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| Marvel's The Incredible Hulk (2008) |
If you do not have an appreciation for that old TV series, you will struggle to fully appreciate what The Incredible Hulk does in terms of both character and story. This is not an origin story, all of that material is presented during the opening credits, using imagery lifted straight from the Bixby series. The genius of that series was to turn Banner into a wandering soul, a man lost to himself and the world, searching for the ever-elusive cure to a condition that no one could possibly understand. Prevented from ever growing close to anyone and settling down, he's constantly on the run, hunted by the government for what he is, knowing he can never go home again. As a viewer, you dreaded the coming of that monstrous green thing to upset Banner's fragile peace, even though you knew it was inevitable. Every episode ended with Banner walking away from whatever destruction was left in his wake, wandering the lonesome highways and byways of backwoods America to Joe Harnell's now iconic theme, appropriately called "The Lonely Man." The Incredible Hulk tries to evoke this same spirit by repurposing everything from the imagery of that series and old footage of Bill Bixby himself, to Harnell's musical cues and a cameo by Lou Ferrigno. In many ways, this film feels like a big-budget reimagining of the Bixby show, The Fugitive by way of Greek tragedy, duality, and a big green monster.
The story picks up in Rocinha, Brazil's largest favela. Here, the quiet and backwards Dr. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) lives off the grid, with only a dog for company. He's managed to find work at a bottling plant, and searches for a cure to his bad case of gamma poisoning. To do this, he maintains contact with the mysterious "Mr. Blue," a fellow scientist helping from a distance. Norton's portrayal of Banner is a revelation. He's socially awkward, understated, tormented. He manages to capture the essential loneliness of the character, making the role his own while channeling the same energy as Bixby without ever stumbling over into pastiche or imitation. This really is a testament to Norton's quality as an actor. Losing him, without a doubt, was one of the hardest blows to Marvel's cinematic universe during its formative years.
It's not long before General Ross (William Hurt) picks up Banner's trail, and sics ace black ops commando Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) on him, forcing Banner to run again. Only this time, Banner is determined to rid himself of the monster within. So, he returns home to dig up old research, putting him on a collision course with his old flame, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler)—who just so happens to be the general's daughter. The forbidden love affair between Betty and Bruce is one of the great and underutilized comic book romances, and The Incredible Hulk wisely puts them front and center.
There is a reason this film is often seen as the bastard child of the MCU. Tonally, this movie does not jive with rest of the series. I suppose that's due in no small part to Edward Norton's uncredited rewrites on the script, which lends the story a kind of lonesomeness. There is a certain gravitas to this film, a kind of mythic resonance that simply is not there in the vast majority of other Marvel flicks. You can always tell when a film like this has more on its mind that just a lot of intense action by how certain scenes are staged. Many of this movie's shots are of Banner, alone and wandering through the world. His reunion with Betty on a bridge, at night, in the middle of a storm testifies to the care that goes into shooting these scenes, framing the world in such a way that we connect emotionally with these characters through the imagery alone. When Betty rushes after him and the thunder rumbles in the distance, it's as if heaven itself bears witness to the tragedy and weeps for this once perfect couple pulled apart by powers beyond their control. This is the real power of cinematic storytelling, when the themes and narrative are communicated through the image, not just the characters or the dialogue or force of plot.
When the final confrontation pits the Hulk against the Abomination that Blonsky has become, though this is the usual big CGI blowup movies of this sort demand, the story has actually given us context and thematic significance for this fight. The image of two monsters smashing into each other is about more than two monsters fighting, but both monsters represent philosophical points of view. Banner's fight is about accepting that what has happened cannot be changed, and attempting to right the wrongs of the past and present to better the future. "We made this thing," Banner tells Ross when he's finally captured, referring to the monster that is Blonsky and its connection to the experiments directly responsible for creating the Hulk.
