To me, this movie is perfection.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

If one were to summarize the problems with most 1970s speculative fiction films, it's that they focused on their fantastical elements at a time when special effects weren't up to the task ("Star Wars" is the exception, not the rule). "The Incredible Hulk" misses that pitfall by focusing instead on the characters and the themes. Indeed, there's an artiness to this made-for-TV film. For starters, the first line of dialogue doesn't come until almost 10 minutes in.It's apparent from every aspect of this film that writer/director/executive producer Kenneth Johnson wanted the Incredible Hulk series to be taken seriously. Rather than introducing David Banner, having him accidentally transform into the Hulk, and proceeding promptly to adventures, the entire first half is devoted to showing how and why Banner became the Hulk. The seemingly absurd notion that a brilliant scientist would conduct an experiment with dangerously high levels of radiation on himself, without supervision, and then transform into an inhumanly strong monster is over the course of 40 minutes built up into a frightening reality.One of the strongest points of David's slow meltdown into the Hulk is that every step is, on one level at least, driven by the scientific method. Some pseudo-science is of course employed out of necessity, but the actual process by which Dr. Banner and his partner Dr. Elaina Marks come to their conclusions is classic scientific method. The trouble is that David's actions are, at the same time, driven at every step by his grief over his wife's death.The climactic first transformation into the Hulk is a classic scene. Bill Bixby conveys an incredibly realistic buildup of anger - you know when you're so blindly angry that you do everything with a careless, sloppy forcefulness, and when you inevitably get hurt as a result, that just makes you angrier and angrier? As a longtime reader of the Hulk comics, I knew what was coming in this scene, and that only made David's rage all the more frightening. It really feels as though growing into an enormous monster and smashing a car into debris is the inevitable result of his seething fury.The second transformation is an even more striking scene. Part of it is that the sheer power and fearfulness of the Hulk is better conveyed here than in any of the episodes I've seen so far. But the center of the scene is Elaina. The Hulk appears as she's recording an audio log, and like any good scientist, instead of fleeing, she continues recording her observations, albeit in a voice that makes clear her terror. Keeping it up, she approaches the creature and is bold enough to take a blood sample from him! It's a thoroughly convincing example of how human beings often react to dangerous situations in ways that seem bizarrely casual in hindsight.Elaina's death is a moment made especially tearful by her words, "My poor David... Who's going to look after you now?" This simple line summarizes the true core of David and Elaina's relationship: not partners, not lovers, but mother and child. Throughout the story, Elaina has been a guiding, protecting hand for the emotionally frail David. In a delicate and beautiful performance, Lou Ferrigno displays the confusion and subsequent anguish of a child discovering that he has become an orphan.As well-crafted an emotional journey as "The Incredible Hulk" is, its epilogue (which is the lead up to the series proper) is decidedly flawed. David allows the world to think he is dead, while McGee tells police that the Hulk killed both him and Elaina, resulting in a warrant being put out for his arrest. This is all an excuse for the TV series to follow the Fugitive formula, but while the formula is fine, the excuse is not. Even if the police are nutty enough to put out a warrant for a big green monster, why should David flee? It's just McGee's word against David's that he killed Elaina, and that's assuming there isn't evidence showing that an accidental explosion was to blame.That aside, this is an excellently done film on every front which eloquently captures the tragic nature of the Hulk.

I had watched countless episodes of The Incredible Hulk TV series but I had never seen the original pilot. Sure, I watched like everyone else - the powerful opening credits each week made from snippets of the pilot - but I had never actually laid eyes on that show until now.It did not disappoint me.Okay - it was TV fare with a 70s look and some less-than-spectacular special effects in the Hulk-outs but the story, the performances and the character development throughout - made up for those other shortcomings. Bixby too is an endearing actor who brings the audience in and makes them want to root for him. Sullivan plays his able scientist friend very well and has the added bonus of being extremely easy on the eye. Ferrigno as the hulk has limited range but in fairness to him - what can you really do when painted green and asked to hit nearby things as hard as you can whilst growling uncontrollably. Even De Niro might find that a stretch. Colvin as the investigative reporter reminded me of Willem Dafoe - but just not as good an actor.Nonetheless - the main man here is Bixby and he is a good leading man. He manages to portray himself with dignity, weaknesses, strengths and most of all humanity throughout the course of the movie. The film takes it time telling the story and manages to successfully deviate from the comic book origins making the premise more accessible and believable throughout. Quite a feat when you think of it. After all, there was an outcry when they changed the main character's name from Bruce to David. But it worked - so well in fact that I wondered why Ang Lee changed the name back when he made Hulk - so convinced was I that Bill Bixby will always be David Banner.An excellent pilot movie and a fitting start to a great series.8/10.

I never liked the hulk when i was a kid collecting comic books - so never watched this movie until i was a lot older. What first hooked me was the human story of David Banner, brilliantly played by Bill Bixby. Having lost his wife in a car accident, David Banner is obsessed with stories of people in similar situations with loved ones in danger and how they found some sort of superhuman strength to save them. David Banner not having done this with his own wife is tortured by this fact and wants to know why he couldn't and these other people could. These tests obviously lead him into becoming the hulk. David Banner is already a man in the grip of sadness before he becomes the hulk and it becomes more painful as the situation gets out of control and he begins to hurt everyone he comes into contact with.Lets just say the end with the lonely theme is just great and for TV movie holds some punch. A real tragic story that will for me always be the definitive story of the hulk.

Forget the recent laughable FX travesty starring Eric Bana, watch this gripping TV movie which was the pilot for the long-running series. Credit must be given to Kenny Johnson for straying from the comics (which featured the Hulk fighting mutant super-villains) and bringing in a more believable premise. Despite the slight name change, David Bruce Banner is just as tormented a character as his comic book namesake. As Bruce Banner in the comics is haunted by the abuse he suffered from his father, David Banner is disturbed by the fact that he could not save his wife in a car crash, which drives him into investigating what factors can trigger human strength at times of stress. Of course, he injects himself with too much gamma radiation, and whenever angered, his body and muscles expand, his clothes rip and he turns into Lou Ferrigno, wearing a bushy wig and painted green. After he first becomes the Hulk, David wants to find out why and how it happened, with the help of a scientist friend. He sets about finding a cure, only to be hindered by nosy reporter Jack McGee.The Incredible Hulk certainly has its moments. Bill Bixby gives intensity and emotion to his beleaguered character, and Susan Sullivan is solid as his only friend Dr. Elaina Marks. But the best sequences involve the presence of the Big Green Man. In terms of physical shape, Ferrigno was at his peak here and he was excellent as The Hulk. Unlike the bloated, badly drawn movie Hulk, this Hulk is mean, convincingly hard and capable of violence, but he also has a heart and tries to save innocent people.