The Incredible Hulk

Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson
Running Time: 114 min.
Rating: PG-13

*** (out of ****)

Spoiler Warning! The following review reveals details about the film's ending

I’m not usually one to say “I told you so” but when the box office receipts started to trickle in for The Incredible Hulk and it was just barely able to top Ang Lee’s returns for 2003’s unfairly maligned Hulk I just couldn’t help myself. While I was one of the few who enjoyed Lee’s film, I’ll acknowledge that it definitely had some issues and wasn’t what fans of the comic or television series had hoped for. But it wasn’t so much of a disaster that I thought there was an immediate need to hit the re-set button. Plus, releasing another Hulk film when the bad taste of Lee’s had yet to wear off for many didn’t seem like the best idea. When I heard the talent involved in the re-boot my interest piqued, but only out of a desire to see it fail.

Lee’s film, though not great, was just about the best I thought we’d get out of that character so the idea revisiting it again reeked of pointlessness. Despite seeing no purpose for its existence I was still prepared to go in with an open mind and at least give it a chance. Good thing, because The Incredible Hulk is a lean, exciting picture that not only corrects some of the mistakes made in Lee’s film but points out other ones I wasn’t even aware existed in it. Comparing the two films side by side is slightly unfair though because I think each work well for what they are: Radically different takes on an iconic comic character. But I did get the impression that this is the version the late, great Bill Bixby would have preferred, which really counts for something in my book. I appreciated that director Louis Leterrier (The Transporter) embraced the classic 1970’s television series rather than run from it.
It’s unfortunate this film is more known for its behind the scenes creative conflicts than what’s up on screen because I think it’s a slightly superior to Iron Man, the other summer super hero movie this year with which it’ll most likely be compared. And I had to wonder what exactly alleged “control freak” Edward Norton hated so much about the picture that he fought with the studio for months and flat-out refused to do any publicity when it was released. Or at least I WAS wondering…until the end of the film, when a really ill conceived creative decision is made that infuriated me. If it’s in any way indicative of how the studio treated the film, maybe Norton had a point. Someone’s head wasn’t screwed on straight. There’s so much I admired about this that I want to give this a higher rating, but just can’t. The ending is the last and often most important thing you remember and this one is just about as insulting as they come.

Leterrier’s approach is clear from the get-go. Take everything Ang Lee did in his film and do the opposite. This is a break-neck paced, Bourne-like action vehicle stripped of all excess fat and padding, clocking in very briskly at just under 2 hours. In a wise move, he condenses a more faithful backstory to the opening credits since those in the know are familiar with it anyway and those who aren’t probably don’t care or would just be bored. After a government experiment involving gamma rays had gone very, very wrong Dr. Bruce Banner (Norton) is on the run in South America, struggling to control his monstrous green alter-ego the Hulk and still searching for a cure. General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) is alerted of his location at a bottling plant and dispatches a team led by ruthless special-ops expert Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) to capture him. Instead Banner escapes to America where he re-connects with former flame Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) while The General injects Blonsky with a serum that transforms into a much more formidable foe for the Hulk.

The film’s greatest strength is also its biggest weakness, but the trade-off was worth it. Zak Penn’s script (co-written by an uncredited Norton) is so tight and focused its almost sickening. The result is an action picture that’s nearly flawlessly put together, but doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for emotion and character development, likely to avoid any parallels with Lee’s film. This was supposedly Norton’s big bone of contention and on one level I can see where he’s coming from, but on another I can’t. By excising scenes to cut down on character and emphasize action it plays as little more than just a chase film at times, but at others the results are downright thrilling. Leterrier frames the film around three main action scenes and stages each expertly, the best of which involves sound wave cannons descending on the Hulk at Culver University.

Unfortunately, they still haven’t found a way to physically render the Hulk on screen in a way that’s entirely believable, although it’s a definite step-up from Lee’s effort in terms of CGI. I’m not saying we should be painting a bodybuilder green instead, but that this was done pretty well and still didn’t look quite right speaks to just how difficult it is to translate this character. Mostly, I think it was fine considering the thankless circumstances and is at least visually closer to comic incarnation. Leterrier also thankfully does away with a particularly annoying aspect of the previous film, where the Hulk would inexplicably grow bigger when shot at.

While there’s a heavy emphasis on action, most of the film’s plot deals with the plight of Banner so Norton’s performance is key and that’s where the movie really clicks. Norton re-establishes Banner as a mild mannered intellectual bewildered by his inability to control the Hulk, something that was absent in Eric Bana’s portrayal. The idea of introducing the watch that tells him his pulse rate was brilliant and gives a real sense of urgency to every scene. You can tell the creative forces behind this movie sat down and really thought the details of this movie out and worked hard to present it in way that was faithful to the essence of the character. They even threw in Joe Harnell’s classic “The Lonely Man” theme music from the TV series and of course cameos from Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee and one more you’d have to watch more closely to catch.

