But if you don’t succeed at first, then try again. And it is with this philosophy in mind that Marvel decided to give their potentially lucrative Hulk comic book franchise another shot. The new movie is simply titled The Incredible Hulk, hinting that this time around the movie has more in common with the popular late-1970s TV series than with the comic books ¡V or heavens forbid! - the first movie. And that, dang it, this time round the Hulk will be truly incredible!

Incredible Hulk thus boasts an entirely brand-new cast and creative team.

An excellent Edward Norton replaces Eric Bana as Hulk / Bruce Banner and Liv Tyler replaces Jennifer Connelly (not a good move actually ¡V Tyler is rather bland) as Banner’s ex-girlfriend, Betty Ross. A stoic William Hurt replaces the gruff-voiced Sam Elliott as Betty’s father, General Ross. Transporter 2 director Louis Leterrier takes over at the director’s chair from Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee, bringing his action movie sensibilities with him in the process. The screenplay is by X-Men: The Last Stand and Fantastic Four scribe Zak Penn along with actor Edward Norton (writing under a nom de plume). Penn is a busy guy by the way: he has already been signed to script 2011’s upcoming Avengers and Captain America movies for Marvel . . .

“Much more action-packed and entertaining than the previous Hulk movie. . .”

Judging from the credentials involved you may think that The Incredible Hulk has dumbed down ¡V and you’d be right. But it in actual fact suits the material at hand much better. After all, this is a movie about a big green giant dude in purple pants who smashes stuff when he gets angry ¡V which is about all the time! The Hulk has never exactly been Marvel’s deepest superhero and is pretty, well, one-dimensional when one thinks about it. But here the Hulk is portrayed as a more ¡§human¡¨ character instead of the single-brain-celled creature he is usually portrayed as in the comics.

Straight-forward where the first movie was convoluted, action-packed where Hulk dithered, The Incredible Hulk dispenses with whatever back-story and exposition there is over the film’s opening credit sequence. No tortured unresolved oedipal conflicts here!

The Incredible Hulk assumes that audiences already know the character and his back-story: following an accident involving gamma rays, scientist Bruce Banner becomes the raging super-powered, green-skinned monster The Hulk whenever he gets angry. Of course the U.S. military in the guise of the corrupt General Ross (William Hurt) - who also happens to be the father of Banner’s girlfriend, Betty - is interested in getting their hands on the Hulk and using his blood to manufacture a new breed of super-powered soldiers. Banner becomes a fugitive, hoping to find a cure for his condition before Ross and the U.S. military industrial complex can get their hands on him. In that sense it is more of a sequel than a remake than some of the ¡§let’s give it another shot¡¨ talk may have let on.

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