‘The Incredible Hulk’ | 2 stars

Ever since receiving a massive dose of gamma radiation, scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) has had to curb his emotions lest he morph into an angry green giant.

Banner even wears a heart-rate monitor that tells him when his pulse has reached dangerous levels. He’s learned to avoid situations like sex and fistfights. He spends a lot of time meditating, seeking peace and stability.

Ironically, Banner could watch “The Incredible Hulk” with little fear of becoming overly excited.

This by-the-numbers rendition should keep the fan boys satisfied by tapping into the pivotal elements of the Hulk mythology, but the film almost never takes us by surprise. Even when Hulk is on a rampage, you can’t shake the feeling that you’ve seen it all before.

The whole back story of how Banner came to be the Hulk is dispensed with through wordless footage playing under the opening credits.

As the film proper begins, Banner is hiding out in a Brazilian slum, keeping a low profile and trying to find a cure for his condition. For a few minutes it looks as if the screenplay by Zak Penn (with an assist from Norton) is going to offer up some intriguing ideas.

After all, there’s an interesting movie in the idea of a man forced to suppress his emotions.

But that wouldn’t be a superhero movie, would it?

Before long the scheming Gen. Ross (a scenery-gnawing William Hurt) gets wind of Banner’s location and, hoping to use him as a weapon, sends a team of commandos to capture him. Among them is Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), a British soldier of fortune who, during a rooftop chase after Banner (OK, that was actually kind of exciting) witnesses his prey’s transformation into the Hulk.

Blonsky is so impressed that he volunteers to be injected with “super soldier” serum. Of course it doesn’t quite work out. (Will these God-taunting military scientists never learn?)

Back in the States the fugitive Bruce teams up with his old flame, Elizabeth Ross (Liv Tyler), the general’s estranged daughter. At one point the Hulk carries her off to spend the night in a cave in a sequence lifted right out of every “King Kong” movie.

And of course it climaxes with a noisy smackdown between Hulk and Blonsky, who has turned into the vaguely reptilian Abomination.

There are hints in Norton’s performance of what “The Incredible Hulk” might have been. But the folks at Marvel, already burned once by Ang Lee’s psychologically dense 2003 “Hulk,” opted for the comic book approach. This led to a split between the producers on one side and Norton and director Louis Leterrier on the other. Norton has declined to do publicity for the movie.

So what we have here is lots of action and not much rumination. There are numerous in-jokes aimed at hard-core fans. Lots of noise.

Part of the problem is the computer-generated Hulk. It’s OK in the early going, when the big green guy is mostly hidden by darkness or smoke. But in the light of day he looks cartoonish.

Unlike last month’s “Iron Man,” which works even for those who don’t know the character or read comics, this “Hulk” is geared toward the faithful. Hope they enjoy it.

| Sharon Hoffmann, The Star