After a relatively sedate turn in Funny Games, Tim Roth is back to his old menacing self again infusing just the right amount of menace into the power-hungry Blonsky whose transformation into the giant reptilian Abomination leads to the film’s thrilling climax. Tim Blake Nelson has a fun, quirky role as “Mr. Blue,” better known as Dr. Samuel Sterns, a cellular biologist who may be able to cure Banner’s condition. William Hurt is as good if not better than Sam Elliot was as General Ross, even if his character is a bit of a bore. The relationship between he and his daughter and the conflict interest that arises because of Banner is well handled. Of everything, I was least looking forward to seeing Liv Tyler attempt to fill the shoes of the lovely and talented Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross, but as much as it pains me to admit it, she does a pretty decent job. She’s especially effective working opposite the Hulk (or rather a blue screen) conveying a quiet, calming, reassuring presence. She also shares surprisingly good chemistry with Norton, which I never would have expected.

After watching this and The Strangers I’m convinced Tyler must have it written into her contract that every movie in which she appears has to have an awful ending. I’ll be careful not to spoil too much, which shouldn’t be difficult considering the final scene of the film is so completely removed from everything else that occurs, and therein lies the problem. I would have given it a pass if the movie ended on the terrible scene that unwisely invokes the closing moment of Ang Lee’s picture, but it turns out Leterrier wasn’t done. There's more. The next and final scene was so incongruous and stupid that when the movie ended I rushed to the computer hoping to discover that maybe what I'd seen had been some kind of crazy, alternate DVD ending. No such luck.

This pointless scene involves a very well-known actor from another superhero franchise making a ridiculous cameo appearance. Now before everyone jumps down my throat I know the scene was put in to set up The Avengers movie in 2011. But all that does is explain its relevance in the “Marvel Universe” not its justification for placement in a movie about The Incredible Hulk. It’s great that Marvel wants to push their franchises but would it kill them to do their advertising and cross-promotion elsewhere… instead of at the climax of THIS FILM!
I don’t consider myself someone with a fragile ego but if I were Edward Norton and found out that the final scene for a film I poured my heart and soul into would be a commercial plugging an upcoming studio project and feature another big-time A-list actor from a more popular superhero franchise, I’d be furious. I know everyone loves this actor and so do I but this is not the way you end a film. If you start a movie off on the wrong foot there’s time to recover but a botched ending is trickier. Would everyone be praising The Dark Knight as much as they have if it ended with Brandon Routh’s Clark Kent sharing a drink and some laughs with Commissioner Gordon in a bar? It’s a valid comparison. The scene may get comic fanboys drooling for The Avengers movie but it doesn’t work and sends this one off on the worst note possible.

If this ending occurred in a film I didn’t like I wouldn’t care. But there’s so much to enjoy and appreciate in The Incredible Hulk that I really wanted it to go out on a high note. As much hell as I’ll catch for saying this I still think it was better than Iron Man, although the fact that I have more familiarity with this character through the old television series could play a role in that. Despite the somewhat disappointing box office take of this there are plans to go ahead with a sequel, ironically after The Avengers is released. I guess we know where Marvel’s priorities lie, as if there were any doubts. Instead of scratching their heads yet again wondering why the Hulk didn’t catch on maybe they’d be better off asking themselves why they’ve been treating the character like a second-class citizen.

The Strangers

Director: Bryan Bertino
Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, Laura Margolis, Glenn Howerton
Running Time: 88 min.
Rating: R

** (out of ****)

“Why are you doing this to us?”

“Because you were home.”

That great exchange, which you’ve probably seen in trailers and commercials, is the only frightening moment in Bryan Bertino’s directorial debut, The Strangers. It hints at the horror film this could have been and frustrates us with a promise it couldn’t keep. Had the film actually explored the idea suggested in those few lines of dialogue this could have really been something. Instead the movie does exactly two things right, thinking that affords it the luxury to do everything else wrong. In not showing us the faces of the killers and focusing more on suspense than gore the inspiration are obviously the slasher films of the ‘70’s. Join the club Bryan. We’ve seen this “homage” a few hundred times already, or at least it feels like it. And I don’t remember it ever being this boring or uninteresting. Scenes are thrown together hastily, the pacing is poor and outside of one engaging performance, there’s nothing to keep our attention. You can actually tell this was made by a first-timer.

