The movie was fantastic. So much better than the Ang Lee BS fest. Not just on the level of action either. They managed to make this movie both quite character driven and exciting, action wise. It was nicely paced and fun with plenty of comic book-ish shots (which is the one thing I did like about the first movie, and here they did it better, especially in the final fight between Abomination and Hulk.) We all liked that the theme of this Jekyll and Hyde story and it came off clear enough that even the kids picked up on it.

They also showed the Hulk as a primal, angry being, particularly in the final fight where the brutality spins out of control. And the conflict of the god-like Hulk who is powerful enough on his own having to face, essentially himself, only with military training and the true heart of a monster kept me interested.

Little things, like mythos jokes and the real life “of course” moments of two college kids catching a fight between Hulk and the military on cell phone cameras definitely added to the fun. Over all, it’s fun, it’s fantastic. It’s not quite the same as Iron Man, but then the whole Iron Man mythos has a soul that Hulk doesn’t. Bruce Banner isn’t looking to save the world, and his powers are caused by an accident. He isn’t the hero that runs toward danger, who acts like a shield between the bad stuff and the average person. He’s the one who tries to mind his own business, only stepping up to the plate when either the ones he loves are in direct danger or there’s absolutely no other option.

It’s the base story that prevents this movie from being on the same level as Iron Man or the first Spiderman movie. But with that taken into consideration it’s worth the full price of the ticket and has been put on my must own list.