When I saw 2003’s HULK, I gave it an “A +” knowing full well it didn’t deserve it. I was basically awarding the effort to take the character seriously, and I thought the “creature” himself was pretty cool.

Five years later comes The Incredible Hulk, a sequel that only very briefly touches on the original movie, and feels much more like a comic book. That said, it’s still pretty heady at times, and really does focus more on the inner workings of Bruce Banner’s mind and body.
This time Ed Norton plays Banner, and as expected, he’s great. He’s a gifted actor, and he brings a certain credibility to a flick about a huge, angry green guy. I know there was some talk of him being troublesome behind the scenes, but I don’t know what that’s about, and like I said, he did a great job onscreen.

Liv Tyler takes over as Betty Ross, and she was lovely. Very likable, and vital to the story. She really clicked with Norton.
William Hurt does a good job as General Ross, a very unlikable character. Not a whole lot of depth was written into the role, but Hurt pulled it off nicely.

I had a bit more trouble with Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky. Blonsky is a Russian born, English raised soldier, and he’s kind of a bully, to say the least.
Now don’t get me wrong, Roth’s a great actor. But for some reason I couldn’t buy him as Blonsky. But maybe that’s just me…

The Incredible Hulk was written by Zak Penn and directed by Louis Leterrier, whose movie UNLEASHED impressed me despite not being a huge action / martial arts fan. Like I said before, this movie feels a lot more like a comic book than the first, but it’s still not perfect.
The Hulk himself definitely was improved, both physically, and in terms of behavior / personality. Coming on the heels of IRON MAN, this movie seems like a disappointment, but as part of the bigger plan of upcoming Marvel Comics productions, it fits pretty well.