Pun Salad

My comic-reading days are long past, but even back then, I was never a huge fan of The Incredible Hulk. I never found him too sympathetic or believable. [You mean less believable than those other guys, like Spider-Man and Iron Man? Yes, that's right.] Unfortunately, that carries right over to today's superhero movies; I passed on the 2003 Ang Lee Hulk, and I only picked up this one because of the decent reviews. Eh.

The movie picks up shortly after Bruce Banner has been transformed into the on-again, off-again green-skinned monster, and has escaped his captors to live a quiet life in Brazil seeking a cure for his condition. Edward Norton plays Banner well, Liv Tyler appears as his girl Betty Ross, William Hurt is General "Thunderbolt" Ross, Hulk's nemesis and Betty's dad. Tim Roth plays the villain Blonsky, a soldier tasked with returning the fugitive Banner, who becomes obsessed with his target, eventually demanding and receiving his own superpowers, which doesn't turn out well at all.

In its favor, the movie has a number of recognizable inside gags: Betty buys Bruce some purple stretch pants; Lou Ferrigno appears as a security guard; Stan Lee has his usual cameo; the late Bill Bixby shows up on a Brazilian TV rerun of "The Courtship of Eddie's Father". When in Brazil, Banner has an amusingly tough time mistranslating a classic line from the old TV show. (No spoilers, but it's the third one here.) There's probably more I didn't pick up.

This movie is also not the best advertisement for the sanitary practices in Brazilian soda bottling plants.