The Incredible Hulk
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 13, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
"Iron Man" has more wit and style, but Hulk is a neat thrill ride with an intelligent script by Zak Penn and smart, well-paced direction by the French director of "The Transporter" series, Louis Leterrier. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Five years after Ang Lee attempted a stylistically and narratively daring reimagining of what a comic-book movie could be (an example that tanked disastrously at the box office), the big green gamma-guy returns to the screen in a purer, more unadulterated, vastly more entertaining form. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The Incredible Hulk is a more traditional superhero movie than its predecessor and should please those who want their not-so-jolly green giant served with helpings of action. This film provides less talk and more smashing. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Embraces its identity as a sci-fi-summer-action-blockbuster extravaganza. Along the way, it actually comes close to finding the balance that Lee was looking for. Read full review
75
PremiereEric Kohn
By handing the directorial reigns to Louis Leterrier, the Parisian filmmaker responsible for the breathless "Transporter" films, Universal reveals its desire to emphasize spectacle over story. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Edward Norton's a more evocative actor than Eric Bana, and he supplies all the emotions required by Leterrier and writer Zak Penn. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Until the last 20 minutes, which stumble around in an attempt to set up a sequel, The Incredible Hulk keeps slamming everything forward, satisfyingly. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The dialogue is minimal but sharp, the pace swift and the action sequences suitably loud and brutal. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Luckily, the new The Incredible Hulk is more like those 80-page special issues that comic-book publishers sold in the early 1960s for a quarter, packed with old, favorite story lines. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Loses something when it depends on its computer-generated creatures to carry the story. The effects are a mile above the previous Hulk film, but there's still a certain awkwardness to some movements, and an odd lack of definition to the massive muscles that makes them seem like gelatinous sacks of meat. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A straightforward actioner that delivers the goods with no unnecessary frills or digressions. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The result is a classic comic-book hero quest that, while not entirely novel, hews to its own rules and conventions with dignity and artfulness. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
There's enough adrenaline pulsating throughout this bang-up Marvel Comics adaptation to erase 2003's Hulk from memory (Ang who?). Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The Incredible Hulk is weightless--as disposable as an Xbox game. It's also fairly entertaining: swift, playful without pitching into camp, and acted with high spirits. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The Incredible Hulk is just a luridly reductive and violent B movie -- one that clears a bar that hadn't been set very high. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The Hulk himself looks more steroidal than superheroic, as if the expressive beast from the first film had been replaced by a WWE star. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It may be that the Hulk role was not made for sensitive method actors like Norton or Bana. When '70s TV-"Hulk" Lou Ferrigno made his obligatory cameo, a palpable wave of affection swept through the Seattle preview audience. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
This Hulk is more viscerally angry and packs a bigger wallop than Ang Lee's talkier, more introspective version. But it's hardly the best superhero movie around. "Iron Man" was wittier and more fun. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Don't run off before the credits start to roll, though: The Incredible Hulk ends with a jokey cameo by a certain movie star with his own newfound superhero franchise. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
By the time the Incredible Hulk had completed his hulk-on-hulk showdown with the Incredible Blonsky, I had been using my Timex with the illuminated dial way too often. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
There's a certain pleasure to be had in some of the physical blowouts. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Closer in spirit and tone to the comic books that spawned it. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
Like its monstrous hero, The Incredible Hulk gets the job done with minimal artistry and a lot of noise. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The final confrontation between the Hulk and Blonsky, now the roaring Abomination, is like the clash of Downey and Bridges in "Iron Man," only not as exciting. Read full review
60
EmpireSimon Crook
A franchise rebooted with efficiency, energy and sporadic invention, although Hulk 2.0 hardly smashes it out of the park. Read full review
60
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
Cheers to lower expectations, then, because The Incredible Hulk is The Pretty Good Hulk. All things considered, of course. Read full review
60
Film ThreatZack Haddad
In the end, don't go see this if you are looking for an intellectual film. If you're into seeing some fun, mindless action in a faithful Marvel comic adaptation for a couple hours, then go see the Hulk smash some stuff. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The result is solid and efficient, if unadventurous, illustrating both the lure and the limitations of comic book extravaganzas. Read full review
60
The New YorkerDavid Denby
It's nothing we haven't seen done better before (by Paul Greengrass in the recent "Bourne Ultimatum," for instance), but it's good enough as kinetic entertainment. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Do we really need another Hulk movie? I was one of the few critics who actually liked Ang Lee's 2003 "Hulk," but it didn't exactly ring the cash registers or clamor for a continuation. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A middling superhero movie! I wish I could say that was incredible. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Once again, though, the film is defined by the strengths and weaknesses of the source material. While Bruce is working on anger management, you may find yourself working on boredom management, and matching his rate of success. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The Incredible Hulk suggests only that we've bottomed out on special effects: They're not necessarily getting better -- they're just getting bigger. Technically, Leterrier's Hulk is as realistic-looking as a rampaging green giant could be. But that doesn't make him credible. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Schickel
One has to admit that enormous moviemaking skill goes into the creation of pictures like The Incredible Hulk. The sheer craft directors such as Leterrier lavish on them is awesome to me. I can't imagine how they orchestrate -- or even remember -- all the little pieces of film they require to build their big set pieces. That thought, however, is nearly always followed by this question: Why do they bother? Read full review
50
NewsweekDavid Ansen
For me, there's a problem with The Hulk, always has been, though it hasn't seemed to bother the tale's legions of fans. When the sensitive, physically unprepossessing Banner/Norton turns into the gargantuan, muscle-bound, growling Hulk, there's a total disconnect. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Playing characters familiar to the fans, we have William Hurt as a blustering general, Tim Blake Nelson as a kooky scientist and Tim Roth as an evil soldier who morphs into a monster. All of them seem to be directing themselves. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
Why remake a crappy movie five years later if it's only going to be marginally less crappy? Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Roth and Hurt glower semi-engagingly, and while Norton's scrawniness works, he seems intellectually disengaged, despite his helping to craft Zak Penn's script. Read full review
More From This Movie

61 Critic Reviews

7.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL