The previous two Hulk TV movies both hovered around the average mark or just below and suffered from a lot of the same pitfalls that befell a lot of Marvel's attempts at bringing their comic books to the big screen in the 1970s, namely trying to stretch a thin plot out over a full film. Will the third be any different? Let's find out...
The film sees David Banner in the tropics as he's visiting Hawaii trying to track down a scientist called Carolyn Fields who specialises in the same genetic research he was working on in San Diego before he transformed into the Hulk. Fields has been developing a revolutionary new method of treatment based around hypnotherapy but when Banner arrives at the lab he finds out that she's just about to go on an extended period of absence.
Desperate to try and talk to Fields, he heads to her home in a last attempt to plead his case to her only to discover her slumped in the living room unconscious and barely breathing. Upon reviving her, he finds out that she is suffering from a degenerative cellular disease which is likely to be terminal. However, Banner reveals his true identity to Fields and it turns out that she was studying his research closely. The pair decide to combine their projects and see if Fields' hypnotherapy can help Banner contain the Hulk and also whether combining the Hulk's tissue with Fields' will cause her cells to regenerate and reverse the wasting process.
The process doesn't start off great as Banner relapses into the Hulk on his first session, smashes up Carolyn's living room and terrorises a luau party on the beach before turning back into Banner. Jack McGee duly turns up a couple of days later enquiring about the reports but Carolyn sends him on his way and he doesn't feature again in the film.
As their research continues, Banner and Fields realise that they've become attracted to each other and become a couple (although some of the sequences with Banner doing bad impressions of a Chinaman and John Wayne are a bit cringey to say the least). While Fields' psychotherapy sessions see her imagining her healthy cells as a group of cowboys creating a wagon circle to fight off the attacking Red Indians while Banner's dream sequences see him confronting the Hulk in the desert and attempting to imprison him using nets, cages and even safes.
Unfortunately the pair's research takes a turn for the worse when Fields receives her test results back from the lab and they confirm that her condition has accelerated and she only has a few weeks to live. Despairing, she hits a bar, gets drunk and allows herself to be taken home by a couple of local swingers. David turns up looking for her leading to the two guys to attack him and...you can guess how well that goes for them. One ends up having his wig ripped off in the melee as well!
Back at the house, David and Carolyn decide to get married and have the ceremony in a local garden. A couple of nights later, David has nightmares that cause him to transform into the Hulk but Carolyn manages to calm him down long enough to take a tissue sample from him.
Working in the lab, the cell combination goes all to plan and with Carolyn's condition rapidly worsening, the couple decide to head to the hospital downtown and use the lab there. Unfortunately, they choose to do so on the day a hurricane hits the island severely limiting the speed they can travel. En route, Carolyn has a delirious episode and ends up running from the car. David gives chase, turning into the Hulk when he's hit by an electrical generator that comes flying off the wall. He finally catches up with Carolyn in the town park but he's too late and she dies in his arms. The film ends with Banner returning to the house which has been destroyed by the hurricane and staring out to sea as he realises he's going to have to move on again...
Well you can't say they weren't trying something different here and "Bride of the Incredible Hulk" at least deserves a bit of credit for trying a different approach from the other '70s Marvel films. Unfortunately it moves at such a slow pace that it makes tectonic plates look positively fast. There's the germ of a decent story in here but, similar to "The Death of the Incredible Hulk" a decade or so later, it basically stretches about half an hour's worth of plot out into a 90 minute film by hoping that Banner's weird dream sequences will distract people from the lack of action on screen. Some of the script is a bit wooden as well with Bixby's dad jokes wearing a bit thin at times. A brave effort then but ultimately this is sadly another less-than-stellar entry into the Hulk films series.
FINAL RATING: ✊✊✊ (3/10)
CURRENT MARVEL FILM TABLE
1. Spiderman 2 (2004) (9/10)
2. Spiderman (2002) (9/10)
3. X-Men 2 (2002) (8/10)
4. Men In Black (1997) (8/10)
5. X-Men (2000) (8/10)
6. Blade 2 (2001) (7/10)
7. Blade (1998) (7/10)
8. The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988) (6/10)
9. The Punisher (2004) (6/10)
10. Conan The Barbarian (1982) (6/10)
11. Elektra (2005) (6/10)
12. Conan The Destroyer (1984) (6/10)
13. The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk (1989) (6/10)
14. Blade Trinity (2004) (6/10)
15. Men In Black 2 (2000) (6/10)
16. The Incredible Hulk (1977) (5/10)
17. The Fantastic Four (2005) (5/10)
18. Doctor Mordrid (1992) (5/10)
19. The Punisher (1989) (5/10)
20. Doctor Strange (1978) (5/10)
21. Nick Fury: Agent Of SHIELD (1998) (4/10)
22. The Fantastic Four (1994) (4/10)
23. Hulk (2003) (4/10)
24. Red Sonja (1985) (4/10)
25. Captain America 2: Death Too Soon (1979) (4/10)
26. Spiderman (1977) (4/10)
27. Bride of the Incredible Hulk (1978) (3/10)
28. The Death Of The Incredible Hulk (1990) (3/10)
29. Man-Thing (2005) (3/10)
30. Return of the Incredible Hulk (1978) (3/10)
31. Spiderman: The Dragon's Challenge (1979) (3/10)
32. Howard The Duck (1986) (2/10)
33. Captain America (1990) (2/10)
34. Captain America (1979) (2/10)
35. Generation X (1996) (2/10)
36. Spiderman Strikes Back (1978) (2/10)
37. Daredevil (2003) (2/10)
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