I am something of a super hero junkie. I'm not a big comic book fan, but the minute a new hero comes busting his way into the box office, you can pretty much count me among the masses eager to see it opening day. The same holds true for The Incredible Hulk. I didn't know a thing about it except it had a fabulous cast and looked fun. I was right: it is fun. A lot of fun.

Something went wrong in a lab experiment meant to test out a program that the military hoped would make their soldiers indestructible. The leading scientist on the team, Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) wasn't supposed to get the entire jolt of green serum. Nor was he supposed to transform into a gigantic, pea-green monster and rack up a high body count in escaping the building. But he did, and that was months ago. Forced to leave his girlfriend Betty (Liv Tyler) and entire former life behind, Bruce is now hiding out in South America searching for a cure. Most of the time, he manages to live "without incident." But if his heart gets up to 200 pulses, the Hulk erupts. Working a boring job during the day and doing breathing techniques at night, Bruce is in contact with another scientist who hopes he can help him find something to reverse the effects of the toxin.

Back in the States, General Ross (William Hurt) has not forgotten about Bruce, or the fact that he considers him "military property." He's been searching for Bruce ever since he went into hiding and now has a lead. He chooses to put his best soldier on it. Blonsky (Tim Roth) is a lean, mean fighting machine who doesn't know what he's up against, but when a third party inadvertently unleashes the Hulk, he becomes first fascinated and then obsessed with learning the secret to his power. Ultimately, Bruce will wind up back in the motherland, where he and Betty are caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that could lead to disaster. One does not expect a lot from a movie with the word Hulk in it, especially after the total flop that the last film was. This one does not pick up where that one left off, or bear much resemblance to it. It's a complete reworking of an original story and as such I had no preconceptions going into it.

It's not going to win any awards any time soon, but the acting is solid, the special effects are fabulous, the action and fighting scenes are fabulous without being too long or drawn out, and it's even got a decent sense of humor. Norton is a very believable Bruce because he's a mild mannered type of actor, so it makes the transformation from willowy science geek to raging Hulk all the more impressive. I have not seen Tyler on the big screen since Arwen, and was surprised how well she adapted to a considerably less ethereal role. She and Norton are very cute on screen. The supporting cast is also great. Most of what I heard about the film prior to seeing it was how brutally violent it was. Either I have become desensitized, or some Christian reviewers are far too sensitive, because I did not find the violence overly jarring, grotesque, or graphic. There is a high body count, particularly among soldiers, but you never actually see anyone die. You know that the villain has overturned a car onto a group of men, but you don't see the impact. If anything, the Hulk gets the most leveled at him, but bullets just bounce off his green hide. There is a rough hand to hand fight at the end between two giant beings, but surprisingly, before the Hulk can either strangle his opponent to death or snap his spine (both were in progress) Betty tells him to stop -- and he does, leaving the police and the military to come and arrest or confine his opponent.

There's a scattered amount of mild language but at least one (possibly two) uses of GD. Bruce and Betty share a hotel room while on the run together and naturally, this leads to some foreplay before his pulse goes up and he realizes it would be dangerous to go any further than passionate kissing. The two of them are on the bed before he pulls back; she is wearing only a long shirt, so we see a lot of leg. I found the reaction of the audience to be particularly amusing in this scene. Plus, there were several fantastic cameos that got roars of approval. Stan Lee, of comic book artist fame, appears in one scene, while bodybuilder Lou Ferringo got a lot of applause as a security guard. By far the best surprise, however, was a minute long appearance by "Tony Stark," from Iron Man, leading this reviewer to suspect that a major superheroes collaboration film is in the making. Well, this is one fan who would not say no to the notion of watching Iron Man, the Hulk, Spider-Man, and other Marvel Comic Book heroes team up on the big screen. My only question is, how long do we have to wait?