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Having been sufficiently warned away from Ang Lee's "Hulk", I expected to see this movie as righting what was universally understood a comic book wrong. I was surprised and pleased to learn that it treated itself rather as a sequel and steered away from laborious re-telling of the Hulk's origin.

The filmmakers instead sum this all up in the first five minutes of the movie. "I don't think that in great literature/films explaining the story's roots means it comes in the beginning," said star Edward Norton. "Audiences know the story, so we're dealing with it artfully."

Artfully indeed. It was a brilliant summation with a huge nod to the 70s television show of the same name. If you're old enough to have been a fan of that show, as I am, the little nuggets tossed to the audience will delight you.

In fact there are so many references to both the show as well as the comic book, one might actually have to watch it twice to catch it all. Screenwriter Zak Penn affectionately sends out these tidbits while he weaves together a story that picks up where the origin of Hulk left off.

Though director Louis Leterrier does not have a litany of titles under his belt, he does manage to balance the emotion and the action to keep the pace brisk, but the audience invested.

He gets a lot of help from his leading actors. Ed, of course, sells the role of Bruce Banner - with humor, intelligence and heart... much like Bill Bixby's portrayal of David Banner in the television series.

Liv Tyler sinks her teeth into the role of Dr. Elizabeth Ross, the love of Bruce's life; and ultimately the one who will risk it all to try and cure him of his affliction. This will be despite the interference of her father, General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross. His only desire for Banner is that he harness the Hulk's power to use as a weapon.

Thanks to his genetic manipulation, career soldier Emil Blonsky marches straight down Villain Boulevard until he can mutate into Abomination - perhaps the only thing big and bad enough that could bring the Hulk to his knees.

Though I was a little concerned that the CGI would appear as cartoonish as the 2003 movie and yank me out of the movie, the filmmakers opted for a darker, grittier version created with the use of CGI, animation and stop motion capture.

It walked a fine line, but by the epic final battle between The Hulk and Abomination, I no longer felt I was watching computer generated graphics - and that was truly my biggest concern in going to see this movie.

While not quite as good as "Iron Man", but it ranks up there with "Iron Man" and "Spider-Man" as a super hero romp that invests you back into the franchise, as well as the character of Bruce Banner.

I credit that to the talent and sheer creative genius that is Edward Norton.

It is no wonder "Hulk smashed" the box office. More fulfilling than Indy 4, it promises to carry itself on strong legs until super hero movie "Hancock" and Will "4th of July" Smith take over.

Learn more about this author, Ginger Voight.
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