The Incredible Hulk / Directed by the cerebrally passionate Ang Lee, 2003’s Hulk was a dramatically complicated exploration of relations between fathers and their children, the follies of scientific experimentation, the dangers of romantic entanglements in a competitive work environment and the surfacing of repressed traumatic memories–all filmed with a creative picture-in-picture, flashback-layered narrative. What the ambitious riddle of a film was not, was a comic book movie about a man who turns into an angry, giant green monster who smashes things. A killer mutant poodle didn’t help the situation either.

Less a sequel and more of a series reboot, The Incredible Hulk, with Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2) now at the helm, claims to provide more fanboy-gratifying action. It does, but for all the hype about faster pacing, it’s still a little slow.

Edward Norton takes over from Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, the scientist desperately trying to find a cure for his beast within. Chasing him is General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, a man intent on capturing Banner and using what’s inside of him as a military weapon. An over-the-hill Russian soldier named Emil Blonsky also joins the pursuit and the ambitious rogue is given a shot of super-soldier-serum to level the playing field. Mad for an additional rush of strength, Blonsky chooses for a splash of gamma radiation that transforms him into “an abomination.” As the abominable Emil starts destroying New York City, only one incredible creature is capable of stopping the devastation.

All of this requires much more exposition and set-up than one would think, and it wears a little thin; after all, what we are really here to see is our favorite green anti-hero face off against his arch-enemy. The climactic fight doesn’t disappoint, however, and it’s the computer-generated brute brawl that was a long time coming. Sometimes it’s obvious we’re watching one long video game cinematic, but at least it’s an entertaining one.

The Abomination himself is a massive, truly fearsome re-creation with grotesquely protruding bones and a face reminiscent of a meathead-ier Voldemort from the Harry Potter series. The conception is cool enough to ease the disappointment of him not looking anything like his comic-book inspiration–no green, scaly skin, dragon ears, or blue Speedo here. The stylistic switch does result in a priceless moment: a confused infantryman asks the General which monster to shoot at and Ross responds, screaming “The orange one!”

Alas, the Hulk himself still looks just as fake as he did in Ang Lee’s production, but one gets used to it after a while.

The actual physical actors fare just as arbitrarily. Norton does a serviceable job as Banner, using his gangly limbs and tiny mouth for maximum nerdiness. Also adequate is William Hurt, slumming in the role that Sam Elliot was made for. (Why didn’t they bring him back?) The revelation is Liv Tyler as Betty, Banner’s former colleague and ex-lover, who just happens to be General Ross’s daughter. She manages to bring an urgent poignancy as the world’s most non-shallow girlfriend ever–if she can manage to get over the Hulk’s looks and still clean up his messes, you know she’s definitely low-maintenance. She also gets a few unexpected laughs when suddenly screaming at a New York City cab driver.

Of the newcomers, Roth does an unmemorable job as the gamma-power hungry Blonsky, but the terrific Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) has a crackling, witty walk-on as the over-eager Samuel Sterns, a scientist who helps Banner find a cure, but who also harbors a deadly fascination with gamma-ray-infused strength. (Fanboys know what lies in store for that character. )

The Incredible Hulk is nowhere near as user-friendly for non-geeks as Iron Man was, but dorks should be satisfied with a good enough start to a new trilogy. Now if Marvel Comics can just consistently meet this quality level. Keep those fingers and uzis crossed for The Punisher: War Zone.

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