In the picture
The Incredible Hulk***1/2
*ing Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and Tim Roth
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Tagline: Ang Lee must be going green
with envy!

Ang Lee's rather unfortunate fling with the big, green giant was an affair gone bad and mercifully, it finally gets closure with this film. Fans of Marvel's Hulk comic books and the hit TV series who swore by the tragic mutant will be pleased by the compensation that Leterrier's version offers. It's not a sequel, it's a reboot of the former film, changing how and why Bruce Banner became the Hulk. And thank God for that!
However, before we jump into the critique of the film, it has to be said that ever since movies have started playing in local cinemas, the entire movie watching experience has been enhanced. As a result, every movie that is watched on a cinema screen automatically gets higher ratings; that's just the impact it creates on the viewer. It simply looks better. And it can be said, without doubt, that if The Incredible Hulk is seen on TV screens at home, this digitally enhanced film will have one fourth of its massive effect. On the big screen, however, it blows you away.

As the opening credits roll, one is given a quick flashback into how exactly Dr Bruce Banner was exposed to high frequency gamma radiation that turned him into the mutant called The Hulk. The film begins with Bruce, now a fugitive of the US Army, hiding out somewhere in Brazil where he's learning to speak Spanish and is taking anger management classes to prevent his blood pressure rising beyond 200, which is the 'break out' point for him.

"I get bad when I'm 'hungry'," he mis-translates (obviously meaning 'angry') when attacked by a couple of village goons. It's brief moments of comedy like this that keeps the ultimate tragedy of The Hulk alive throughout the film.

It doesn't take long before he is tracked down and edged back into America as he supposedly is carrying valuable information on DNA mutation. All through this time he has been communicating with a scientist 'Mr Blue' who is trying to help him out of this abomination. Contrary to most super-heroes or mutants, The Hulk hates being in the situation he is in an he has no interest at all in using it to his benefit. As far as he's concerned, it's a condition that has kept him away from love and happiness.

"I can't afford to get too excited," he says to his girlfriend as they kiss, explaining that anything that pushes his BP up will make him explode.

Edward Norton is an incredibly sensitive and intelligent actor and he portrays the soul of the Hulk perfectly. "I certainly didn't expect someone so small and unimposing," states Mr. Blue upon meeting him for the first time. And it is the difference between the before and after that doubles the impact. Edward Norton does cut an extremely unimpressive figure when it comes to an 'action hero' but then he does turn into a monster too. And for every car he crushes into two and uses as boxing gloves, the Hulk exposes an equally delicate side where he expresses his love for Betty Ross (Liv Tyler).

While all this chasing and love-shuv is happening, military experimentation in search of a bio-chemical program to create the 'Super-Soldier' goes terribly wrong again and instead of another Hulk, it generates The Abomination, which the now heroic Hulk needs to fight to save New York City from absolute destruction. It sounds cheesy, yes, but then for fans it is climaxes like this that send them to cinema heaven. The ending leaves enough openings for a sequel and one with possibly another famous action hero in the plot as well. If you're a comic lover, you'll have to watch the movie to find out who it is!
-- Aamna Haider Isani