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July 25th, 2008

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Rebooting the Hulk

Marvel succeeds in a second try
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By Steffen Silvis
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 23rd, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO

Gamma alpha male. Edward Norton transmogrifies into The Incredible Hulk, the latest film to restore Marvel's name.

The Incredible Hulk

Directed by Louis Leterrier
With Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson and Robert Downey, Jr

Not having seen Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk, it’s impossible to compare it with the new Incredible Hulk. It’s difficult imagining a film by Lee being a complete disaster, but his version of the Marvel superhero was far from embraced (though some serious film critics tried). Financially, it was a flop, which makes the quick second attempt (a “reboot,” as it was styled in Hollywood) astonishing.

The Marvel brand was beginning to suffer cinematically. The last X-Men film was far from the best, but a masterpiece compared with Fantastic Four and the bargain-basement Ghost Rider. Then things picked up a few months ago with the phenomenal success of Iron Man. The momentum from that is now being sustained with the new Hulk film, directed by Transporter’s Louis Leterrier.

The primary complaint with Lee’s film was its epic length. From synopses, it sounds as if there were reels of back story. That’s certainly not the case with Leterrier’s film. For those few who don’t know any of the variations on Dr. Bruce Banner’s accidental encounter with gamma rays, which, in Jekyll and Hyde–fashion, gave him a frightening alter-ego, Leterrier quickly dispenses with the setup in the opening credits.

We find Dr. Banner (Edward Norton) allowing himself to be tested with gamma rays under a controlled experiment helmed by his lover, Dr. Elizabeth Ross (Liv Tyler), under the supervision of General Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), her father, who represents Pentagon interests. The experiment goes awry, and Banner is transformed into a hulking green monster, proceeding to go on a rampage that injures the Rosses. All of this is breathlessly handled in five minutes, a suggestion of the economical storytelling and fast-pulsed action ahead.

The story begins years later, with a chastened Banner living incognito in a Rio favela. As the Hulk aspect of his personality is triggered by anger, he’s adopted various Zen and martial-arts techniques to keep his Hyde side hidden. To survive, he’s taken a dead-end job at a soft-drink bottling plant, where he hopes to see out many years separating him from his former life as a scientist.

Back in the States, there’s no intention of forgetting Banner. General Ross is hell-bent to capture the fugitive doctor, and find a way to safely introduce some gamma exposure to soldiers in the U.S. Army. After a small accident at the Brazilian bottling plant, where the merest drop of Banner’s blood contaminates an orange drink bound for America, General Ross will use every means available to nab him.

Led by the soulless commander Emil Blonsky (a snarling Tim Roth), Banner finds himself running for his life. The chase through the squalid side alleys and rooftops of the favela is masterfully done, bettering a similar chase through Tangier in The Bourne Ultimatum. Blonsky, though, is not properly briefed by Ross, and so neither he nor his unit is prepared for an average-looking man transmogrifying into a menacing giant. Nonetheless, Blonsky quickly realizes he wants whatever it is that alters Banner.

With some hope of a cure from a mysterious professor in New York (the scene-stealing Tim Blake Nelson), Banner risks returning to the States, and into the life of Elizabeth Ross. From there, a series of reversals of fortune is in store for all of the characters. As General Ross believes he’s finally within reach of gaining control over Banner, Blonsky will rise up as a monstrous threat against everyone.

Leterrier’s tale is straightforward, with no attempts to have his Hulk serve as a metaphor for anything (pace Ang Lee). Certainly topical accretions have clung to the character of the Hulk over the years, with the Marvel figure standing in for nuclear-age panic, American culture wars, etc. The Army’s interest in channeling the strength of gamma poisoning into its soldiers to create something nearly invincible flirts with contemporary Pentagon worries of maintaining a capable force, but this is surely coincidental. Subtext has been subtracted — enjoy the ride.

The performances are all strong, particularly Norton and Tyler (Norton, incidentally, turned down the role in Lee’s version, having not been happy with the script). The two actors play superbly off each other, and Norton’s vulnerable toughness has never been better tapped. Nelson may edge toward cartoon as the half-mad doctor, but Hurt and Roth (two actors more than capable of going over the top) keep a firm grasp on matters.

Leterrier’s film is also refreshing in its subtle nods to earlier Hulk incarnations, particularly the ’70s TV version. There’s a brief clip of television’s Banner, Bill Bixby, in his earlier show The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and green giant Lou Ferrigno himself pops up in a supporting role. There’s another nice touch at the end of the film, when Robert Downey, Jr materializes as Iron Man Tony Stark, thus nicely conjoining Marvel’s two hits in a row.

Steffen Silvis can be reached at ssilvis@praguepost.com

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