The Incredible Hulk

Posted on June 18th, 2008 | Tags:

There are many different ways for superheroes in comic books to get their super powers. Some are born with them (think Superman or the X-Men). Others undergo some sort of accident — a bite from a radioactive spider (Spider-Man) or a science experiment gone wrong (the Incredible Hulk). Still others have no real super powers, but with amazing intellect and wealth develop technology that gives them their abilities (Batman or Iron Man).

I went to see The Incredible Hulk this weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Edward Norton does an excellent job as Bruce Banner. One of the things I enjoyed most about the movie is that they relegate his “origin story” to the opening credits. It can be a little disorienting if you know nothing about the general story, but I think they made the right choice in concluding that most everyone knows the essentials and in moving on to the more interesting parts of the specific story they wanted to tell.

It had a different feel to it than Iron Man, which I saw a few weeks ago. I think this stems from the different way they each acquired their powers. Iron Man underwent a psychological transformation during his captivity that led him to pour his money and genius into a new social cause, while the Hulk is a victim of a scientific experiment gone wrong and would like nothing more (at least at the beginning of the movie) to be free from it and return to normal life. I liked Iron Man a little more, but I definitely thought they were both well done.

I also saw a trailer for another comic book movie coming out this summer: Hellboy 2 (July 11). I didn’t see the first Hellboy movie, but I’m now thinking I might have been remiss in overlooking it. This new one looks very good — very mythic — and the director Guillermo del Toro proved that he understands the relevance of myth for us today with Pan’s Labyrinth. (Others apparently were convinced of this also: he has been chosen to direct The Hobbit.)

To sum up: the summer has had two really good comic-book movies so far, and there’s a good chance there will be three more good ones before it’s all over: