The Incredible Hulk (3 Stars)

I didn't intend to watch this film again so soon. The reason I watched it today is that I've recently watched two videos about the upcoming "Avengers Infinity War" film, and both said that fans should prepare themselves for it by re-watching all the previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films, even "The Incredible Hulk". They both named it explicitly. It's the least popular of the MCU films, not without reason. It's considered part of the MCU, but only because of the appearance of Tony Stark in the final scene. Apart from that it's like a standalone film. Let me give you my reasons.

"The Incredible Hulk" has a different actor playing Bruce Banner, Edward Norton instead of Mark Ruffalo. In all the other films the actors are consistent.

The Hulk's CGI character looks different to his appearance in "The Avengers" and later films.

There's no origin of the character, which makes it seem more like a sequel to "The Hulk" (2003) than a reboot as part of the MCU.

Instead of the Hulk's love interest Betty Ross returning he's been flirting with other characters, in particular the Black Widow,

There's a fifth reason that I should add as well: it's just not that good. It's the lowest rated MCU film in my blog. I can't understand why I gave it four stars when I watched it three years ago. I was being far too generous. It was probably a sympathy vote because I like the character so much. There were too many Hulk-vs-soldiers fights. One would have been enough. The Abomination was introduced into the film far too late, practically as an afterthought. A better film would have been 25% origin story, 25% Hulk-vs-soldiers, 10% origin of Abomination, 40% Hulk-vs-Abomination.

The greatest strength of "The Incredible Hulk" is Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. He's the best person ever to play the role. He fits the role best because he's the puniest. Even Mark Ruffalo looks too tough. Supposedly Edward Norton quit because of differences with Marvel. He wanted more creative control over the character. He rewrote the script for "The Incredible Hulk", but his rewrite was turned down. I'm sure that whatever he wrote would have been better.

I'd rather forget about "The Incredible Hulk" and not consider it part of the MCU, but I'll wait for "Infinity War and see if there are any tie-ins.

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