The Incredible Hulk

(PG-13), directed by Louis Leterrier

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Hey, remember that "Hulk" movie Ang Lee directed a few years back? OK; now forget it. Though the film grossed nearly a quarter bil worldwide, Marvel Comics would probably rather we never again speak of the 2003 incarnation, a moody character study that arguably owed more to Sophocles than it did creator Stan Lee. The badly received "Hulk" featured a boring lead in Eric Bana, a ponderously depressing backstory, and a batsh*t performance by Nick Nolte, who is likely still flossing the splinters from his teeth. No one was thrilled about blowing their summer-movie wampum on watching an inarticulate lump blubber about his daddy issues. That's what family picnics are for.

Those craving less angst and more smash in their nuclear mutants will totally appreciate "The Incredible Hulk," in which Marvel gets its second big-screen try at the big green guy right. With casting akin to Robert Downey Jr.'s inspired take on "Iron Man," Oscar nominee Edward Norton channels the iconic Dr. Bruce Banner, a physicist with a serious anger-management problem. This year's do-over gets its exposition out of the way during the fuzzy title sequence, which attributes Banner's gamma exposure to science gone awry rather than parental hubris. As the film opens the fugitive Banner is quietly holed up in the Brazilian slums, working on a cure for his epic temper, but thanks to one simple mishap (and one obligatory Stan Lee cameo), the US government now has a beat on him.

A walrus-ish William Hurt plays General Thunderbolt Ross, the military man who witnessed Banner's transformation and wants to use the technology to create indestructible supertroops. General Ross is aided in his pursuit of Banner by Emil Blonsky (ultra-sexy Tim Roth, dripping clipped menace), KGB in the comic books but Royal Navy in these post-Cold War times. Banner and Blonsky initially tangle in the film's first set piece, an exhilarating chase through the cramped favela (parkour legend Cyril Raffaelli choreographs the leaping). It's there that Blonsky gets an ultimately insatiable taste of Banner's darker, greener side, teasing glimpses of which director Louis Leterrier parcels out with assured patience.

Superhero movies traditionally have enough plotholes to drain pasta through, so the penniless and passportless Banner has no trouble reaching the states - as well as true love/fellow scientist/general's daughter Betty Ross (Liv Tyler, the dewiest weeper around) - just as General Ross is indulging Blonsky's growing lust for power. After a bombastic campus interlude that allows Leterrier to finally showcase his green giant, the balance of "The Incredible Hulk" finds Banner and Betty making their way to an overly enthusiastic Manhattan scientist (comic relief Tim Blake Nelson) and eventually to a showdown at the Apollo with Blonsky, whose better living through chemistry has more than leveled the playing field.

Though the reliably excellent Norton does all he can - including a writing credit alongside scripter Zak Penn - the Bruce Banner role is an eternally thankless one, the actor basically forced to mope over an astonishing, uncontrollable power that he himself can't have any fun with. (This is also why Hulk is more of a King-Kong Mr. Hyde than a valiant superhero; discuss.) Only the special-effects people get to do the Hulky things, and this year's model is sleeker, nimbler, and more expressive than the 2003 version, incorporating all the features you'd want in a Hulk, including hurl and clobber. Blonsky's alter-ego is equally impressive, though it looks like a reptilian steroid case with its tiny head and Ken-doll endowment. As far as Hulk, though, allow me to quote Bart Simpson in the "Angry Dad" episode: "Thank God his pants stayed on."

Many are wondering why Marvel Comics would even bother again with Hulk, and I think I can tell you in one word: "Avengers." The super-secret superstar in the end credits of "Iron Man" mentioned the "Avenger Initiative," and "The Incredible Hulk" closes with a gunslinger-type appearance by Marvel's other 2008 tentpole, who reports that he's thinking about assembling a team. Couple that with the fact that Edgar Wright's ("Hot Fuzz") "Ant-Man" is scheduled for 2010 and director Nick Cassavetes is working with Zak Penn on 2011's "Captain America," and our summers will be so full for the next few years that we may not even notice that we can't afford vacations anymore.