Five years ago, Marvel released Hulk on an audience that was really getting into superhero movies following the first Spider Man and X Men films. It should have been good, after all, the film was turned over to the director of great films such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Sense and Sensibility and Eat Drink Man Woman. This was simple, right? Not quite. Lee is a serious film maker, not someone happy to churn out a solid summer action movie. Although the Hulk at his core is a rather simple character, he smashes and smashes some more and that's about it, Lee decided to make a much deeper film, one that focused little on the action and went primarily after analysis. You can't say the man isn't ambitious, but ultimately, he was foolish, the film didn't work, it was a critical bomb and the public for once agreed with them. It seemed the series just wasn't going to get a good film for the time being.

But five years later, Marvel has decided to give the series another go. Under their own control this time and not licensed out, Marvel wanted to make a Hulk film that was true to the comics. Insisting right from the start that this wasn't a sequel but rather a reboot (though they make it so it can kind of be both) of the franchise, Marvel has completely redesigned the Hulk franchise. There's still a little bit of deep analysis of the character, but for the most part, this is the Hulk as he is, pretty much just intent on smashing things.

In order to completely reboot the franchise, Marvel decided to not bring any of the original cast back. Eric Bana has been replaced with Edward Norton in the role of Dr. Bruce Banner, Jennifer Connelly is out with Liv Tyler taking her place and Sam Elliot, one of the few bright spots in the original, has been replaced by William Hurt. The latest version of the Hulk, after a bit of back story filling us in on Banner's gamma infection and the fact that when he's angry he becomes the hulk, drops us in a small central American town where Banner is currently hiding from the US government. He's done an excellent job of this and continues to search for a cure for his condition while learning to control his anger. All of his progress is destroyed though when a drop of his blood gets into a soft drink at the bottling plant he works at. When it makes its way back to America, an old man drinks it and gets very ill, giving the government, particularly general 'Thunderbolt' Ross the lead he needs.

Over the course of the film, some things go rather well. The action scenes are spectacular and I love that they don't start small trying to build as they go. They manage to get more and more spectacular despite starting at a high level, a very impressive feat for the film. Tim Roth, who unfortunately for us rarely stars in big Hollywood films, is Emil Blonsky, a top soldier picked to go after Hulk who is enhanced along the way. Roth steals much of the film, giving a truly top notch performance and Edward Norton and William Hurt do a good job too. The film's biggest problem is Liv Tyler. Its not that she's a bad actress, she isn't even really bad here, but her and Norton have absolutely no chemistry. Not even a little. So I don't quite understand why they decided to basically make her a sidekick for a good chunk of the film, forcing her on screen for way more time than was necessary. It really hurts the flow of the film.

On a technical level, everything here is reasonably well done. The visual effects are solid though not quite as good as the best films coming out lately and the sound more than gets the job done. The cinematography is solid to good, with the exception of one opening shot that is truly breathtaking, one which incidentally, really has nothing to do with the story and is kind of unnecessary, but one which I'm glad was left in.

Despite a few soul searching moments and attempts at deeper analysis of the Hulk, for the most part, the Incredible Hulk is what a film about a big giant monster who smashes things should be, a well made summer blockbuster which is mainly a bit of brainless enjoyment but still very much worth watching. If not for chemistry issues between the two leads and a bit of a pacing problem, largely resulting from it, this could have been even better but as it is, its a summer blockbuster that's worth your time. Its not one of the best films of the summer but it manages to be everything that the 2003 Hulk wasn't and in some ways atones for that film's sins.

Rating: 7/10