My immediate impression of The Incredible Hulk as the screen went to black and the credits began was that this was a great comic book movie. However, unlike the best movies based on comic books (Batman Begins, Iron Man), Hulk doesn't transcend this niche. It's a great comic book movie but not a great movie. Does that make any sense?
The movie is, through and through, for the fans. If a Hulk fan scrawled a wish-list of must-see moments on a greasy McDonald's napkin, I think he would have walked out of the theater with at least eight out of his top ten moments marked complete. There are cameos by Bill Bixby (from beyond the grave!), Lou Ferrigno (still huge), and Stan Lee (of course). There are sonic cannons, references to Shield, Tony Stark, and Super Soldier Serum. Hulk is filled to the burst point with fan service. That being said, the actual story stays firmly in the shallow end of the pool, wearing floaties and a life jacket.
There isn't much of a character arc for poor, afflicted Bruce Banner and less than that for anyone else. Unlike Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne, he doesn't go through any journey of self-discovery. Unlike those other heroes, Banner's transformation is both mental and physical: a gamma powered trans-substantiation. The Hulk and Banner remain completely separated and this disconnect is heightened by the use of CGI to create the Hulk character. The movie, thus, cannot explore the emergence and divergence of the hero persona the human personae. Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, even Clark Kent, all had these moments that loom so large in their stories. It doesn't exist in the Hulk and it is missed.
I don't have much to say about the acting. The performances were good but nobody stood out for good or for ill that really grabbed my attention. The special effects were top-notch but almost ho-hum. Movies are engineering incredible effects so often and so consistently, I hardly am surprised by what shows up on the screen anymore. This is a critical point for Hulk because our not-so-jolly green giant needs to look and feel completely integrated with the rest of his world. And he does. Kudos to the team.
It is clear now why this film could inspire a rather turgid response from the NY Times and an ejaculation from Ain't It Cool News. From the view of a comic book fan, this film will rock your socks. Your distance from this point on the cultural map will determine how much less the film appeals to you. While I'm not at ground zero, I was close enough to feel good about the flick. It's not as ambitious or genre-transcending as the greatest of the great comic-based movies, but it is a gamma-powered good time. Good enough for me. Excelsior!
A few notes:
- This might have been the best audience I've ever watched a film with. They were so in tune and into the movie, boisterous at all the right moments but never out of control, intruding in the wrong spots. It was a crowd full of fans and they were awesome.
- My vote for most misplaced ill-fitting movie trailer of all-time goes to the Mama Mia! trailer that preceded Hulk. Not only must this have been the director's cut, extended edition of the trailer (it went on just short of forever), it was oozing estrogen in a room full of testosterone. Who the hell thought Hulk represented the target audience for this abomination? When the trailer ended (finally!), the crowd spontaneously erupted into a LOUD chorus of boos. I told you they were awesome.
- Just about everyone stayed through the entire credits hoping for an Iron-Man-esque postscript. It didn't come. More booing (lightheartedly). I've never seen so many people stay past the credits.
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