The second in Marvel’s Avengers series centers around an angry green monster that likes to smash. One thing that I must make clear in case someone doesn’t know, is that this film is not in any way, shape, or form related to the 2004 hulk movie. Complete reboot. Because the 2004 version was @$$.
This one stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, who subjected himself to tests with gamma radiation that turned him into the Hulk. He only turns when he gets angry, or if his heart rate goes up. After his unfortunate incident, where he hurt his girlfriend, Bruce flees from her father, a military general guy who continues to hunt him down for a few years. This part is explained in the opening credits in a sort of flashback sequence, and the details are given as the movie progresses. That means we get dropped in the middle. No painfully long set up that would ruin the entire movie and make it boring.
The entire movie is basically him trying to find the cure for the hulk thing he has, and evading General Ross and his epic mustache. Eventually, another guy in the military named Blonsky gets the same hulk treatment, so he can be the one chance against the Hulk. Bruce teams up with his girlfriend again and finds the man who has the cure. He’s been the only one in America Bruce has kept in contact with. More stuff goes down, Blonsky goes crazy and turns into the Abomination. The ending fight between the Hulk and Abomination is pretty cool. It’s not as interesting as the rest of the movie, but still good enough to keep you entertained.
I liked the way this movie handled the story and the characters. Honestly, the Hulk is a difficult character to pull off, but this movie does it well by casting Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. There’s such a contrast between him and his raging green monster, and the way he deals with his condition makes it more believable. Well, as believable as it’s going to get for a Hulk movie, anyways. He has a heart monitor on his wrist, and he does meditation and breathing techniques, and all this gives the impression that he’s dealing with this thing, and it’s a serious problem. It’s all done in a realistic way.
The rest of the cast did a great job, too. Liv Tyler is a step above the generic love interest, and actually has a bit of relevance to the story. The general guy with the bad@$$ mustache was cool. He is determined to catch Bruce Banner, and to him, his body is property of the United States military. He doesn’t care what happens to anyone else at all. Not even his own daughter, who is the Hulk’s girlfriend. That guy’s probably my favorite supporting character of the whole movie.
Blonsky is alright. He goes a bit mad with power, the whole bad guy routine. He isn’t anything spectacular as far as villains go, but he is interesting. I don’t think you can call him a villain until the final act of the film.
The CG and action were great to watch. I loved it when he Hulked out and started throwing people like ragdolls. I was laughing because of how fun it was. That final fight had some pretty cool parts, like when the Hulk used his super powerful clap that made a gust of wind to put a fire out, that was a little cartoony, but I don’t care! I loved it. I don’t think it’s the best CG I’ve seen, but it still deserves some points. The soundtrack isn’t as good as some of the other installments, but it’s still good.
One thing you’ll notice is the tests that Bruce goes to are similar to the tests they did in World War 2, with Captain America. He’s also important to the plot of the Avengers, because he can sense gamma radiation, which is what the Tesseract emits… I think. Another reason as to why you have to watch every installment of the series, or else you’ll get lost real easy.
I was never a big fan of the Hulk, but the movie got me to like him a bit. The Avengers got me to want more of him in future installments.
FINAL RATING: 43 / 50
STORY: 5 / 5
ACTING: 5 / 5
CHARACTERS: 5 / 5
CG: 4 / 5
ACTION: 5 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 3 / 5
TONE: 4 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 4 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 4 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 4 / 5
I say to give this one a watch for it’s characters, the action, and importance to the overall Avengers story. It’s really fun to watch. Tell me what you thought in the comments, and check back for my review of Ironman 2, coming next.
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