The Incredible Hulk | REVIEW

"Hulk SMAAASH!" Or rather, "Hulk SMAAASH box-office!!!"

This movie's gonna' rake in a shipload of cash.

I managed to catch a screening of The Incredible Hulk today and if I had to make a one-word summary of it I'd say "Phenomenal!". The Incredible Hulk is a movie that I am going to watch again and again because it is pure non-stop adrenaline-pumping action from start to finish. Now here's the Hulk that we've all been waiting for! And yes..."I loved The Incredible Hulk so much more, a way lot more, awesomely more than Iron Man!" There, I said it. And for those of you who were skeptical about this flick before, I assure you that watching the movie will blow your skepticism away. The Incredible Hulk is a must-see and is by far the most action-packed blockbuster I've seen so far in 2008.

This isn't an origin story as it assumes everyone already knows about the Hulk's background. I'm just going to give you a brief, NON-SPOILER-ISH overview of the flick. It's the simple core story of the Hulk. Banner loves Betty, who is the General's daughter, but the General doesn't give a fu*k and wants to use the 'Hulk serum' as a weapon. To do that, he needs to catch Bruce Banner first. But there's a new threat to the big green beast, and it comes in the form of Emil Blonsky, a soldier so hellbent on fighting and taking challenges that he literally volunteers to become one of General Ross' 'super-soldier experiments'...turning him into a somewhat of a, well, Abomination. That's basically all you need to know. The rest, as they say, is history.

Don't degrade the movie by deeming it as a common actioner. It is action-packed but it also integrates good acting, a solid yet simple story, and excellent CGI work. Plus, you all know that a certain someone called Tony Stark may be making a cameo in the movie. Does he? Does he not? What does he do? When? Where? Aah, that's for you to wait and see.

When it comes to cameos, paying homage, and little hints of probable future plans, The Incredible Hulk does a fantastic job. It's just so much fun seeing little hints of comic lore and its other characters. You don't have to be a die-hard Hulk fan to understand the hints, though. Almost anyone who has ever seen the Hulk, be it from the old TV series or not, will understand most of these hints and cameos. There are, of course, some deeper ones for the ones who know more about the Marvel universe.

The best parts in The Incredible Hulk are obviously the extraordinary fight scenes. What you see on screen is not just random punching, kicking, tossing, and throwing; instead it's more of a flow which tells you that the Hulk knows why he's doing something. He's a giant ball of rage, but his madness has a method to it, is basically what it is. The battle scenes are so well scripted and extremely fast-paced that it will literally keep you at the edge of your seat. And unlike the Ang Lee version of the big behemoth, this Hulk actually portrays a sense of weight. He's uber-fast and very agile, but his weight is also taken into consideration. That's a cool thing because without the weight factor, the Hulk isn't really that big of a threat at all now, is he.

The truth is, films like X-Men: The Last Stand and Spider-Man 3 took away all hope I had on Marvel's films. Thanks to The Incredible Hulk, I can't wait for future flicks like Thor, Captain America, Iron Man 2, Wolverine, even The Punisher...and ultimately, The Avengers! It looks like Marvel Studios is a giant success. They now protect the integrity of their characters and their first two productions (Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk) are simply off the hook! Yes, I didn't enjoy Iron Man as much as I would have liked to, but I never said it wasn't a good movie. I enjoyed The Incredible Hulk so much that I can rate it as one of Marvel's top-3 movies. It is that good. It's fun, it's entertaining, it has a great story, nice actors, the CGI has been touched up since the trailers, and it gives fans of the mighty Hulk what they've always wanted from a Hulk movie. They can now recover from the trauma that was Ang Lee's Hulk and bask in sheer happiness after watching this reboot. No more suffering, Hulk fans, because Louis Leterrier is now officially your savior.
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Wrap : The Incredible Hulk gets a smashing 4.8 out of 5.0. I'd give it a perfect rating, but the only downside was the (in my opinion) short runtime. It's a near-two-hour film but it would have been so much cooler with a mere 20 minutes or so added to it. This is a movie you must see if you're into comics and sci-fi. Ed Norton does a fantastic job as Bruce Banner and Liv Tyler is right next to him. She's an awesome Betty Ross. There are just too many good things about this movie that I'm having a hard time putting all of it into this review. So go ahead and watch it already, because I'm off to book tickets online for my second screening of The Incredible Hulk!

P.S : You should really choose a cinema hall with well-maintained speakers for this one, folks, because when that green beast roars, he really ROARS...and it's just effin' awesome with good speakers all around.