The Incredible Hulk

Stream on Disney+

Runtime: 1 Hour 52 Minutes

Rated PG-13

You won’t like him when he is hungry, or is it angry? Bruce Banner joins the MCU in a movie which creatively gives viewers the origin story without retelling it all over again allowing the movie to become a man on the run from the government flick. Bruce must evade the government, while not Hulking out, and find a way to repress the Hulk forever. However, maybe the world needs Hulk more than Bruce realizes.

Themes:

Gamma radiation, Hulk, anger, PTSD, love, experimentation, the Super Soldier serum, Stark Industries, weapons development, the Army, military, running, anger, HULK SMASH, and an abomination.

Language:

A*s - 1 B*tch - 1 D*mn - 5 Hell - 3 Piss - 2 Religious Exclamations - 7

Bruce is about to say sh*t, but it is faded out.

Stuff to be aware of:

Grossness - There is a scene where the super soldier serum is given to a man. This is done with several huge needles, two in the neck and an extra long one in the back that makes the character wince. There are a few scenes where a man has been beat up and he is bloody and bruised.

In the final fight scene Hulk and his opponent are both stabbed and bleed.

Sexual - There is a brief flashback in the opening credits that shows Liv Tyler’s character laying in bed. She seems to be looking at another character and has sheets covering her. Her bare shoulders are exposed.

Bruce is seen in the shower. He is in a fetal position in the shower and the side of his butt is briefly seen. Bruce and Betty makeout on a bed briefly. Betty seems to just be in an oversized shirt. They have to stop due to Bruce’s heart rate increasing.

Scary - The Hulk destroys a lot of property, punches people/things, and is a huge rage monster that might be scary to younger viewers. The first time Bruce hulks out in the movie he grabs people in the dark and you don’t get a good look at him. He throws people around and bullets bounce off him. The director seemed to be going for an old school horror movie feel here.

Bruce in one scene is strapped to a chair and has his brain shocked. He then begins to transform into the Hulk. There is a kind of a bone crunching sound and parts of him expand in odd ways.

The Abomination (big villain at the end) looks like a skeleton mixed with an alien lizard. There is a huge fight scene between Abomination and Hulk. Hulk rips out a spike he has growing out of his arm and stabs him with it. A helicopter goes down and kills several people.

Violence - In the opening credits people attacked by the Hulk are seen lying on the floor bleeding. Two dogs are tranquilized with darts. A man falls from a roof during a chase scene and you see him hit the ground, no blood or anything graphic is seen. Hulk kicks a man and the man smashes into a tree with a very nasty sound. He almost wraps around the tree. He is later seen recovering and looks very rough. Multiple soldiers are killed, but nothing graphic. Several bloody soldiers are seen dead after a helicopter crash.

During the end fight scene Abomination stabs Hulk with a spike and Hulk bleeds pretty heavily.

Other - Some characters smoke cigars. A man is scene drinking in a bar.

Overall:

Seeing It With Your Family

This and Iron Man seem pretty tame compared to some of the movies and shows the MCU has given us in the last few years. There is plenty of comic book style violence, but I watched it with a ten year old and she had no issues with it. There are a few, brief sexual references, but tamer than Iron Man. There is a scene where a character gets multiple shots from huge needles that made my kids wince.

What I Thought

Everything we needed from a Hulk movie was checked off with this one. It was genius to use quick glimpses of scenes and news article clippings in the credits to basically tell Hulk’s origin story. It is a story we all know, so it was smart that they didn’t retell the story in the movie but just quickly in the intro. While I could have enjoyed a “chase movie,” which is essentially the first part of the movie they eventually go in a more comic book direction with science experiments and a fight with one of Hulk’s main villains. All this is done in true Hulk fashion and gives us just what we needed from Hulk’s intro into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, complete with a Tony Stark appearance in the end credit scene.

Also, Marvel bring back Betty Ross. Betty and Bruce are the best MCU couple. Sounds like we are all ready getting Samuel Sterns as the Leader back, so why not Betty.