The Incredible Hulk - 2008 (movie)

Well let me start out by saying that this film far surpassed its 2003 predecessor--but I expected no less from Edward Norton.

The Incredible Hulk did something AMAZING in the first 5 minutes of the movie. It did something that Superman Returns sorely lacked. This was, in fact, a sequel to the 2003 film, which I was not expecting (I thought it was going to be a reboot). But instead of just assuming that everyone knew the back story and going on (like Superman Returns did), they spent about 5 minutes flashing newspaper headlines and flashbacks to remind (or even tell) audiences what the upcoming move was based on. After seeing this superbly played out, I sincerely believe that if Superman Returns had used this same tactic, it would have been twice as successful as it actually was.

The Incredible Hulk was super entertaining, had pretty good (though not perfect) cgi, and some awesome action and fight scenes, but it was not without its flaws.

Edward Norton is pretty much great in every movie he's in, and while this was no oscar-worthy performance, he did a fine job. The movie was complete with a great King Kong scene on the cliff in the rain, a cameo by Lou Ferrigno (original Hulk from the 1978 TV series), and of course a cameo by Stan Lee, and even paraded Liv Tyler's pouty-face, slow-walking, teary-eyed poor excuse for acting.

If I had to find flaws in the movie (other than Liv Tyler), it would be, one, why on earth can't the Hulk talk when he becomes the Hulk? He suddenly becomes Frankenstein or something. Weird. And two, the plot. While a pretty awesome movie, the plot was basically: "Me am green monster, Army chase me. The End." Aside from VERY small side stories here and there, that was basically the premise of the movie. Oh well, guess you can't win them all.

My Rating: 4/5 (for poor plot and some bad cgi -- though most of it was good)

My Recommendation: See it! Great movie. Maybe rent it. I'm on the border between rent and buy. I guess it depends if you're a super hero fan or not. If you're not huge into super hero movies, then just rent it, you'll still like it. If your a hero-nerd like me, buy it.