Starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Distributed by Universal Studios Home Entertainment
The Incredible Hulk was the second Marvel film of the summer, running just behind the mega hit Iron Man, leaving the green goliath with mighty big shoes to fill (even for him.) I was exceedingly happy to report that the film surpassed every expectation I’d had and successfully washed the mellow dramatic taste of the first Hulk film out of my mouth. Ang Lee may be a brilliant director, but his take on a character like The Hulk should never have come to pass. That’s all behind us now as we have a fresh start with our favorite jade giant smashing, bounding and pounding the crap out of the American military machine and his arch nemesis, The Abomination. We also have the ability to pause, as you will be doing profusely after lessons learned in watching Iron Man, to reveal names like Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Rick Jones flying across the screen.
Without question, we are reviewing the 3 disk special edition. Is there any other??!! Disk one starts out with the usual trailers. I’m giving them a mention because nestled in there is a quick montage of Marvel Animation sneak peeks…some we’ve seen and some brand new! Included are Black Panther, the Hulk VS Films, Armored Adventures, Super Hero Squad (which looks no further ahead than it was before), and Wolverine and the X-Men. The feature film includes the option of commentary with Director Louis Leterrier and Tim Roth, who are both very laid back guys who like to joke around, making this highly enjoyable and at times, pretty damn funny! Deleted scenes include little extra bits of Bruce in Brazil getting control of himself and searching for the cure and a tiny bit more of Ross putting his plans into motion. Nothing in here we’d actually miss in the film but cool to watch none the less.
Next is a Making of the Incredible Hulk featurette which gives those psycho movie buffs all the little tidbits they were wondering about along with eye candy for the rest of us who just like to see stuff blow up! This is Juuuuuuust enough footage to be enjoyable and not put you to sleep. The next three features compliment this piece by showing how Ed Norton was in fact “inside” that ginormous Hulk body through the use of new technology and on the flip side, how Tim Roth got to put a little of himself inside every haymaker delivered by the monstrous Abomination. Through it all, you have Director Louis Leterrier running about, lifting gear and being very un-directorly while also amusing the hell out of everyone on the set and displaying child like glee when utilizing the newest gadgets to get the shots he desires. It is that kind of passion that takes a film from average to fantastic. The last bit titled “from comic to screen” shows one particular sequence torn right from the pages of the comic and through pseudo animation, how that scene played out in the comic. Also packed into this set is a digital copy to take with you to your kid’s baseball game as you pretend to be cheering him on. All the other fathers will thank you.
Once again, a must have set, the only difference being a tad less on the creation of the monster. I swear Iron Man had about an hour more in this department, and for good reason, though I admit to nodding off at times. Hulk packs in just the right amount of extra goodies and deleted scenes that aren’t presented just for the sake of giving us deleted scenes. Now that we have a cohesive Marvel Universe, the 3 disk set is a no brainer. You’ll want to soak up every ounce of geekiness you possibly can.
Special Features