Happy Ho Ho Hulk month readers! Ya know what I love as a stocking stuffer? Movies, not only do they make you less fat than candy but they give you something to watch during the holiday season just like these two movies. Ang Lee's 2003 'Hulk' and Louis Leterrier's 2008 'The Incredible Hulk', today I'm going to review both of these movies in a head to head match up and we'll find out which one is a gift to jingle your bells and which ones a lump of coal, this is the movie match up.
So since these are both origin stories because the 2008 is a reboot lets start with origin. In the comics Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk after he saves his friend Rick Jones by pushing him out of the way of an atomic bombs explosion and he takes all the radiation, thus later causing the transformation into the Hulk. In both movies however they change this origin (Iron Man did too). In the 2003 version Bruce's father injects himself with a serum that allows for regeneration because he needs a human test subject after the military tries to shut him down. When his wife becomes pregnant Bruce gains the effects of the serum. This causes Bruce to become abnormal though we don't really see how other than the fact that he doesn't seem to react to pain much. Bruce later becomes doused with radioactive waves when he saves a friend from a malfunctioning machine that poured out radioactive nanites or something. This coupled with the serum causes the transformation into the Hulk.
In the 2008 version Bruce thinks that his experiments are for the key to radiation resistance but its actually a military scheme to achieve a super soldier like change through radiation. During a test on himself Bruce's amigdala absorbs the radiation through a GAMMA pulse causing the Hulk transformations to happen anytime he gets angry or excited. Now in the 2003 version we see him transform for the first time wreck stuff then try and figure out whats happening, and as much as i like an origin and a character realizing his power, the origin and the realization alone as well as the the first transformation took about 45 minutes of the movie at minimum. That's alot of time for character development wasted, oh and I should mention the opening credits are about 10-15 minutes long showing animals being dissected and test tubes, another pointless time waster. I love cult classic looks of a mad science lab but in this it was unnecessary. The 2008 takes the win here by quickly brushing over the entire origin in the opening credits, while at the same time establishing the villain and gives the Hulk a big foot-esque mythic quality all without a single word of dialogue! How do you like them apples!? Point for 2008.
Now lets move on to supporting cast:
The love interest in the Hulk comics is Betty Ross, the daughter of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, Captain Ahab to Hulks Moby Dick (please don't take any innuendo from that, though it is funny)and she is also a cellular biologist. In Ang Lee's version she is played by Jennifer Connelly who comes off as flat and at times very cold, she seems to care about Bruce only as a friend, now to be fair they are broken up in this film, but even when their romance is rekindling her flame seems dim. In the 2008 version Betty is played by Liv Tyler, who does a surprisingly good job in this movie. At first she comes off really mousey and sweet but when her father and his team are attacking the Hulk the rage and desperation in her voice as she screams for the General to come out is completely opposite of how shes been, she also seems genuinely in love with him, even in his Hulk persona we get a King Kong/Beauty and the Beast feel this, to me, makes her the perfect Betty. Point 2008.
As for villains the 2003 yet again butchers the Hulk. In the 2003 version Sam Ellit plays General Ross however he too also seems flat while he does seem to hate Bruce/The Hulk he doesn't have the madness or obsession. William Hurt who takes on the role in the 2008 version is not as intimidating as Elliot but he does have the madness down pact, he constantly appears haggard as if he was up all night thinking of how to capture the Hulk. Point 2008.
Now as for the monstrous villains, the 2003 version had Nick Nolte as Bruce's father David(a reference to the Incredible Hulk TV show with Bill Bixby), David douses himself with radiation and becomes a movie altered version of a Marvel comics villain known as the absorbing man. In the comic the Absorbing Mans name is Crusher Kreel and he has a different origin, and his abilities are to take on the attributes of anyting he touches, say turning to stone or steel, in the movie he becomes one with what he touches -_- therefore he is a hodgepodge mash up of pieces of rock, brick, metal and so on. The only cool parts are when he and the Hulk fight in the sky after David becomes lightning and him turning to water is kind of cool, but overall very anti-climactic. What really sinks the movie villain wise? Two words, Hulk Poodle. Yeah I'm not joking. David makes his dogs Hulk like and it looks stupid and the fight is nothing special.
As for 2008 Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/Abomination is great. He as a person is a bad ass craving power by any means necessary therefore he gets injected with an experimental super soldier serum that makes him fast, agile and strong. This sets up a great fight between him as an enhanced man versus the Hulk. And as he slowly becomes the monstrous Abomination the change is very convincing, he looks more depraved and greedy as time passes. The Abomination itself was amazingly designed and looked nothing but threatening plus the titanic WWF style fight including everything from helicopter blade swords to police car boxing gloves was purely epic. So that's another point for the 2008.
Now for the Hero:
In the 2003 version we have Eric Bana as Bruce Banner. He is awkward, and inspires no sense of a noble person. In fact throughout the entire movie he gives off a Norman Bates vibe, like he's secretly got dead people stuffed in his house and your next.
In the 2008 version we have Edward Norton, to me he is the definitive Bruce Banner in look and personality, I'm going to give Mark Ruffalo a chance but he has big shoes to fill. He is smart, calm, can appear angry, scared and he seems intellectually dangerous plus he looks and acts like a man who has a dark force in him that hes repressing. Point to 2008
As far as Hulk goes, 2008 no contest. He seems tougher and he looks like what released rage would look like if it had a form. He looks primal and savage but capable of kindness or at least tolerance. The 2003 version looked like muscle bound Lenny from Of Mice and Men, a slow and dumb creature that might cry if you called him names.
Now as for story the 2008 wins again, its got great focus on all characters and is developing stories for all of them which makes it an all around interesting movie. it shows almost every characters strength and weakness. But let me assure you this is not all one sided. There are many things the 2008 movie could have used that the 2003 version had. I loved the scenes where the Hulk really interacted with his enemies. Like the scene where he saves the jet from crashing and is flown up into the atmosphere, or him combating the tanks. And most of all I would have liked more roaming from the Hulk in the 2008 version. Like when he ends up in the jungle i wanted to See him running and making his famous Hulk jumps like in the 2003 version. However in that sentence is the thing that infuriated me the most in the 2003 version, this was the nail in the coffin. Constantly through the movie the Hulk, this massive beast that weighs at least a ton, is making mile high leaps and when he lands what happens? Nothing!!! No impact marks, no famous craters! For gods sake at one point he's skipping along small rock outcroppings and no pebbles fall! This may seem nit picky but I find that to be very lazy that no one gave him any real impact on his environment(pun intended).
So all in all in case you haven't guessed the 2008 version wins by a landslide! I definitely recommend it to those who haven't seen it, its a pretty good movie with a great cast! Thanks for reading and Happy Hulkidays!