Perhaps the thing I appreciate most about The Incredible Hulk is how the film takes its own story seriously. We live in an age of self-conscious storytelling, where being "meta," or pointing out the absurdities of the story to the audiences in the context of the narrative, is considered "creative." And perhaps, at one time, it was. But The Incredible Hulk does not do tongue-in-cheek, instead playing its tropes straight and true, and I find that a refreshing change of pace. This is a much older style of moviemaking, and storytelling in general. Yet there is a distinct sense in which corporate interference hampered the film's final form. We certainly needed more time with the characters, and Tim Blake Nelson's goofy Samuel Sterns suffers the worst here. He's set up brilliantly, only to fall away by the film's conclusion. There were clearly ideas in place to keep this story going, investments in which there is little to no return. Supposedly, Norton had a very specific vision for the character that ultimately clashed with the direction Marvel wanted to go in. We ended up with the Avengers, but I cannot help but wonder what would have happened had Norton's vision been fully realized. I doubt we'll ever know, but it's certainly a tantalizing question.
It's not long before General Ross (William Hurt) picks up Banner's trail, and sics ace black ops commando Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) on him, forcing Banner to run again. Only this time, Banner is determined to rid himself of the monster within. So, he returns home to dig up old research, putting him on a collision course with his old flame, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler)—who just so happens to be the general's daughter. The forbidden love affair between Betty and Bruce is one of the great and underutilized comic book romances, and The Incredible Hulk wisely puts them front and center.
There is a reason this film is often seen as the bastard child of the MCU. Tonally, this movie does not jive with rest of the series. I suppose that's due in no small part to Edward Norton's uncredited rewrites on the script, which lends the story a kind of lonesomeness. There is a certain gravitas to this film, a kind of mythic resonance that simply is not there in the vast majority of other Marvel flicks. You can always tell when a film like this has more on its mind that just a lot of intense action by how certain scenes are staged. Many of this movie's shots are of Banner, alone and wandering through the world. His reunion with Betty on a bridge, at night, in the middle of a storm testifies to the care that goes into shooting these scenes, framing the world in such a way that we connect emotionally with these characters through the imagery alone. When Betty rushes after him and the thunder rumbles in the distance, it's as if heaven itself bears witness to the tragedy and weeps for this once perfect couple pulled apart by powers beyond their control. This is the real power of cinematic storytelling, when the themes and narrative are communicated through the image, not just the characters or the dialogue or force of plot.
When the final confrontation pits the Hulk against the Abomination that Blonsky has become, though this is the usual big CGI blowup movies of this sort demand, the story has actually given us context and thematic significance for this fight. The image of two monsters smashing into each other is about more than two monsters fighting, but both monsters represent philosophical points of view. Banner's fight is about accepting that what has happened cannot be changed, and attempting to right the wrongs of the past and present to better the future. "We made this thing," Banner tells Ross when he's finally captured, referring to the monster that is Blonsky and its connection to the experiments directly responsible for creating the Hulk.
Perhaps the thing I appreciate most about The Incredible Hulk is how the film takes its own story seriously. We live in an age of self-conscious storytelling, where being "meta," or pointing out the absurdities of the story to the audiences in the context of the narrative, is considered "creative." And perhaps, at one time, it was. But The Incredible Hulk does not do tongue-in-cheek, instead playing its tropes straight and true, and I find that a refreshing change of pace. This is a much older style of moviemaking, and storytelling in general. Yet there is a distinct sense in which corporate interference hampered the film's final form. We certainly needed more time with the characters, and Tim Blake Nelson's goofy Samuel Sterns suffers the worst here. He's set up brilliantly, only to fall away by the film's conclusion. There were clearly ideas in place to keep this story going, investments in which there is little to no return. Supposedly, Norton had a very specific vision for the character that ultimately clashed with the direction Marvel wanted to go in. We ended up with the Avengers, but I cannot help but wonder what would have happened had Norton's vision been fully realized. I doubt we'll ever know, but it's certainly a tantalizing question.
Banner's final words in the Bixby-directed 1990 film, The Death of the Incredible Hulk, still haunt me. As the dying man breathes his last, he realizes that he's finally found what he's spent a lifetime searching for, that the monster finally dies with him. He utters, "I am free." It's a shame we'll never see that arc completed by Norton's take on the character, because that haunted, lonely man played by Bixby is the same tragic character on display here. We ended up with one of the most successful film series of all time. But the mythic dimensions of this character were sacrificed in order for us to have it. Perhaps that is why all the other superheroes of Marvel's early years have received multiple sequels, and this film remains the only incarnation of this particular version of the character. Bruce Banner is a lonely man, and his struggle against the literal monster within is the stuff of myth and epic poetry—and his story just isn't compelling when told any other way.
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