Hot and bothered

SURE, The Incredible Hulk just may inject a bit of welcome political commentary into its combustible formula of action and sci-fi. Is that giant man monster -- once symbolic of the effect of hormones on teenage bodies -- really the unholy spawn of misguided tinkering with the economy, inconveniently come to life and bent on crushing the military-industrial-academic complex that birthed the thing?

But The Incredible Hulk also offers analytical-minded viewers another motif to explore: doubling. As in, two chemically transformed humans battling it out (see Iron Man); two cameos by former stars of television's The Incredible Hulk, muscleman Lou Ferrigno and, in a clip from '60s sitcom The Courtship of Eddie's Father, late star Bill Bixby; two beaus for brainy-but-beautiful lady scientist Betty Ross (Liv Tyler); and, thanks to a funny cameo by Robert Downey, Jr., two stars of this summer's Marvel Comics franchises pointing to a future Avengers movie.

And in some respects, this year's Hulk, directed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2) and co-scripted by star Edward Norton and Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four), is twice as entertaining as 2003's moody, more visually impressive bomb, The Hulk, directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana. The new Hulk, although preceded by a degree of bad buzz, generally accomplishes what it sets out to do, offering up an adequately conflicted title character, a suitably crazed villain, a handful of impressively staged action sequences and a climactic final showdown. What's not to like?

Leterrier handily dispenses with the backstory via a montage that runs through the credits, as Dr. Bruce Banner (Norton), during an experiment in conjunction with girlfriend Betty, is overdosed with gamma rays. The upshot: He blows up big when he gets mad, and the evil General Ross (William Hurt), Betty's dad, is bent on acquiring Banner's vital bodily fluids, the better with which to jump-start an army of super soldiers.

The story proper begins in Brazil, where Banner is literally slumming it in a favela, and staying out of sight by spending his days on the production line at a bottling factory. In his off time, he does physical/spiritual training with a flat-stomached fellow who advises "the best way to control your anger is to control your body." That, of course, means the Hulk is soon to emerge, and he does, with Banner leading pursuers on a riveting chase through narrow alleyways and across rooftops before transforming into his alter ego at the factory, wreaking havoc while defending himself against military commandos led by Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth).

Eventually making his way to New York City, Banner is driven by his quest to meet Mister Blue (Tim Blake Nelson), an eccentric, Nobel-lusting scientist who holds out hope of a cure for what makes the Hulk so incredible, a condition with a side effect even worse than the super-size issue. "I can't get too excited," he tells Betty, as the two begin making out at a roadside motel one evening while on the lam. Meaning: no sex until he banishes the monster inside. So that's what the fighting's all about.