Blockbuster Buster Transcript: Honest Review: Incredible Hulk

(The Channel Awesome presents logo is shown and clips of the movie starts. Starting with the Hulk transformation at the university.)

ERod (vo): Oh, Ang Lee, you made me angry and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry. Greeting fanboys and fangirls, I'm ERod and I'm the Blockbuster Buster.

(Clips from the 2003 Hulk movie played.)

ERod (vo): Shortyly after the disappointment of Ang Lee's Hulk, it was announced that the Jade Goliath was getting a reboot. But, little did we know that the movie was going to be produced by the newly formed Marvel Studios and that it was going to be one of the tie-in films to what may be one of the biggest movies of 2012. Legioneers, prepare thyselfs for the powerful, the unstoppable,

(The title of the movie is shown.)

ERod (vo): The Incredible Hulk

(Clips from the movie plays.)

ERod (vo): Now, even though I enjoy this film, I don't really count it among my favorites. So, I don't really have a favorite character, line or scene. Instead, I plan to cover this one with a little segment I like to call.

ERod (vo): The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

(Sound of the theme with the same name plays.)

ERod (vo): But, before we get to that, let's talk about

The Plot
ERod (vo): The story of The Incredible Hulk is by far, one of the simpliest and yet, most compelling in the comic book world. Good natured scientist Bruce Banner is accidently bombarded with gamma radiation during an experiment gone awry. The accident causes him to transform into an unstoppable green monster every time he gets angry, agitated and scared. Now, Bruce is always on the run as both the military and S.H.I.E.L.D makes efforts to either capture destroy him. All the while, Bruce desperately searches for a cure to tame The Incredible Hulk.

The Good
ERod (vo): As I said, I enjoy this film I honestly feel that the good outweighs the bad. For starters, Edward Norton as Bruce Banner is excellent. He does a really good job of making you feel the tragedy and burden of being The Hulk. And Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky was a great choice. One great actor going up against another. Now that is epic. The special effects was one of the major, major improvements from the previous movie where The Hulk looked bloated and weightless like he was a helium balloon. Here, he looks proportionate and heavy as The Hulk should look. Not to mention that he is voiced by original Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno.

Hulk: Hulk ... smash!

ERod (vo): That just brings a tear to my eye.

Bruce Banner: You are the man.

Security Guy (Lou Ferrigno): God bless you brother.

ERof (vo): The action sequences are also spectacular. I'm particularly partial to the final battle between The Hulk and The Abomination. Watching it, I couldn't help but be reminded of when Superman fought Doomsday. Wouldn't it be cool if they had a scene like that in a Superman movie? Oh well, hopefully Zack Snyder will make it up to us.

The Bad
ERod (vo): As my best friend Paul, a.k.a. Doctor Nemesis, likes to point out, this movie follows a very predictable pattern. Bruce is on the run, Bruce gets in a jam, he turns into The Hulk, problem solved. While I agree that this is simplistic and brainless, it really doesn't bother me. Cause that's pretty much the formula of most of the Hulk comics. Now, I know a lot of you prefer the destructive Hulk that is constantly getting into brawls with other superheroes and you were somewhat disappointed that we didn't see that in this movie. Firstly, I agree. Secondly, odds are, we're going to see that Hulk in The Avengers movie so there you go. Now, on the subject of the rest of the cast, I mean no disrespect to Liv Tyler and William Hurt. I like them both but this is an area in which I freely admit that the Ang Lee movie is far superior. As I feel that Sam Elliott and Jennifer Connelly were far better choices for General Ross and Betty. Again, I'm not saying that Hurt and Tyler were bad. I just feel that Elliott and Connelly were better suited for these characters. Holy moly, I'm more then halfway through the video and you know what that means. Stan Lee Cameo!

Major Kathleen 'Kat' Sparr: - More interesting. It's a possible gamma sickness. Milwaukee. A man drank one of -

(The man who drank the gamma soda was Stan Lee. The applause is heard followed by a Stan Lee poster accompanied by the beginning of the 60s Spider-Man theme and Stan saying "Excelsior!" Footage from the film resumes.)

The Ugly
ERod (vo): My least favorite aspect of this movie is all the awkward Avengers tie-in moments that were shoehorned in. The most blatant being the Super Soldier Serum. If you've read the comics, you know that this is now how Emil Blonsky becomes Abomination. So you know that they just threw Captain America's Super Soldier Serum into the mix to tie it into The Avengers movie. It's not horrible but its still pretty clumsy. Not as clumsy as the movie I'm covering next week but we'll get to that then. There's also that infamous moment where the movie is pathetically sequel begging. In which gamma iraadiated blood falls on Samuel Sterns and he starts to mutate into The Hulk's arch nemesis, The Leader and then we never see Doctor Sterns again. Now, this specially sad since we all knew down that this movie was not going to get a sequel. And, I'm pretty sure that the filmmakers knew this since most big budget movies have their sequels greenlit right when they're completed. If you want examples of such movies, how about Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. All 3 had their sequels greenlit upon completion. You know what was the one Marvel movie that didn't have this? The Incredible Hulk! Which makes this scene a big fat worthless tease that should have been left on the cutting room floor. All right, all right, I'm ranting too much. I really just need to react and look at some B.A.L.S.

B.A.L.S. (Bonus Avengers Lead-in Scene)
Ross: Reload.

(General Ross is sulking at a bar)

Ross: [Drinks shot] Reload. [The barkeep gets another shot and Ross chugs the shot] Reload.

(Tony Stark enters the bar and approaches Ross

Tony Stark: Mmmm, the smell of stale beer and defeat. Y'know, I hate to say "I told you so" general, but that Super-Soldier program was put on ice for a reason. I've always felt that hardware was much more reliable.

Ross: Stark.

Tony Stark: General.

Ross: You always wear such nice suits.

Tony Stark: Touché. I hear you have an unusual problem.

Ross: You should talk.Tony

Tony Stark: You should listen.

(The General leans in a bit as Stark whispers )

Tony Stark: What if I told you we were putting a team together?

Ross: Who's "we"?

(Stark clears his throat, looks at the General and smiles.)

ERod (vo): All right, while this might not be my favorite B.A.L.S, it's still pretty damn awesome. Seeing Robert Downey JR as Tony Stark walk into that bar and interact with General Ross is officially, the first cinematic comic book character crossover and it was glorious.

Final Verdict
Erod (vo): Ultimately, I still really enjoyed this film. It's like The Fugitive of superhero movie. And come on, tell me you didn't get a geekgasm when they played the theme from the original show. (The Lonely Man plays.) Ok, seriously, I can't any further without addressing the question. How do I feel about them replacing Edward Norton with Mark Ruffalo. Frankly, I'm ok with it. As much as I admire and respect Edward Norton and as great of a job as he did in this movie, he still didn't make this role his own. I'll put it to you this way. I would definitely have a problem if they replace Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow or Robert Downey JR as Iron Man. All 3 of these actors made those parts their through their distinct performances. Making it highly improbable that any actor could take over for them. Edward Norton, with all his collective talent, did not do that. So, I like forward to seeing what Ruffalo will bring to the park. And besides, they still have Lou Ferrigno doing The Hulk's voice so as far as I'm concerned, The Avengers will be together. Anyhoo, I give this one A 7 (The Badass-a-tude Meter pops up.) If you're into the current comic book movies, you'll definitely dig it. ERod smash.