My Review of The Incredible Hulk (RIP William Hurt) · 2:31am Mar 23rd, 2022

Rating Scale:

12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made

Greetings, everyone! This is Mr. J back with another movie review for tonight! This evening, I will be reviewing Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk from 2008. I remember watching this movie back around 2009 or 2010 with my dad, and I honestly thought it was pretty cool to watch at that time. But just like with most films I’ve watched from childhood, I haven’t seen this movie in a long time which prompted me to give this a re-watch a few weeks ago. Now that I have seen this yet again after all these years, it’s honestly not as good as I remember, but that is not to say it isn’t good at all. In fact, it’s still pretty much decent.

This movie is about Bruce Banner, an emotionally-challenged physicist who recently experienced a scientific accident with a certain serum that physically transformed him into a massive, rage-driven, incredibly powerful beast of nature—the Hulk. Destroying everything in his path, he is now a wanted man in the United States and is manhunted by the military led by General Ross. Bruce struggles to control his anger and tries to calm himself through meditation before he gets himself into dangerous situations.

Although I praise this movie for being straightforward with its story and its characters, the story feels somewhat flat with its dialogue and the way it was executed. The pacing isn’t the main issue, but the story didn’t give enough time for the characters to grow and fully develop. The way they were written made it seem like they were only there just to help push the plot forward and to make Bruce turn into Hulk every now and then. Most of them were one-dimensional at best.

One primary example would be the main antagonist of the movie: Emil Blonksy. His only motivation in being the bad guy was that he wanted what Hulk had: a powerful serum just to become strong. Why? Because......because. We are never given a reason why he lusts for Hulk’s strength and power or why he just wanted to, you know, do what he did. I never understood the point of his character. Not to mention that he was utterly boring with no personality or defining trait. Although his CGI design for Abomination looked cool, I was never a fan of this version or any version of the villain in general. I can’t take that name seriously especially if it’s a villain name. Abomination? Seriously?

The romance between Bruce and Betty was okay, but it needed some context in order for it to make sense. The same can be said for the father and daughter relationship between Betty and General Ross. I say this because the movie starts off with the opening credits while Bruce’s first Hulk transformation happens in the background. It completely rushes through his origin and starts off with his stay at a foreign country just to evade the military. Why couldn’t this start off with his origin by slowly build up how he became the Hulk in the first place instead of rushing through it? I get that this is supposed to be a reboot of the Hulk series to distance itself from the 2003 Universal Hulk movie, but it would have made a lot more sense to actually build up his origin more so that his character is more fleshed out and not rushed. With that established, it could give enough time for other characters to grow and develop even if it means increasing the runtime of the movie.

The fight scenes were decently choreographed, the soundtrack is forgettable, the cinematography is a bit shaky, and the vocal performances for both Hulk and Abomination were fairly much done well.

Overall, the movie had a lot of potential to be amazing, awesome, and well-written, but it is filled with missed opportunities, boring characters, dull writing, and over-the-top fight scenes. This gets a 6/10. As I said, it’s actually a decent movie that did have its solid moments although it’s not something I would ever watch again. Before I end this review, I want to bring to your attention the unfortunate passing of this gentleman right here:

William Hurt passed away from prostate cancer at the age of 71 on March 13th, 2022. He wonderfully played the character of General Thunderbolt Ross in this movie. Although his character was a hit and miss, his acting was undoubtedly amazing. I might not have watched a lot of his movies, but this film and Infinity War were some in which I did watch him. I express my condolences to his family and fans as they mourn over his loss. May he rest in peace.

Good night, folks.