The Hulk and The Incredible Hulk - Movie Review Example

The Hulk originated as a superhero in the Ultimate Marvels comic books and has since gained world recognition and gained celebrity status as a movie hero. There has been much discussion and comparisons made between the 2003 Hulk Movie and the 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk and this will be discussed in this essay. It puts a life history to the character; he was adopted after David Banner, his father, accidentally killed his mother after causing an explosion at his lab when the government closed it down due to discovering his dangerous experiments.

Baby Bruce was adopted after his father became institutionalised in a mental hospital.The 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk was directed by Louis Leterrier and the Hulk/Dr Bruce Banner was played by Edward Norton. This movie was not to be viewed as a sequel to the 2003 film and also rebooted the history of the character (Lee, 2008). Edward Norton was the screenwriter who rewrote the first draft written by Zak Penn, and attempted to base the story more on the Marvel Comic strip and the TV series than the 2003 movie had been.

In this movie the Hulk was developed as a military project, a super soldier as was the Hulks character in the Ultimate Marvels comic books.. The Los Angeles Time movie review called it 'Freud for Dummies' (Dargis, 2003). There are comparisons also to make regarding the profits of the two movies. The Incredible Hulk in the US grossed $134,533,885 at the box office in its first 2 months compared to $132.2 million for the 2003 movie so whilst it appears both films were as successful inflation also has to be taken into account [1].

The films both received mixed reviews and so The Incredible Hulk had to overcome the negativity that The Hulk had received and according to many critics did not succeed its predecessor. In The Incredible Hulk an experiment goes wrong with Dr Bruce Banner being left with gamma radiation poisoning. Banner had been led to believe by General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross that the purpose of the experiment was to make humans immune to gamma radiation poisoning and when the experiment fails Banners genes are mutated and he transforms into the Hulk.

Like The Hulk film from 2003 the movie sees him avoiding capture by the military forces led by General 'Thunderbolt' Ross. Dr Banner seeks refuge in Brazil where he seeks to find a cure for his condition. Both films provide histories for the character and similarities do obviously occur, his love affair with Betty, and the centre of the story being the alter ego of Dr Bruce. The comparisons lye in the narration of how the Hulk developed into the alter ego of Dr Bruce Banner and the experiences he had.

Bibliography[1] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/id=incrediblehulk.htmDargis, Manohla. "Hulk" puts a Freudian spin on the dualities of human nature, but this monster is a little too mild" New York Times (20th June 2003) 11th November 2008