It’s tempting to compare this to another home invasion thriller from this year, Michael Haneke’s polarizing Funny Games. Those who despised that movie can blame Bertino because this is the exact kind of film Haneke was attempting to satirize. Except Haneke was up front and honest with his pretentiousness. This actually thinks it’s scary. And it also has the single dumbest ending of any movie I’ve seen this year, as if it needed it. If someone paid me to come up with a worse ending I couldn’t. I’m tempted to give this lower than two stars but can’t since it’s nothing if not technically proficient. Strangely though, that just makes it more insulting. This may have been easier to take if someone with less talent made it because maybe they wouldn’t attempt to fool us into thinking we were watching something of substance. In reality, it’s no better than what you’d find on the $2.99 shelf at your local gas station.
The film opens with what’s become a repetitive and ridiculous device used in horror movies these days. Taking a page out of the book of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a John Larroquette-like narrator informs us that what we’re about to see is “INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS.” This may be one of those rare cases where the true event (if there was one) had to have been more exciting than what ended up on screen. The narrator continues:

“On the night of February 11, 2005 Kristen McKay and James Hoyt went to a friend’s wedding reception and then returned to the Hoyt family’s summer home. The brutal events that took place there are still not entirely known.”

Sorry, but that’s just laughable. It’s derivative and unoriginal, but I probably wouldn’t have had a problem with it had what followed not been so lackluster. There’s no other way to put it: The first 45 minutes to an hour of this picture are a total bore. When Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) arrive out the house we immediately sense there’s a tension between them. Through a flashback we find out that she had earlier turned down his marriage proposal. Now they must awkwardly spend the night together. And that right there is the most interesting thing that happens in the film. How often does a woman turn down a marriage proposal in a movie? Bertino at least earns points for originality on that.

From there, Kristen is left alone while James runs out to get something and then…NOTHING happens. Other than seeing the luminous Tyler in varying stages of semi-undress there’s nothing to hold your interest. Yes, there is the “Man In The Mask,” and his accomplices, known in the credits simply as “Doll Face” and “Pin-Up Girl”, knocking at the door and threatening to kill her but it’s impossible to care the way it’s presented.

The film does something very annoying and continues to do it over and over again just so we get the message. The intruders make loud noises, we see them, Kristen doesn’t. When James re-enters the picture the cycle starts all over again. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. I’m all for not showing anything to build tension but that’s not what this is. Bertino doesn’t engage us in these scenes and there’s no sense of threat or dread at all. They lack forward momentum and just don’t flow. It’s okay, even advisable, to wait on pulling the terror trigger, but not just for the sake of saying you did. Everything just spins around in circles and these masked killers, who should be horrifying (they certainly look it), come off as a joke. I know I’m supposed to praise horror movies for emphasizing suspense over gore but what if there’s no suspense either?

When the movie does finally pull that trigger I could just picture critics running out of the theater screaming “Torture Porn!” at the top of their lungs. I wouldn’t go that far, mainly because the film is too goofy to inspire that kind of a reaction. One moment sums up just how pretentious it all is. The killers remove their masks and place them on the floor…but we’re not shown their faces. How daring. Random and senseless violence. What an original concept. And then there’s the final moment of the film. Ugh. I don’t know how much Liv Tyler was paid to do this but it wasn’t nearly enough. I actually felt bad for her having to work so hard physically and emotionally to sell this nonsense and carry Speedman through it. A piece of cardboard could have replaced him and I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. He’s that bland.

In a misplaced vote of confidence, this was the rare horror movie that was actually screened for critics. Maybe the studio thought that because it presented the illusion of being high brow the press would go easy on it. They were right. And because the film managed to recoup the $9.00 it cost to make it now there’s going to be a sequel. Executives are so happy when a horror film makes anything these days that they immediately greenlight five sequels, four of which will probably head straight to DVD. I’ve seen interviews with Bertino and he seems like an enthusiastic guy who went in with the best intentions. I don’t think he set out to make a pretentious film. It’s a misguided effort, not a lazy one. He does have a gift for atmosphere and I do think he’ll eventually turn into something as a director. When he does maybe he’ll be able to look back on this film and have a good laugh.
I should have known there were serious problems with The Strangers when everyone I spoke to who saw it said how disappointed they were but had trouble expressing exactly why. I know how they feel, but let me give it a shot: It’s a bore. Sometimes the simplest explanation makes the most sense. Hardcore fans of really old school horror may appreciate its minimalistic, stripped-down approach but everyone else will fall asleep. I guess this is great news for Saw V, which now sits in the comfy position of following one of the dumbest horror movies I've seen in a while. It can’t possibly be worse than this…can it?