Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk

incredible hulk edward norton

Edward Norton is an accomplished actor whose resume includes a handful of Academy Award-nominated films, including Primal Fear, American History X and the Oscar-winning Darfur. He’s also a star of television with several appearances on shows like Sex and the City and The Sopranos. He’s a natural when it comes to action and drama, and was the perfect choice to play Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk.

The film follows scientist Bruce Banner, whose DNA was mutated by gamma radiation he accidentally absorbed while working in an underground nuclear facility. While he’s trying to find a cure, his rage burns up in him and transforms him into the massive Hulk, who destroys everything in his path.

Directed by Louis Leterrier, who made The Transporter series of movies, the movie is a well-paced and thrilling blockbuster. The script, by Zak Penn, is smart and intelligent. It doesn’t waste time re-treading the Hulk origins we’d already seen in Ang Lee’s 2003 film. It instead starts the story off right with an inspired montage during the opening credits.

After that, we’re taken to South America, where Banner is working at a soda factory and living in abject poverty while taking anger management classes and chatting via the internet with a computer code named “Mr. Blue” who’s attempting to help him come up with a cure for his condition. Meanwhile, General Ross (William Hurt) has his sights set on the same goal.

During the course of the film, we see Banner and Ross clash while he struggles to keep his rage under control. He’s also battling some mysterious entity in the Amazon rainforest, and there are plenty of big fight scenes involving the Green Goliath. The movie doesn’t quite live up to the edgy and artful style of Iron Man, but it’s still an entertaining summer blockbuster.

The movie is improved by the special effects, which are pretty good for a CGI-based superhero film. It’s also a lot more realistic looking than the last movie, which was a bit cartoony in some places. The action scenes are thrilling and exciting, with some great stunts and impressive fights.

One thing that the movie doesn’t have is much character development, and that’s a huge problem. Especially with a character like Bruce Banner, who’s a tortured, conflicted comic book hero tailor-made for emotional depth and complexity. While Mark Ruffalo’s laconic Banner is fun to watch, it feels like he doesn’t even want to be in the film.

The Incredible Hulk is a good popcorn movie, but it’s not as great as it could have been. The characters aren’t fully developed, the acting is decent but not amazing and the special effects aren’t quite up to par with modern standards. If they can improve on this, then the next Hulk should be an even better film.