NPR's Linda Holmes recently posted a tweet asking if there was any superhero film where the most exciting or interesting part took place in the third act action sequence. While I there are a few exceptions, she's right to make the point. Plenty of films spend a good chunk of their run time developing their characters and setting up interesting plots and conflicts, only to see it all more or less smashed together with a gigantic, semi-interchangeable fight scene at the end.

Holmes's take was particularly on my mind as I watched *The Incredible Hulk*, and found myself spending two-thirds of the film wondering why it was considered the ugly stepchild of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the last third of it being reminded. Most of *Hulk* is an interesting exploration of the main character's mythos, from Banner's condition being a curse, to an antagonist who desperately wants to be the thing that Bruce hates, to the doomed romance between Banner and Ross. Then, the last 30-40 minutes of the film devolve into a cheesy video game, and the movie more or less falls apart, making all the good work director Louis Leterrier did to get to that point feel like it was for nothing.

What's frustrating is that there's some good thematic work done with Banner/Hulk in particular. Norton is solid if unspectacular in the role, by the writing and direction do a good job of conveying how The Hulk is an affliction for Banner, how this one accident has left his life in shambles. He cannot be near people. He has to take extreme precautions to keep himself calm. Each new "incident," leaves him having to start all over again, unable to continue with whatever progress he's made in the short term. The Hulk is not a tool that allows him to fight the bad guys -- it's a curse, something that prevents him from building a life, something that constantly makes him a threat to the innocent (and not so innocent) around him, something that puts him in the crosshairs of the government and the military and even just the overly-ambitious scientists who mean to help him.

It's also something that keeps him away from the woman he loves. Again, it all falls apart in the third act, but Liv Tyler's soft spoken approach to Betty Ross makes the scenes she and Norton share compelling, and accentuates the star-crossed nature of their love in the silent but intense moments they share. The scenes when they come together expose why Bruce had to leave her especially. His presence at the university where she teaches brings her into the line of fire of the folks trying to catch him, and even their brief moment of physical affection has to end because it's raising Banner's pulse too much. (Betty is also the comedic highlight, from her line about Bruce not being able to even get "a little excited," to her anger at the cab driver, to her skepticism that the government will be able to track them via mundane objects like her ID.) It's clear why this is an even greater curse for Banner -- it keeps him away from the woman he loves.

And yet, Betty is the key to him overcoming some of that concern. For one thing, Bruce is worried that if he turns into The Hulk while Betty is around, he'll harm her. But one of the first things that allows us to realize that there's more of Bruce in his big green alter ego than he thinks is that Hulk repeatedly protects Betty, that he protects her from the military helicopter bearing down on them and when they have their *King Kong* moment in a cave, she doesn't so much as lay a finger on her. She's also the one thing in the film we see able to calm The Hulk, whether it's her explaining that lightning isn't anything to be afraid of, or climbing onto him in Dr. Sterns's laboratory while the procedure takes place. She is a powerful force in Bruce's life, so powerful that she cuts through to the man beneath the angry green exterior, even in the worst of rages.

She's also the key to Bruce making peace with his alter ego to some degree. When she asks him how much Bruce is aware when The Hulk is about, and intimates that maybe he could find a way to get back into control, Bruce tells her that he doesn't want to control it, he just wants to get rid of it. The Hulk has made Bruce Banner's life a living hell, turned him into a maelstrom of green flesh leaving a path of destruction in his wake, and taken away any semblance of a normal life he wants to have. But with Betty's help, over the course of the film Bruce learns that Hulk can be a force for good, that he can be used to protect people like Betty and can be trusted, or at least taught, not to harm the people Bruce cares about. Bruce's knowing smile at the end of the film as he induces the transformation shows a man in harmony with his "curse," who's learned, with Betty's help, that he *can* control the beast within, and maybe even channel the effects to where it becomes not a curse, but a gift.

Emil Blonsky desperately wants that gift. Like many cinematic foils, he works best as a mirror image of the hero -- not as the grotesque scaly monster he becomes who is basically a spiky ugly version of Hulk, but in more human terms. Bruce is a subdued, gentle man who desperately wants to rid himself of the rage monster that lurks inside and resents the changes it brought. Blonsky is a fighter at heart, who feels his effectiveness slipping away, and *wants* more than anything, the afflication that Bruce is trying so hard to escape from, so that it can allow him to continue in battle. Bruce will give anything not to have to fight; Blonsky will do anything to get to stay in it, and that makes them an interesting contrast until the film defaults to a pair of brutes slugging each other indiscriminately.

The film also does a tremendous job of quickly establishing both characters. The film's opening half hour is probably of its best. The initial montage does a good job of setting up the premise without belaboring the point or retelling the origin story of a character 90% of the audience is familiar with, at least on a surface level. The scenes set in South America are close to wordless, but they quickly establish the lengths Bruce has gone to in order to 1. keep himself and the people around him safe; and 2. try to find a cure. His breathing exercises, his pulse machine, his day labor job, his learning how to deflect physical attacks rather than respond to them, his makeshift science lab, and the tons of other precautions he takes. Without ever telling us with exposition, the audience knows that he is a talented scientist, that he's taking extraordinary precautions in an attempt to try to prevent his dark side from emerging, and that despite that, he cannot avoid his impulse to help people who need it.

The ensuing action sequence as he's chased through the streets is the best in the film. There's a Bourne-like quality to the dips and dives through the labrynthe of the town, and excellent recurring beats like the roughians he ran into at the plant showing up or his daring escape when he realizes the government's on his tail. It also gives Hulk himself the *JAWS* treatment, giving us just glimpses, keeping him in shadow, letting us see what the creature can *do* before we ever clearly see the creature.

The subsequent action scene on the quad of the university is not as tightly directed or constructed, but is still an enjoyable crush-fest that has important beats for the characters. Hulk's determination in the face of the sound canons makes you feel for the atavistic brute. Blonsky's speed past the younger soldiers and move face-to-face with the beast shows both what he's trying so hard to regain and how much he's itching for this, how much he thrives in battle in a way that would make him just crazy enough to suffer and take these kinds of risks to hold onto it.

Unfortunately, it all culminates in a strange page out of the *Rampage* playbook. Abomination has little in common with Blonsky. He's just a big sack of evil, with cheesy bad guy dialogue and little to recommend him. General Ross's sudden change of heart and willingness to send Bruce out to fight Abomination makes little sense, and their fight goes on too long with not nearly enough excitement. It's the usual cacophony of destruction, made all the more static by the fact that there are two cartoon characters doing the damage. In the right hands, CGI can be a boon, and it's hard to imagine this film working anywhere near as well as it does if it had to rely on a modern day Lou Ferrigno. But the height of the film involving a pair of unconvincing computer-generated creations constantly punching one another, just makes the whole thing feel weightless, feel unreal, and not in a good way. Sure, there's neat moments like Hulk using a cop car as brass knuckles, but for the most part it feels like tensionless, dull combat, and yet it's supposed to convey the heart of the movie.

Sure, Hulk going to great lengths to protect the innocent is a nice beat, but it's in the middle of more contrived, block-busting battles. There's a nice emotional story being told for two-thirds of the film, about making peace with your id, about trying to regain waht you've lost, about learning how a curse can be used for the greater good. But that story is lost in a sea of oversized fists, cheesy one-liners, and actions that make little sense. It's a shame for a movie that started of this well to devolve in something so pointless.