Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Real characters as played by Liv Tyler and Edward Norton

Cons: Slow beginning

The Bottom Line:

There's no anger here

Film delivers fights, powers

Combined with real heart

"You Won't Like Me When I'm...Hungry."

Since I only pay attention to superheroes when they are on TV or in the movies, I tend to know very little about them. Sure, I've heard of the big ones. But I don't always know anything beyond the basics. Such is the case with The Incredible Hulk. I went into this one a little green (pun intended). But I walked out a fan.

As the opening credits roll, we're treated to a montage of shots of an experiment gone wrong. Some how, the process turns Dr. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) into a giant green monster, the Hulk.

But that was several years ago. (How many, we are never sure.) These days, Bruce is hiding out in Brazil working at a soda bottle company and learning to control his anger.

But he can't stay hidden forever, and soon General Ross (William Hurt) gets a bead on his location. He sets up a team to go in and retrieve him, even bring in Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) to help.

When things don't go as planned, Bruce decides it is time to head home and get help. But that means reconnecting with General Ross' daughter Betty (Liv Tyler). Is there a cure for Bruce's condition? Can the two get it?

I've heard rumors that there was a cut almost twice as long running around. I'm glad that isn't the version I saw. See, as much as I liked the movie, I felt the beginning was too slow. Sure, they had to set up characters, and I'm not sure how they would have done it any differently. But it felt like the movie was just waiting to get started to me.

The turning point comes when Liv Tyler's Betty is introduced. I wouldn't say the pacing improves, but the drama does. The heart of the story is the complicated love relationship between Betty and Bruce. They have some wonderful scenes together with real tenderness and chemistry. And it's that relationship that makes the second half so much more gripping for me.

Naturally, that means praise for Edward Norton and Liv Tyler. They both inhabited these characters. The few movies I've seen them in before, they've always stood out to me, and this is no exception. They were the emotional heart of the film. They never went too far over the top, but perfectly drew me into the emotion of the moment.

Not that the rest of the cast was bad. They were certainly fine as well. But they weren't the focus that these two were. And they weren't as good, either.

And in the interest of cameo mentions, Stan Lee gets his usual spot. They also included TV's Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, on screen and as the voice of the computer generated beast. Finally, there's a cameo in the final scene that I am not going to spoil. Just be on the look out for it.

Since the Hulk is a combination of motion capture and computer animation, its obvious special effects play an important part in the film. And they are fairly good. A few times, they felt like a computer did the work, but if you let yourself, you could easily believe that this was really happening. More importantly, they didn't take over the film. In fact, even the climatic battle was emotionally real and not just a big fight scene.

As much fun as fights and super powers are, the heart of these movies for me is the human story. Here, that story captured my interest. I want to know what happens next to Bruce and Betty, so you can bet I'll be hoping for more on The Incredible Hulk.