In 2003, three years after he achieved unprecedented success with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee unexpectedly turned his hand to The Hulk. Although it has its fans, that film whose eponymous character started off as a Marvel Comics figure, polarized audiences big time, so much so that it went on to register the second largest ever drop in takings at the US box office in its second week in American cinemas.

So what are the chances that another Hulk movie – directed this time around by someone with less experience and renown than auteur Lee but with Marvel Comics prominently on board (and cameos by Lou Ferrigno and the Incredible Hulk’s creator, master cartoonist Stan Lee) will do better? Additionally, how would The Incredible Hulk’s Edward Norton’s Dr Bruce Banner compare with the late Bill Bixby’s memorable essaying of the doctor in the TV shows that aired on the US’ CBS network between 1977 and 1982?

As incredible as it may seem, Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk may well be the best celluloid presentation of one of Comicdom’s most recognizable characters! Boasting plenty of exciting action scenes (ranging from an adrenaline-pumping pursuit of Dr Banner by US military men through a crowded Brazilian favela to a titanic climactic battle between two super-strong, monstrous creatures), this movie and its makers have taken the time and effort to infuse its main male and female characters with loving humanity and its stories with enough emotional muscle to make the audience actively care about what unfolds on screen.

And Edward Norton (who also has co-scripting credits as Edward Harrison) is absolutely convincing as the soft-spoken, sensitive, intelligent Bruce Banner whose life dramatically changes when an experiment goes seriously awry and he is affected by gamma radiation poisoning. Which, of course, has the side effect of turning him into a rampaging green creature with overwhelming strength. Leaving behind the love of his life, fellow scientist Dr Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Ross (Liv Tyler), who was seriously injured in the aftermath of the experiment, Banner becomes an overseas fugitive from his government and its military, whose General Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross (William Hurt) wants to gets hold of the Hulk/Banner to dissect and replicate him as a weapon.

Even while Banner works to find a cure that will eliminate the chances of his turning into the Hulk whenever his pulse quickens too much, General Ross is intent on hunting him down. Happily going with a ‘by any means necessary’ approach, the military man doesn’t only take the mercenary-like Russian-born Captain Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) on board his team but also has Blonsky injected with experimental drugs whose effects prove both dreadful and scary.

Belatedly realizing he can run but can’t hide forever, Banner returns home to the USA. Reuniting with Betty whose love for Bruce proves strong enough to overcome the shocking experience of seeing him as the Incredible Hulk, the pair find that some battles they can fight together but others Banner will have to overcome alone. However insurmountable the odds may look, though, the film leaves the viewer with hope that things will ultimately turn out well, for Banner but also the couple. Even better, it also leaves me hopeful of a sequel to a movie which the nitpicker in me reckons could have done without a couple of King Kong-like moments but, nonetheless, is one I derived genuine pleasure from viewing.

Yvonne Teh