the incredible hulk

I stopped reading comics at the age of 13. Up until that point my comics had always been delivered to the house with the Saturday morning newspaper. However, at the age of 13 I convinced my mother to give me the money to buy the comics myself, rather than have them delivered. Of course, once I had the actual money in my hand I didn't spend it on comics. I was 13! I spent the money of cigarettes and beer - ah, the joys of being 13 and living in England, where it is almost compulsory to start smoking and drinking the second you hit puberty. Although, now I think about it I was a late developer. I hit puberty at the age of 12!

Anyhoo, I stopped reading comics at the age of 13. It wasn't until I was 28/29, stood in a WHSmiths, flicking through the magazine rack, that I came across a copy of The Incredible Hulk. The reason that it caught my eye was because The Hulk, as pictured on the front cover, was grey. A flick through the magazine revealed that not only was he no longer green, he also talked. Talked in complete, cognitive sentences, as opposed to: "Hulk Smash!" I bought a copy. I read it and was intrigued. I visited a local comic shop and bought some back issues. I discovered that the Hulk had moved on from when I was a thirteen year old. I had arrived in the middle of Peter David's ten year run (over 100+ issues)  as the writer on The Incredible Hulk, and I fell in love with his writing, and the direction in which he was taking the character. I was hooked. My love of The Hulk led to me returning to comics, returning in a way that (at the height of my addiction) resulted in an 80 British Pound Sterling ($150) a month habit. True, there was a lot of dross in my monthly parcel but there were the few nuggets of pure gold. The Incredible Hulk (while Peter David remained at the helm) was perfect.

And yet, I never went to see the Ang Lee film: Hulk when it came out. I knew I wouldn't like it. I knew that it wouldn't come close to touching the magic that I found in the comics. The year before I had seen the first Spider-Man film, a film that had made tears of joy and wonder roll down my cheeks (the moment when he first climbs the wall). I knew that the same feelings wouldn't happen in Hulk. And I still haven't seen it. And (to over use the word and) I have no intention of ever seeing it; I haven't heard a good word about it, the clips I have seen make me shudder, the CGI looks awful.

So, there is a new Incredible Hulk film out (you may have heard the hype), do you think I'd go and see it? Hey, remember how I felt about Iron Man. Even with the love of Maria's life Robert Downey in the title role they couldn't make the film enjoyable. Obviously there was no way that I was going to go see The Incredible Hulk. No way. Nuh-huh. No way, Jose!

So, I went to see The Incredible Hulk and you know what? It isn't bad! It isn't fantastic, brilliant, hulktastic - but, more to the point, it really isn't that bad. In fact, it is quite good. Definitely worth the price of admission! The main problem that I have with the film is the fact that it needed to make money, it needed to appeal to the masses. At it's core, the way that Peter David dealt with the Hulk, is a very complex story. Once you strip away the whole "Hulk Smash" ethos you have the story of a man dealing with his inner demons. A man who sets himself adrift from his loved ones, alone, desperately trying to find a cure that will enable him to re-enter society. The first half of the film deals with this story and Ed Norton plays it wonderfully. The problem is that Ed Norton can only play the Bruce Banner role, the role of the Hulk falls to CGI. And no matter what the advancements are with computer graphics, at this moment, they cannot make me care enough about about, what is basically, an inanimate object. (That isn't totally true. I can cry during Lilo and Stitch and Nemo but that has probably something more to do with the loss of family/my father than the actual characters.) The main problem with The Incredible Hulk is Tim Roth, or to be more precise, Tim Roth's character. Tim Roth is a great actor! I love and adore him. But he would be somewhere near the last person on my list to play a crack SAS/Marine/Super Soldier type person. He can do psychotic, he can do nasty, he can do weird, he can do frightening, but he can't do "Britain's elite soldier". The final act of the film is just a big beat 'em up scene that left me cold.

However, I'm glad I saw it. I didn't feel that my money was wasted (how the fuck did I pay twice to go see Iron Man?) and I am actually looking forward to seeing what they do with a second film - if they make one...there were enough dropped hints and openings for a possible sequel.

On the whole a 7 out of 10. Although, a verbal report (rather than a mathematical score) would have to read: not as bad as I thought it would be. And that can't be a great recommendation, can it?