FilmWeekUK

A week ago, just prior to the DVD/Blu-Ray release, this film had an average score of 7.1 on IMDb. Less than a week later, once people other than friends of the cast and crew have had a chance to actually see it, the average score is down to 5.1 I'd be very surprised if it doesn't sink a lot lower once more people watch it and start voting.

Note to self: in future check the number of votes before buying in to scores shown on IMDb as a good way to find under-rated gems on Blu-Ray! 7.1 for a movie I wouldn't give a 4 to!

It's interesting that Danny Dyer (who appears in the opening scene) and Ian Lavendar don't appear on the IMDb credits - are they too embarrassed to be associated with the end result? Dyer isn't even mentioned on the packaging - has his stock really fallen so low that they have to remove mention of him to avoid damaging sales?

The real problem here is the script. It's like something your mates would put together at school. Lead actor/director and co-writer Nick Nevern clearly has some talent - because the results are well-paced, stylish and convincingly (for the most part) decently acted - but script writing isn't one of them. I smiled twice during the whole movie (which, to be honest, is more than I expected given "the usual suspects" involved in this) but when the best "joke" is the white hero thinking his black son by a white wife is an "apple that doesn't fall far from the tree" it's obvious that whatever comedy is involved is all pretty jaded and desperate.

Ultimately you have to congratulate the marketing folk behind this. 7.1 on IMDb and the title is well stocked in the supermarkets in the week of release. When only two titles at most get the luxury of supermarket distribution in a week where some pretty good bona-fide films have been released, they've done incredibly well at grabbing an available slot. The asking price of £9.99 for the Blu-ray (including embossed slipcover) when most titles debut at £13 without a slipcover and £15 with a slipcover hints at the compromises that had to be made to persuade Sainsbury's et al to run with it.

But it's a depressing state of affairs when energy is being wasted on third-rate rubbish like this to the detriment of far better movies with far better talent involved (if you like East Enders you'll like this as the cast is mainly out-of-work former East Enders actors, all of whom presumably voted on here to get that 7.1 rating that the title had the day before it was released).

In "the making of" on the DVD the writer/director claims it took him 2 years to write the script. One can only conclude that he lost most of it and ran out of money before he'd finished shooting it.

The acting and horror are all at "Hollyoaks" level. This mess lasts a pitiful 75 minutes including titles AND HAS NO ENDING.

A school is attacked by hoodies except the hoods are completely pitch black with nobody inside. And you're never going to find out who they were or what their motive was because the film just ends.

Complete dreck and a waste of time. Even the digital grading has been messed up - it's a green/yellow mess.

Unlike the other reviewers here I was REALLY disappointed with this film. Admittedly I felt similarly disappointed after seeing Ang Lee's take on the big green monster - but that was my fault for having "traditional" expectations going in. That earlier film improved with subsequent viewings, and at least had a sense of originality going for it.

I'm a fan of Ed Norton's work, and so was looking forward to his take on things, particularly when it was announced he was writing the script and would be concentrating on the Banner character and his inner psyche.

Alas, the endless reports of a troubled shoot, culminating with Norton's name being removed from the writing credits of the film earlier this week by the WGA set off alarm bells that have proved all too true.

This is a lazy, formulaic, 'do it by numbers' mess of a superhero film. It's not a patch on "Iron Man" which was Marvel's first "in house" production, and it suffers terribly when compared to that offering. When the standout sequence is a rehash of the rooftop scene already done (and to much better effect) in Bourne Ultimatum you know you're in trouble.

Ed Norton is, unfortunately, totally miscast in this take on Bruce Banner. He's far too bland to command leading man status. The action scenes are tired and lifeless, with poor fire FX and some terrible "eye line" work on the CGI. Only the end scene fight between The Hulk and The Abomination look vaguely convincing. And it's the sort of fight scene that we've seen endless times before in other, better superhero movies.

Other missteps include having Mr Blue (Samuel) playing everything for laughs, and the complete lack of a proper ending. The fight scene ends and then the makers don't know what to do. In fact the ending is so bad they end up having to add the same coda they added to "Iron Man", but this time before the credits. Lame, lame, lame! Kids will enjoy this, and I guess it's truer to the comic book than Ang Lee's take was. But really it just comes across as a "between series" TV episode expanded out with a movie budget. There's nothing new here and Bill Bixby did it better on TV.

I'd be surprised if there's a sequel. And if there is I hope it's a whole lot better than this mess.