The 22nd year of being Ryan Hartley, documented.

Sad, but true, I went to see the Incredible Hulk all on my lonesome and was thus deprived of annoying a friend by highlighting the appearance of Spike Lee and the guy who played the original television series Hulk. Knowledge is no fun unless its inflicted on someone.

Deciding that the director Ang Lee’s first interpretation of the big green marvel monster was not good enough, they (being, the money hungry glory seeking box office hounds of Hollywood) set out to make another, bigger, greener version and make more money. Due to the endless propaganda of the Movie Production Machine, it has become the fashion to dump on the earlier incarnation of the Hulk and, fair enough, it made a loss at the box office, but plenty of great things in life are underappreciated. Like Spinach Muffins and Arrested Development. Anyway, I enjoyed the Hulk. It was ridiculously introspective and emotional, with lots of baleful staring and soul searching, but such is the way of the Hulk. The whole point is that he’s just a weedy little scientist who has this curse thrust upon him. He can’t control it. This is no sudden realisation of awesomeness, this is a demon lurking within in the most literal of ways. In the Marvelverse each group of heroes has particular slant:  X-men tends towards social commentary portraying the disaffection and separation of the youth (Gen-X’ers), Spiderman invokes the angst of adolescence and The Hulk deals with inner-anger and the savage brutality that resides within everyman. And it’s very much a man thing. Bruce Banner goes crazy beats up on his girlfriend when he gets angry. Hmm, reeks of symbolism to me. Ang Lee’s direction was a little something extra as well, all sliding comic book panels and close-ups (mmm, very comic-booky), but that deft touch was not well received by the Philistines of the media. That introspection and artsyness do not please the comic book droves is a truism and therein lies the problem. The tone of the Hulk is not as well suited to the Silver Screen. Any faithful interpretation (and Ang Lee was determined to produce a faithful interpretation) is bound to tend towards the moody and emotional.

Was the Original Hulk really that bad? I mean it can’t be that bad, it had Jennifer Connelly in it (A feature which led me to watch it slightly more than once). And although terming “Incredible” a restart of the series, the Director, Louis Leterrier leaves enough room for the film to be regarded as a sequel rather than a re-run. So while it pretends to completely new, it is actually just more of the same. The Origin of Hulk (that which formed the entirety of the first movie) is glossed over in under a minute which might leave you somewhat lost if you didn’t watch the first one (or at least read the comics). This exclusion also allows you, if you really want to, to ignore a couple of inconsistencies and pretend that everything fits together seamlessly and that you’re watching Hulk 2.

Actor wise, between Edward Norton and the original Eric Bana, ol Ed has to have a bit of an upper hand here.  I do love Mr Bana and his portrayal of the peace-loving, Greek-smashing,  war-master, Hektor in Troy, the movie which featured a totally unnecessary Brad Pitt Butt Shot, but Edward Norton is cut above (probably cause he has the opportunity to whip out a few comic lines). The actress front is completely the opposite. I may be hugely biased in this because I’ve been in love with Jennifer Connelly for many years and there is little chance that a rock star’s former elf daughter is going to make as much as an impact on my movie going experience as she of the ample eyebrows. In fact, I thought Liv Tyler was a little insipid, but that might just be me. Although, I doubt it, she does seem a fairly insipid type.

So, regardless of all the hype, The Incredible Hulk is not a Billion times better than the original, it’s about the same, but without Jennifer Connolley. It’s a competent Marvel Movie, but I’d rather watch the first one again (or A Beautiful Mind or Blood Diamond or any other Connelly movie).