Fancast: The Big Picture

The Incredible Hulk - 6/13

A massive Marvel do-over, the Jade Giant gets a second chance at big-screen blockbusterhood, and all indications are that director Louis Leterrier aims to make it count, with a climactic fight scene between the Hulk and his monstrous nemesis the Abomination set to last nearly half an hour. Much has been made about the obstacles facing Marvel's dogged attempt to make the deserving Hulk into the strongest film franchise there is - Ang Lee's over-maligned 2003 film version, star Edward Norton's big-or-no-big-deal creative differences with the studio brass, and the sheer difficulty involved in making a giant green man-monster not look fake. Last year's Transformers upped the ante for the realism requirements for CG creatures fighting each other, although robots are likely easier to visually legitimize than a big green muscle man.

By all rights, though, the Hulk should be a perfect candidate for a fantastic cinematic experience. He was originally created by Stan Lee as a riff on the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story - a tragic hero bearing a terrible curse of his own design - with a star-crossed love story woven in between colossal feats of unimaginable power. The new Hulk looks leaner and darker than the day-glo one we've seen, and Robert Downey Jr.'s cameo as Tony Stark lends hope that, somewhere down the line, a fantastic crossover film may be born, since the Hulk does work best when the heroes who misunderstand him try desperately to bring him down.

The talent involved here - Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt and Tim Roth - is more than enough to make good on the promise of the Green Goliath. Drawing on the classic TV series and putting Bruce Banner on the run from the government while desperately searching for a cure to his "condition" is the perfect set-up to help the Hulk shine as the misunderstood misanthrope he is. Let's keep our fingers crossed for awesome.

Watch the trailer for The Incredible Hulk.
Tim Roth and Louis Leterrier talk Hulk.
Hear from the producer and director of The Incredible Hulk.
Compare and contrast with Ang Lee's Hulk.
Watch full episodes of the classic TV series The Incredible Hulk.