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Arts & Culture

Hulk Smash Gets Teen Thumbs Up

The Incredible Hulk is pretty incredible says KPBS Teen Critic (Universal)

By Tony Galindo

Being a comic book kid, and surrounded by many a geek discussing Batman's greatest foe or the X-Men's greatest member it should come as no surprise to those who know me that I would be the first to sign up to review the new Marvel movie of

The Incredible Hulk

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(opening June 13 throughout San Diego).

Being disappointed by the attempt to bring

The Hulk

to the big screen in 2003 by Ang Lee, I was a little skeptical about how close this movie would be to the true essence of the Hulk, how it would keep us in awe of the not so jolly green giant ripping apart cars and dealing with anger management issues. Let me tell you, walking into the theater there were nothing but Hulk fans. Of course there were promotional shirts and hats being passed out so maybe that could have had something to do with it. All I could think was why did they choose Edward Norton to play Bruce Banner? I could not picture him at all in the role even after watching trailers and looking at screen shots.

It opens with Bruce somewhere in Brazil, exiled from the world because of his mutated condition. He longs to control his anger as he looks for a cure to his gamma radiation. As the film progresses, the military finds him because of a mishap on Banner's part. The chase begins as we see our geeky Dr. Jekyll become the Mr. Hyde. That's what we all wanted to see -- Hulk kicking some serious butt in a bottling factory. Bruce then makes his way back to the states and reunites with his love the stunning Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). He continues to run from the military that's happily lead by Betty's dad General Ross (William Hurt).

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I must say this movie was ten times better then the one made in 2003. It had more action and what I consider a better storyline, and one close to the comics. Sure there was still the love story you find in EVERY superhero movie to come to the big screen but it wasn't that bad and it wasn't the main point of the movie. Memorable scenes such as Banner becoming his alter ego in a glass hallway on a college campus and the fight between Hulk and the Abomination put this film on my "will actually pay for" list. Special effects were amazing. This Hulk definitely looked like my childhood hero and had the moves to back it up. I highly recommend this movie to geeks and anyone looking for a good story and sweet action. I'm looking forward to paying next time around and sitting there with my friends.

The Incredible Hulk (rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images, and brief suggestive content) was great and from it we can expect even better movies to come. Not to give away the ending or possible movie spin-offs but at the very end of this movie we meet up with General Ross and the one and only Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downet, Jr.). They talk about starting an organization that I and fellow geeks can only imagine being S.H.E.I.L.D., an anti terrorism/ law enforcement group. Not trying to get crazy on you with this idea but I must say I'm pretty excited. General Ross and Stark's meeting sets up a possible movie about one Captain America. If my knowledge is correct, Stark is a prominent executive member of S.H.E.I.L.D. Betty Ross (Banner's love) also becomes a member and is head of public relations. To top it off, Bruce Banner (Hulk) is part of a research team whose purpose is to recreate the very formula that created CAPTIAN AMERICA!!!!! I am very excited at where this could go and how it will play out. I can say one thing: Comic Con should be very interesting this year if they let us in on any of these little secrets.

-- Tony Galindo

just graduated from Mount Miguel High. He was recently accepted at the Art Institute of San Diego where he wants to major in game art design and pursue a career in environmental design. Writing is a hobby of his as well as watching movies, so he thought it would be great to be able to share his opinions on film with people.