Smorgasbord
of Crappola
MOVIES
THE
TRIAL OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK
(1989)
Directed
by Bill Bixby
Starring
Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno
and John
Rhys-Davies

Another made-for-TV Incredible
Hulk movie, and this one is also trying to
promote another Marvel
Comics character. This time, it's the Daredevil, and
his arch nemesis, the
Kingpin. David Banner is still on the road, finding
various jobs here and
there to get by. He leaves his luxurious ditch
digging gig to travel
to the city. In this city, a blind lawyer, Matt
Murdock (played by Rex
Smith) is secretly trying to topple the rich criminal
mastermind, Wilson Fisk
(Rhys-Davies), aka the Kingpin. After one of Fisk's
successful jewel heists,
two of his men foolishly try to attack a lady on
the subway, with Mr.
Banner in the train. Push comes to Shove, and Banner
turns to Hulk.
The green guy defeats the baddies and flees. But, of
course, people get scared
of the Hulk, and the police chase him down. By
the time they find him,
he has changed back into Banner. But the cops
arrest him anyway.
Now it turns out that he's suspected of the crimes
against the lady.
Who can help our hero? Well, Matt Murdock, of course.
How else could we then
get the blind superhero Daredevil and the green guy
to team up to save the
girl and bring down Fisk?
This movie just has cheese
written all over it. The Bixby/Ferrigno team is
as good as they always
are, when they're in the movie, which isn't much.
Much of this movie focuses
(much like "The Incredible Hulk Returns") on the
introduced Marvel superhero
- in this case, Daredevil. We learnn all about
his history, his origin,
his job, his disability, his abilities, his hatred
for Fisk, his partnership
with a policeman. We see him dress up in a ninja
outfit (rather than
his red costume from the comics, or the shiny leather
outfit from the Ben
Affleck version), we see him beat up a nurse, and get
beaten up by thugs,
and we see him doing acrobatics. Amazingly enough, this
is all pretty boring.
We do get the magnificent John Rhys-Davies; however,
he is not exactly right
for the part. Well, it's either him, or the
ridiculous sunglasses
he wears that's not exactly right. And if you're
going to have a "save
the princess" type of subplot, at least pick an
actress who is attractive
and/or can act. Oh, and the special effects...
laughable. Just
wait till you see Fisk in his flying hovercraft!
Did You Notice?: a cameo
of Stan Lee, as a juror during the Hulk's trial.
Quality: 2.5 Visuals:
2.0 Intensity: 3.0 Laughability: 4.0
OVERALL RATING: 2.9
reviewed
2003
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