The Incredible Hulk

Marvel's The Incredible Hulk, who first muscled his way into theaters in 2003 and had to fight off critics upon his arrival, returns at midnight tonight (Thursday), and he's earning a bit more respect -- and probably more green as well. Claudia Puig in USA Today says the new Hulk "is more viscerally angry and packs a bigger wallop than Ang Lee's talkier, more introspective version" and that while there are plotholes, "as a popcorn movie steeped in action, it keeps our attention." Lou Lumenick says that when it comes to fans of the comic book and the TV series, the new Hulk "squarely hits the target." However, he adds, the sequel is "only fitfully successful in engaging the middle ground -- us nonhard-core fans." Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle says that the new film does not attempt to make "a thinking-person's action movie," as Ang Lee attempted to do with his Hulk. Instead, he remarks, the film "embraces its identity as a sci-fi-summer-action-blockbuster extravaganza." The trade papers predict that the film will show lots of strength at the box office. "This loud and quick-moving production will shake loose ample coin in all markets," writes Todd McCarthy in Daily Variety. Adds Kirk Honeycutt in the Hollywood Reporter: "The film is poised to carry the weekend buoyed by an unbeatable combination of buzz and hype."