The Incredible Hulk 06/22/08

It seems to me that the greatest boon we have received from computer generated effects is that it has enabled the regular average joe to become an action star. In the early days of blockbuster, the action flick was populated by Schwarzeneggers, Seagels, and Stallones. Great burly men with more muscle than humanity. Now with the advent of this new technology the likes of Tobey Maguire and Robert Downey Jr. have replaced your average steroid toking action star. Nowhere is this more evident than in 'The Incredible Hulk' a story that by necessity always required a strong man. In fact, the first actor to portray the character, Lou Ferrigno, was noticeably more hulk than brilliant scientist. Now we have the fine actor, Edward Norton, filling the role. This is simply one of those movies that couldn't have been made right twenty years ago. 
It may not have been made right today either for that matter, even though it is still worth the watch. Controversy surrounds this movie as the star Ed Norton is currently in a bit of a tiff with Marvel and refused to do publicity. Apparently there is a fifteen minute longer version of the film that he supported but was shelved because the studio felt it would detract from ticket sales. I have only seen the shorter version but have an inkling that Norton has a right to be angry. There are a couple characters in the beginning that are introduced but have absolutely no development. For instance, the girl in the factory, but especially the psychiatrist boyfriend of Bruce Banner's ex girlfriend played by Liv Tyler. This psychiatrist is basically in two scenes where he does absolutely nothing and then gets dumped so fast (with almost no explanation) by Tyler that I was left wondering why he was in the story at all. I'd be very curious to see those missing fifteen minutes. They probably explain why the first half of this movie was sort of arbitrary and confusing.
The second half of this movie is first rate thankfully and a lot of that has to do with the bad guy, Tim Roth, and the late appearance of a fellow scientist, Mr. Blue. This movie does not make the same mistakes that 'Iron Man' did. It is completely clear why the evil dude is evil and why he wants to do evil things. There is no 'talking villain' syndrome where he has to explain his actions. We get it from the beginning. When he turns into a Hulk copy called 'The Abomination' and starts terrorizing downtown Manhattan, we get our money's worth. The climax of this movie is truly climatic. The final fight scene is superb. 
What's even more important is that the movie left me with a desire to see the next 'Hulk' movie, even though I had no knowledge of the comic or the character before I walked into the theater. With the success of 'Iron Man' and now 'The Incredible Hulk' I believe Marvel has taken two huge steps in the right direction in successfully bringing their entire catalog to the screen. (Thor and Captain America are in the works, as are another Spiderman and Iron Man plus two more X-men movies) Based on these two movies there is much too look forward too.