Incredible Hulk Opening

incredible hulk opening

Ang Lee’s approach to the Incredible Hulk opening was to focus on the human side of the character. Where other superhero movies would have characters fight world-devouring megalomaniacs on alien planets, TV’s Hulk took on small-scale problems: homeless people, a struggling business owner, women and children in danger from abuse. This made him more compelling, as it demonstrated that even the strongest of heroes have a weakness or two.

In the film’s opening scenes, we see Dr. David Banner working at a Brazilian bottling plant, a job that seems beneath his talents. Then, through a clumsy mistake, he cuts his hand on a tire iron. He then begins to change. As the blood flows, his eyes turn green, and his skin grows a darker shade, until he looks like a walking, green, savage creature. Cue the eerie music (by series composer Joe Harnell) and the first of many “hulk-outs” we’d see on the show. The new Hulk then trashes the car. The next day, he wanders onto a campground and is shot by a hunter. This is the first of several times we see the enraged Hulk kill someone.

Banner’s attempts to hide his identity — or at least to avoid becoming the Hulk — don’t work. His coworkers begin to recognize him, and he finds himself taking odd jobs to keep his name out of the papers. But the do-gooder in him can’t help himself from helping out those in need. Whether it’s his female coworkers being harassed by men or his car wash going out of business, he has to use his strength to get around these situations (exploring this theme in depth might have been interesting and a bit subversive for the film, though it was left mostly on the cutting room floor).

We also learn that the Hulk is not only super strong, but can also move at a tremendous speed. His speed is one of his biggest weaknesses, because he can be caught off guard by someone who can beat him physically, but not mentally. It’s an example of why the film focuses more on the psychological side of the character, and why it is more effective than many of the modern superhero movies that follow in its footsteps.

Despite a few clumsy moments, this is the best and most realistic of all the Hulk films. It’s worth seeing just for the excellent acting of Bixby and Ferrigno. Both actors went on to have a number of successful movie and TV careers, but both ultimately suffered from serious depression. Bixby died in February of 1981, and Benet took her own life in April of 1982 a year after her son’s death on a ski trip (he had an undiagnosed medical condition). The Incredible Hulk was based on the comic book storyline, but it also has a number of nods to the television series. It’s smartly written and directed by Kenneth Johnson, who gave us The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman.