The Incredible Hulk 2-Disc Special Edition (UK) (DVD) Review

Introduction
In an attempt to re-boot Marvel's angriest franchise, Louis Leterrier the director of Transporter 2 brings a leaner, less introspective Hulk to the screen. The director and cast have started from scratch, but in so doing have ditched the exposition around Banner's accident and have hit the ground running. They give the audience a beautifully designed opening credits sequence (created by the painfully talented Kyle Cooper, the same man responsible for the oft imitated opening credits to Se7en) that slips us into the opening 'days without incident…' tag effortlessly, allowing the chase to begin.
The story begins in South America. Bruce Banner, played by a very measured Edward Norton, is working in a soft-drink bottling plant acting as a general repair man, whilst outside-of-work he desperately tries to continue his search for a cure to his unique condition via an encrypted chat-room with the mysterious Mr Blue, a scientist eager to help.
A small, bloody mishap at the factory leads to Banner's discovery by General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt), the man who regards him as the 'property of the US Government'. A military snatch-squad lead by the dogged Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), fail to grab Banner but do succeed in bringing out the Hulk, forcing Banner once again to go on the run and return to North America straight back into the life of the woman-he-loves, and estranged daughter of the General, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler).
And then Banner's troubles REALLY begin…


Video
A pristine transfer. The film gives any format a good visual workout. Scenes range from bright sunlight to dark and wet and often involving a great deal of on-screen action and camera movement. The encoding, to my eyes appears faultless and is to be enjoyed. 9/10



Audio
The soundtrack to The Incredible Hulk is not quite as raucous as you might expect. Sure enough, there are a good many scenes during which you could worry all of the crockery in your house, but these are well balanced, not allowing the bass to overwhelm when it so often could (listen to the sound of bullets hitting the Hulk's make-shift shield during the campus scene, to see how well balanced the sound is). Craig Armstrong's score, whilst not immediately memorable, complements the film wonderfully well, even sneaking in a small homage to the TV series' haunting theme. Dialogue is clear and multi-channel steering is spot-on. The inclusion of a 2.0 channel option is welcome and this is also well engineered. 9/10


Extras
Spread over the 2 discs, the extras are good, if not out-standing.
Disc 1 includes a commentary from the director, Leterrier and Tim Roth. There are some fun and informative anecdotes to be found here (listen for the discussion regarding The Abomination's ears and genitalia), but too often these are cut short and never followed up. The two men clearly get on well and had a good time working together, but the conversation often loses focus and this can become distracting. The commentary is subtitled (as they all should be) so there's no need to spoil the film's soundtrack if you don't want to.
Trailers for the 3rd Mummy movie, Iron Man and a multitude of marvel Animations round off disc 1.
Disc 2 contains the meat of the extras, principally an alternate opening and 23 deleted scenes. So often it is apparent exactly why specific scenes are excised from a movie, not so in this case. The alternate opening is perhaps a little too nihilistic for the movie, but would have created an interesting starting point from which this tale could run. The remainder of the scenes appear to be have been removed for the purposes of pacing. This is a shame, as there are a good many great character beats, particularly for Ty Burrell's character whose motives and actions within the body of the movie, whilst noble seem a little forced. All in all these are well worth a viewing, and I have found myself watching them again, on occasion when I have revisited the film.
The 4 mini-docs run to nearly 80 minutes. They are easy to digest and navigate and left this viewer with the warm nostalgic feeling that even in this age of CGI-driven destruction, there is still the requirement for skilled stunt-men, technicians, model-makers and pyrotechnicians on a movie such as this to make the magic happen.
The final extra is a short animated-comic sequence covering Tim Sale's artwork from the comic that inspired a very touching moment in the movie between Betty and Hulk. This is a very nice touch.
My only gripe in this package (and I'll never tire of this one) is that there is no inclusion of the original trailers for the movie, something, I believe, should always be included in any release.



Conclusion
The Incredible Hulk is a good comic-book movie. It rattles along at a fair-old pace and delivers some great action sequences. There has been criticism that the final battle between Hulk and The Abomination turns into something akin to the final stages of a computer game. This is perhaps true, but at the same time unfair. The joy of a movie such as the Hulk is ultimately in getting the chance to see the big green man do his thing. In the case of the Hulk, 'his thing' is destruction and fighting on a large scale and the final 20 minutes give this out in spades. It is worth noting however that of the 3 main action sequences within the movie the final battle is perhaps the weakest. Louis Leterrier mentions in his commentary that he deliberately wished to not repeat wholesale the Hulk taking on the military, but ironically it is when the he is doing this very thing that he seems at his most visceral, and perhaps also at this point when he most elicits empathy from the audience. The Big Green Man taking on The Big Man and winning leaves a wicked grin on most faces.
The Hulk, to me has always been an heroic anti-hero. He is defined not by his moral fortitude but by his gut reaction, which, whilst destructive, is often proven to be the right thing to do.
I last read the Hulk in the 70s and early 80s, before the monster himself became 'troubled' and when he was just a force of nature that didn't want to cause the damage he so often wrought. Hulk wanted to protect those few people brave enough to show him compassion. Hulk, ironically wanted peace. It's doubly ironic that we, the audience won't let Hulk ever get that peace. 


The Incredible Hulk 2-Disc Special Edition is a first rate release. It gives viewers a superb audio and visual experience. Extras do not push the envelope but there are plenty of them, they are easy on the eye and provide a good insight into the making of the film. Get your comics out, crank up your AV and watch this in a double bill with Jon Favreau's Iron Man, it'll be a good time!! 8/10