The Incredible Hulk

by Jonathan Shearon   ·    November 30, 2008

The original Hulk film by Ang Lee met with great confusion. Layered with a Dr Jekyll meets child neglect meets superhero meets impotence plot, the Elfman score suffered not only from the material of the film but the short time allowed for composition. The final result was very interesting and featured one of the best titles the composer ever scored yet the whole didn’t have the same pow as it starts off with.

Five years pass and a new type of Hulk movie is made – one with sensibilities closer to the late 1970s TV series. Gone are weighty subplots in exchange for big action, bigger effects and even a little romance. The composers also switched out from the comic-book-burn-out Elfman to Craig Armstrong, who is best remembered for some exceedingly simple and beautiful underscores for Baz Luhrmann.

Simple works beautifully in this case. The movie’s title character is given an almost dragging three note down-up-down theme from a cello, starting on C and usually accented with electronic tweaking. It rears its ugly head in and out of the usual action material before getting a full work out and then a remix/redux at the end of each disc. The Hulk’s meek intellectual alter-ego of Bruce Banner gets a staccato theme (also descending) and gets a full-bloodied arrangement in the fast-paced “Favela Escape” and going through several permutations before finally hitting its best with “Bruce Must Do It”, as the Hulk is forced to meet the enemy head-on in the final battle.

The first half of the score is based mostly around frantic chase while the later is built more on outright power. Hulk’s limping theme collides with the brass undulates for The Abomination (who’s theme is kept to bare bones) in “Harlem Brawl” and “Hulk Smash” creating an swirling and visceral attack of horns versus strings. Armstrong makes the mix all the more interesting with the clever use of electronics, both as their own instrument and to augment the orchestra’s recording.

What the score is perhaps most noted for is Armstrong’s tasteful use of Joe Harnell’s “Lonely Man Theme” from the television series. Both director and composer had been fans of the Bixby/Ferrigno television series and its use in the track “Bruce Goes Home” is a wonderful tribute to both composer and the character’s history.

In some ways, the strengths of The Incredible Hulk are the weaknesses of the original and vice versa. Armstrong goes for the gut while Elfman’s was more intellectual (if such a word can be used for film scores) and where the Herrmann-esque motif from the first film is replaced with an equally appropriate lumbering theme here. One had more musical details and the sequel shuns theme for a more direct approach. Is one better than the other? It depends on the listener – while the result of both scores is good workmanship, it would be hard to find two such opposing scores on the same subject matter.

TRACKS

2. The Arctic
4. Main Title
6. Rocinha Favela
8. A Drop of Blood
10. The Flower
12. Ross' Team
14. Mr. Blue
16. Favela Escape
18. It Was Banner
20. That is the Target
22. Bruce Goes Home
24. Ross and Blonsky
26. Return to Culver University
28. The Lab
30. Reunion
32. The Data / The Vial
34. They're Here
36. Give Him Everything You've Got
38. Bruce Can't Stay
40. First Injection
42. Is it Safe?
44. Hulk Theme

Disc 2

2. Saved from the Flames
4. Grotto
6. Arrival at the Motel
8. I Can't
10. Abomination Alley
12. Bruce Found
14. Bruce Looks for the Data
16. NYC Cab Ride
18. The Mirror
20. Stern's Lab
22. Bruce Darted
24. I Want It, I Need It
26. Blonsky Transforms
28. Bruce Must Do It
30. Harlem Brawl
32. Are They Dead?
34. Hulk Smash
36. Hulk and Betty
38. A Tear
40. Who's We?
42. The Necklace
44. Bruce and Betty
46. Hulk Theme (End Credits)