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MARVEL'S 2005 decision to produce its own films seems to be paying off.

After the terrific Iron Man, the company has now unleashed one of its most iconic characters into cinemas again a mere few weeks later.

Following in the footsteps of the television series featuring Lou Ferrigno as the big green man and Ang Lee's unfairly-derided 2003 Eric Bana-vehicle Hulk, now here's The Incredible Hulk, 2008.

The opening credits dispose of Dr David Banner's (a typically aloof Edward Norton, who penned the script as Edward Harrison - his middle name) back-story. We see him hit with gamma rays, before the force they've created in him knocks out his lady love, Dr Elizabeth Ross (Liv Tyler) and her father, General Ross (William Hurt).

So we begin with Banner on the run from the military but living in relative peace in Brazil. Working in a drinks factory, he communicates online as Mr Green (appropriately enough) with a Mr Blue, to whom he sends samples of his blood, hoping that together they can discover a cure.

But a random incident in the factory causes a drop of his blood to infect some orange, which makes its way around the globe to poison an American citizen (the inevitable Stan Lee cameo).

General Ross is on the scent again immediately, sending in the troops, led by Russian-born Brit Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth). The latter's so intoxicated with the force he sees on display that he and the general get an evil plan brewing.

The first question with The Incredible Hulk is why? Hulk may have had its problems, but time will be kinder to what it was trying to achieve. Its main problem was the CG, and that issue most definitely hasn't been resolved here.

During the combat scenes, it's just a big fake man, one who later fights another big fake creature, which creates zero tension. Ferrigno has a cameo as a campus security guard, and the look in his eyes is scarier than anything the hugely expensive effects have achieved.

Fans will, of course, want to check out the Abomination, the horror story which Roth's character becomes. Roth does his best as the power-hungry soldier, who kills a dog early on and is therefore quite clearly going to veer off the moral path. But when he's replaced by some pixels, it goes rather pear-shaped.

Novice director Louis Leterrier tries his hardest, but fails to be a bit Bourne in an early chase sequence across rooftops. Generally, things feel a bit uninspired.

The constant military onslaughts become boring and the few attempts to add a bit of Iron Man-esque wit - Betty buying Bruce big purple jogging bottoms, referencing the TV incarnation's natty attire - fall flat, especially one scene with a "hilariously" angry New York cabbie.

The fact that you'll be most excited when Robert Downey Jr cameos in the last scene means that it all adds up to a lot less than a man painted green. Pity.

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