The Incredible Ed Norton! An Ed Norton Production of an Ed Norton Film

The first trailer for The Incredible Hulk finally hit the net. Click it HERE to smash.

There are a lot of rumors going around that star Ed Norton is clashing with the producers over the final cut. Ed's got a history of fighting for creative control of his movies. Director Tony Kaye famously removed his own name from American History X after Norton recut it in post production. Last year Norton took the Bruce Banner role on the condition that he be allowed to rework the script. Now the word is he's unhappy with the amount of control he has over the finished film.
That sure doesn't look to be a problem with the trailer. Ed Norton's all over the damn thing- posturing, emoting, even providing the voice over narrative as he solemnly falls from a helicopter as if he were Jesus sent back to earth to fight The Abomination. Oh and the Hulk shows up at the end. Yay!

This would have been a good trailer a year ago. It plays out as if we don't know what to expect, as if the appearance of the Hulk is a big HOLY SHIT reveal. Too late. Maybe it'll surprise folks in the fly over states. But this is 2008 and (sadly enough) when a movie is less than three months from release the hardcore nerds have already seen it's ass coming down the pike for a year. Worse yet, we are so accustomed to having stills and trailers thrown at us early we get suspicious when a film takes it's sweet time to promote itself.

But kids don't give a shit about that stuff (yet). As soon as they see Hulk smash the big ol' Roth Monster on TV they'll want to see the movie right away. I'm hoping The Incredible Hulk will be this Summer's Rise of The Silver Surfer. A good superhero movie that enters without a lot of fanfare, entertains the kids and leaves. Unless Norton fucks it up.