THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

I didn’t go into this movie super psyched, as you might have seen in my P.E.S.T. posting. But I came out pumped and excited. I’m not sure which one I liked more, this or Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk is a reboot after the awful Ang Lee version in 2003. This one stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, on the run from the military after his accidental transformation in which he killed and/or hurt a lot of people, including love interest Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and General Ross (William Hurt). Now the General is doing anything in his power to find this man, even if it means bringing in the best of the best, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), and turning him into some kind of super-human ‘Abomination’.

The acting in this movie was superb, for the most part. Edward Norton does it again and is a great choice for Dr. Banner. Tim Roth is as nasty and malicious as you’d want him to be, and William Hurt is amazingly dastardly and dislikable (in the good way) as General Ross. The only downside, much like in Iron Man, was the female lead. I think there could have been a better choice than Liv Tyler, though she does to the job decently enough. She’s just rather bland. And because of that, there wasn’t a whole lot of chemistry between her and Edward Norton. That’s really the biggest negative criticism I have for this movie.

The only other negative thing I could say would be that the movie is more action than drama, in that there was only a little character development and not much plot, but the movie was still damn fun, so I really didn’t care about that other stuff by the end. Though one thing I did like about the development of the characters was that they didn’t throw everything at you all at once. You don’t see The Hulk in full until at least 30+ minutes into the movie, as he’s always in the shadows or moving by too quickly, like something from Alien. And Tim Roth doesn’t just randomly become the villain straight-up and is therefore against the hero from that point on. His transformation into The Abomination takes over half the movie and is a nicely-paced process, which I really enjoyed.

And my biggest issue I thought I was gonna have was the CGI. Boy, was I wrong. The CGI was excellent, and it didn’t look over-the-top or fake whatsoever. It was amazing to look at, and even frightening at times (especially with The Abomination toward the end). The action was hard-hitting and awesome, as well. I loved the scene where The Hulk is fighting the still-human Tim Roth in the courtyard (or whatever that place was). But besides the CGI or the action, the movie looked great with normal visuals, as well (cinematography).

Some other random comments:

-The Stan Lee cameo was great, as usual. Though his role was more plot-oriented this time, which is cool.

-The music was amazing.

-The Robert Downey Jr./Tony Stark cameo was great, too, and I’m getting more and more excited for The Avengers.

-The climax was much more satisfying than the one in Iron Man.

There’s not much else to say about this one. I really recommend it.

HULK SMASH!

A Keanu 'Whoa'