The story begins in a Shanty town in Brazil where we find Bruce Banner played by Edward Norton having made it 158 days without incident. Banner is living life day to day, incident to incident while looking for a cure for his..... condition. The opening is slow burning for the viewer learning how Bruce is coping with life in hiding and Norton does well to convey the hopelessness and desperation he feels. Having seemingly tried all options to overcome his big green problem he finds some hope in a friend known only as Mr Blue. Mr Blue feels he can cure Banner but needs some 'data' which is stored on a computer at Cuver University, Virginia. Having been chased out of Brazil by Emil Bronski (Tim Roth) Banner returns to recover the data.

 

Banner has two main enemy's in the film, General Thadeous Ross and Emil Bronski. The Latter is a heavily trained aging soldier. The best thing in the movie is Roth's character. We learn early on just how much of a bad ass he is and is clearly hungry for the same power as Banner. When General Ross offers Bronski the chance to have a piece of the pie, he happily jumps on the operating table. Having been injected with some super soldier serum Bronski embarks on another attempt to aprehend the Hulk which culmninates in the movies best action sequence. Ultimatley Hulk easily defeats Ross and co and retreats once again in to hiding with his former lover and ally Betty Ross played by Liv Tyler. A strange choice, Tyler doesn't offer much and is easily forgettable.

 

The first hour is essentially a chase movie that goes round in circles. I need a cure, I must not get angry, uh oh I'm angry, I've ruined another pair of trainers and broken a bunch of stuff. Now I'm naked. Please cure me.... You get the picture. This repetition does no favours for The Incredible Hulk and often found myself looking at the clock.

 

Roth's character having had a taste of super soldier wants more and forces Banners ally, Mr Blue into helping him become something more, an abomination. The abomination appears late in the last act and while the climax is exciting it just seems like too little too late. I would happily see Roth returning in the MCU as Bronski/Abomination but feel it would be a better fit if he were part of a group of villains in an Avengers style villain team up.

 

Edward Norton is a fine actor and given the right role he is fantastic. The problem here is that the Hulk simply does not work as a stand alone film. He is too one dimensional. How many times can you repeat the same course of events. The reason Mark Ruffalo's Hulk went down so well (aside from the passive aggressive undertones of his performance) is that it is not his story alone and essentially bouces off of other story arcs.

 

This film has had people divided, it doesn' quite feel like part of the MCU mostly because of the change of actors portraying Banner but also because it just does not build the same level of excitement and to some extent cheesiness as other films in the franchise. With references to Shield and the inclusion of Tony Strark at the end of the movie, it clearly is part of the MCU and should not be disregarded if for nothing else, the somewhat redeeming Tony Stark appearance end credits scene.

 

All in all Hulk is not a terrible film but is easily the weakest in the MCU franchise. Not because of Norton or the writers (let's not forget that screenplay creater Zak Penn also wrote the story to the amazing Avengers Assemble) but because there is only so much time you can commit to the Hulk before it becomes repetitive.

 

The good - Tim Roth

The bad - Liv Tyler

The ugly - The Incredible Hulk