If Incredible Hulk does anything, it has a nice amount of fan service to anyone even remotely familiar with the big green guy. “Don’t make me angry”, “Hulk Smash!” and the “sad walking away song” are all featured in the movie.
The Hulk isn’t really a superhero. He’s not fighting for anything. He’s just sort of spazzing out. He has more in common with King Kong than Ironman or Batman. And while the screenwriter made the (I think) wise choice to gloss over the initial Hulk creation story and jump right to Bruce hiding out, which go the story moving along, I think it made it a little harder to connect with him as a person. And poor Liv Tyler spent the whole movie alternating between staring sadly with her mouth half hanging open or screaming “BRUCE!” at the top of her lungs.
I felt a little cheated at the end of the film, because they began to set up the movie I wanted to see as opposed to the 2 hours I just sat through. In fact, I wasn’t really interested in a sequel until the last few minutes.
A good popcorn movie, but definitely one you shouldn’t think too much about after you watch it. Also, it comes with a built in drinking game – take a shot every time you spy something GREEN!