie as well.
- Chronology: The movie jumps five years after the opening scene and then a month after Abomination's defeat. It's set in New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Bella Coola, British Columbia.
I had a lot of fun with The Incredible Hulk. It's held up pretty well as a movie and I think Edward Norton was great in the role. I'd go as far as to say that this would be one of the most underrated movies in the MCU.
Rating: 7 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment