LogFAQs > #950202120

Eddv
Edward Norton's very strange and moody take on The Incredible Hulk feels like something out of the previous era of superhero movies - more in line with Superman Returns or Batman Begins than with Iron Man or Captain America. And I actually really liked it! Even the sort of left turn to make this into a Grey Hulk movie like - at least the Grey Hulk is visually interesting and driven by something human, jealousy of the power Banner wields, and the confrontation suitably epic for a super hero movie as opposed to many of the movies on this list that feel more like GM busted out a Monster Manual and picked something at random so there would be a fight.

BetrayedTangy
So I have a soft spot for this one. It was my first MCU movie and I watched it a lot, it had some really awesome action scenes for the time and was the first live action Hulk that actually looked right. Also William Hurt looks just like Thunderbolt Ross so thats pretty cool. Other than that its a mostly forgettable superhero flick from the 2000s

GavsEvans123
Here we have the red-headed stepchild of the MCU. With this one, you get the feeling that the series was still experimenting with what it wanted to be, so it feels different tonally, and feels darker and more serious than many of the other films. More than any of the other early films, this is the one that wouldnt be made in the modern MCU, and not just due to the legal issues surrounding the film rights. Having said that, there is still the odd moment of levity (Betty losing her temper at the taxi driver got a pretty big laugh out of me for how unexpected it was.)

I didnt like the 2003 Hulk film very much because I thought it took itself far too seriously (I vividly remember it being the first film I saw at the cinema that I was disappointed by, at the age of 11, and a rewatch once I was older sadly didnt make it grow on me.) The 2003 film was recent enough at the time that this one quickly recaps the origin during the opening credits and jumps straight into the new story, which is much appreciated.

This film is still pretty serious, though not oppressively so. There is plenty more Hulk smashing things this time, and his opponents actually put up a decent fight too. Balanced with that, we also get the scenes of Bruce Banners trauma from his transformations. Theyre better integrated this time round, and their relevance is clearer. The PTSD scene in the shower is the most effective in this respect.

Despite its status as the forgotten MCU movie, to the point that youd be forgiven for thinking it was non-canon until the unexpected return of General Ross in Civil War, (surely Betty should have been at least mentioned in passing in Age of Ultron?) I was pleasantly surprised by this one, maybe because it deviates from the Marvel formula as we know it today.

Side note, poor Tim Blake Nelson just cannot catch a break. First he was meant to be Leader, but he never appears again, then he was meant to be Mole Man in Fant4stic, but that didnt get a sequel either. There was a tie-in comic for The Avengers that had the Leader in it, and Black Widow shoots him in the kneecaps. Since I havent read said comic, I like to imagine that the kneecap shooting is prompted by Leader crashing Nick Fury and Black Widows afternoon tea party and being all like Look at me, Im the guy with the face, woogedy woogedy woo!

Johnbobb
I'm honestly just a little bit pissed that this is the only Hulk solo movie we got. I mean, I get it. Hulk is expensive as a character, and not quite as popular as some of the other lead characters, but goddamnit I've always loved Hulk. But after two underperforming attempts at starting a Hulk franchise, it was clearly just never going to be a thing, which is a shame because while this movie is definitely flawed (way too much of the "dudes in suits talking while walking down hallways" stuff), it's not all that bad. The big end fight was a lot of fun, Thunderbolt Ross is great, and it set up for Red Hulk only for that to never happen.

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