I finally got to see the Incredible Hulk yesterday. Since today is a holiday and all, we had an early release for work yesterday at 3PM. Conveniently, there was a showing of the movie at 3:45PM over by Fenway. I went with a coworker who is also very much into comics.
Spoiler Warning!
We both liked it very much. There were plenty of references that only comic fans would get, but that didn’t take away from the movie in anyway. I really liked the setting at the beginning of the movie in Brazil at the ‘housing’ development. It was very different from what Americans are used to seeing and it provided for a great chase scene. I also appreciated that there was only one real scene where Bruce Banner visually turned into the Hulk. The rest of the time is was in shadows or in mist. There’s no need to show it everytime and the less you show it, the more fantastic an occurrence it makes for it.
I was a little weirded out by Tim Roth. He’s so tiny! And the super soldier serum was never supposed to have been able to be reproduced. I suppose it wasn’t really, but it was close enough for me to be uncomfortable with it.
As soon as I saw the name Samuel Sterns, a flag went off in my head. I knew the name, but for the life of me could not place the face. After Banner’s blood poured over his open head wound, it came to me very clearly. The Leader. They’ve ALREADY setup a sequel. Astounding. Well I’m ready for it. More comic book movies!
Those who don’t know who the Leader is, he is basically a Hulk villain. Where Banner’s gamma radiation exposure was to his entire body transforming him into a hulking brute, Sterns’ exposure was to his brain, causing it to grow resulting in super intelligence. The Leader comes in two varieties: Shaft and Balls.
I believe the classic look is the shaft and the more modern appearance is the shorn scrotum look. It should be interesting to see how they would adapt him for the next movie. Abomination in this movie looked significantly different than the Abomination we all know from comics. Here’s a side by side:
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