"HULK SMASH!!!" and boy does he!

The Incredible Hulk was AWSOME!!!! I loved every second of it. It was better than Iron man. It knew what it was, an ACTION movie, and had the good sense to put lots of that in it. It didn’t hurt that Edward Norton, one of the best actors we have around these days, fits into he role like a GLOVE. Liv Tyler needs to work more, and I’m glad she’s already signed on for the sequels as Betsy Ross, the heroin of the film. Of note is their relationship. Unlike every freaking other superhero movie, these guys have a complex past, and she’s “moved on” and he can’t get to “exited” or he hulks out, and all these little details to their relationship that make it all the more interesting. Also, the villain. Thank GOD for a proper villain (I’m looking at you Mr. lets come up with a bad guy in the last 20 minutes just so we can call our self an action film Iron Man) who has reason and motive, and is also VERY interesting, with many different angles. Also worth praise is the action itself. I knew what was going on every second. Every fight, every chase, I knew who was where and chasing who. Unlike transformers. Also, these monsters have weight. When they jump, it looks like they are exerting themselves, and when they land, it looks like it hurts. The final battle in the streets of new York is the largest scale action scene I’ve seen in a LOGN time and when the immortal words “hulk SMASH!” are uttered, not only did he do good on his promise, it brought the audience to a near standing ovation. It was sheer bliss to see this much awesome comic book action in one film. Spiderman was goofy. Batman was always more interested in character and plot over actual action (and in that one instance I’m ok with that) and Hellboy isn’t mainstream enough to get a budget for the kind of action this film throws down. Complaints? Pacing. The movie is 2 hours on the nose and it is WIDLEY publicized that Edward Norton (screenwriter as well as actor) had a HUGE falling out with Marvel over the cut of this film. Sometimes a scene is trimmed here and there. But there was 70 minutes of completed footage excised. And it shows. Supporting characters pop up out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. Some of the military personal including William hurt come off as one note, when you can just FEEL there was more left in the wings. All well, no matter, that’s what DVD is for. As is, the summer has officially begun, and this is my favorite movie so far. Just a blast.