Hurray! Last Friday Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk—directed by Louis Leterrier—hit theaters everywhere, adding its name to this summer’s list of hot comic book films. ComicNerd’s Redhollywood and Stephanie have their takes on the successful movie starring Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Liv Tyler as Elizabeth “Betty” Ross, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky, William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, Tim Black Nelson as Samuel Sterns, and Ty Burrell as Dr. Samson.

Check it out after the jump!

HULK SMASH!!!!! my expectations for this movie.

After Ang Lee’s Hulk I thought the franchise was done. How wrong was I? Take a French director, add a cup of better CGI, and mix in a little Edward Norton and you have the recipe for an amazing Hulk film. From the opening montage, reminiscent of the old tv show, to the no-holds bar fight at the end, this movie was great fun. Some critics argue that this version of the Hulk destroyed the artistic vision that Ang Lee created, but then again most critics regurgitate into cups just so they can re-drink their word vomit and say, “Oh, that tastes smart and yummy!”

This movie is exactly what Marvel needed to restart the Hulk franchise. It was full of action, full of easter eggs for the fan boys, and full of fun. I loved the references to the old tv show which I grew up watching. Also the CGI was much better than the last one. Hulk looked more ripped and more angry and Abomination was as gruesome as we could ever imagine. The love story between Betty Ross and Bruce Banner was just enough to keep you interested but didn’t overpower the rest of the movie. It was a nice balance between the Hulk mythos and complete non-stop Hulk smashing.

Every actor did a great job portraying his character and there was a nice setup for Hulk 2 with Dr. Samuel Stern. If you haven’t seen this movie yet you will be sad if you don’t before it leaves the theaters. So get out there and have a Hulk-smashing good time.

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Whoa, this movie was awesome!

I’m too young to have grown up with the tv series, so I can’t appreciate all the little nods to the fans like Redhollywood can—but maybe this will give me a fresh take on the film.

Let’s start at the beginning. I loved the intro as the title credits were rolling. It was really original and different. Not to mention it was great to see all the comics references mixed in there (Nick Fury, anyone?), while at the same time it took care of how the Incredible Hulk came to be without having to deal with the initial drag of a normal origin story. Even though at the same time I wanted to watch more of those scenes—oh my god, I loved when Bruce winked at Betty, how sweet was that?—I was glad to see a comic book movie we could dive right into.

There was some fun humor in this movie (“You don’t want to see me when I’m … hungry”), but on the flip side there was a lot of humor that I felt didn’t quite work as well as it was intended.

At any rate, the rest was amazing. I couldn’t believe how much detail there was on the Hulk—or just how sickeningly realistic it looked when Bruce would change into him. You truly felt his strength and anger, too.

The Stan Lee (who’s always cool) and Lou Ferrigno cameos were a lot of fun. And you can’t forget Tony Stark/Iron Man at the end! Sweeeet! A lot of people said they didn’t like how it ended: that Bruce’s meditation scene should have come after the bar scene between the General and Tony. But I disagree. I liked how it was done, and it made more sense to me in that order. And it wasn’t like it was really that far from the end credits, anyway, so shove a sock in it already.

The action was great and so thrilling to watch; Louis Leterrier’s directing was brilliant. I loved the emotional and psychological aspects to Bruce, especially when he would have flashbacks of the violence he experienced as the Hulk (the shower scene was ridiculously ingenius).

I kind of wanted to see a little more of Ty Burrell’s character (like the scene in the trailer where Bruce talks to Samson about his anger), but then again, I know about the whole thing with Marvel and Edward Norton regarding the film’s length and so forth. So hopefully we’ll seen an extended version in the future.

Haha, I have to admit the way they came up the Incredible Hulk’s and the Abomination’s names was kind of lame, though. And I hate to be one of those people who makes comparisons just because of the juxtaposition of two movies, but they were really creative about coming up with Tony Stark’s superhero name in Iron Man, and I just didn’t feel that here. Nonetheless, while Iron Man was excellent overall and a lot more fun than The Incredible Hulk, you can’t deny that Hulk’s action was just wicked. I mean, how short was the fight scene at the end of Iron Man? It could have been longer—even though it really couldn’t have been any better than it was (so no complaining here).

Finally, the action was great. The chemistry between Bruce and Betty was engaging and natural, and Emil Blonsky was fantastic and raw in his performance. I loved it. Plus, I have to say that for as remarkably talented Liv Tyler is, I was blown away by her in the scene where her character steps in front of the tank in the park and screams, addressing the General as “dad.” And the part where she takes out her anger on the snarky taxi driver while Bruce stands there dumbfounded was hilarious! Not only because Liv is normally so passive, but because of the expression Edward Norton got on his face as you could hear the heart rate monitor of his watch slow down from the sheer shock. Priceless!

Your turn: What did you think of the movie? Go see it if you haven’t already! It’s definitely worth it.

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