Incredible Hulk Trailer Released!
Ed Norton’s Superhero Blockbuster is Unveiled. By James Luxford
The long-awaited new trailer for "The Incredible Hulk", starring Edward Norton, has hit the internet. Will it live up to the hype? James Luxford finds out...
2007 was seen by many as the financial, if not creative, zenith for the Superhero genre. “Spider-Man 3”, whilst receiving mixed a reaction from fans, made a mind-boggling $885,430,303 worldwide*, the 11th highest-grossing movie of all time. It is the number one grossing Superhero movie. However, Spidey 4 may be some time in the making, and with “Superman” & “X-Men” sequels halted or stalled, its time for some new heroes to beckon you to the cinema.
This year, Edward Norton will be going mainstream as he takes on the mantle of Bruce Banner in “The Incredible Hulk”. There’s stiff competition, both from Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man” and the near-hysteria surrounding Christopher Nolan’s second Batman movie, “The Dark Knight”. With a new trailer giving us some idea what to expect, will Hulk movie be one of 2008’s big winners?
Ed Hulks Out…
First, a brief history lesson. For those of you experiencing some Déjà vu, there’s already been a “Hulk” movie, the 2002 Ang Lee film. Marvel Studios have taken the odd step of ‘forgetting’ that film happened and starting again, with “Transporter” director Louis Leterrier. The story only briefly touches upon the character’s origins, opting instead for an action extravaganza. William Hurt and Liv Tyler appear as army General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross and love-interest Betty Ross respectively. Roth plays Emil Blomsky, who turns into a monster similar to the Hulk, a kind of ‘anti-Hulk’ if you will. In the comics he was known as “Abomination”, a name co-writer David Goyer took out.
Trailer Trash?
(WARNING! SPOILERS) The first trailer bodes well, but then most first trailers do. It features Bruce Banner talking to a psychiatrist about his ‘condition’, some brief shots of him ‘transforming’, and an eventual ‘money shot’ of both the Hulk and Abomination/ Blomsky charging each other in the middle of a street. The emphasis is definitely on the action, and looking to establish itself as a different film altogether to Ang Lee’s version.
The big strength here is Norton. Not one to put his name to garbage (“The Italian Job” doesn’t count!), he delighted fans by describing himself as a ‘Marvel Kid’ growing up, and even co-wrote the script. A big name cameo (we won’t spoil it for you) only serves to whet the appetite further. The biggest problem the film faces is that the general public may confuse this with it’s ’02 predecessor, as those who don’t trawl the internet gossip sites will have little idea about the background to this movie. Overall, a good taster of what’s to come, but to beat the marketing snowball that is “The Dark Knight”, they’ll have to deliver what they promise.
*Source: Internet Movie Database
