THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS :
In February 1990, I was in my senior year of high school and was once again excited about a third Incredible Hulk reunion movie, but like Lou Ferrigno said in his book "My Incredible Life as the Hulk", I didn't like the title. After seeing Thor and Daredevil injected into the previous two reunion movies, I was expecting to see the She Hulk, which I'd heard about. Thankfully, there were no guests in this movie. Like I said, this was Back to Basics.
The late great Bill Bixby was my idol, hero, role model, whatever term you want to use and he truly gave us a wonderful but disappointing reunion movie. His final performance as Dr. David Banner alias David Bellamy I felt was worthy of a TV Emmy Award. In the beginning, he pretends to be a very shy, slow minded janitor. Lou Ferrigno also gave an unforgettable performance as the Hulk, even though this would be the last time he would literally get greened up for the role physically. I loved Elizabeth Gracen. A very beautiful actress and model. When I saw her in Playboy, I thought,man! Was Bix ever lucky to work with her!! Especially in that love scene. Dr. Ronald Pratt and Amy were very lovable. They became like surrogate parents to David Banner and I loved the closeness they shared since Banner had no one in the world at that point. I really enjoyed the Hulkout in the lab for study. Just before his Hulkout, we see brief flashback scenes from the 1977 pilot movie in Banner's mind.
Bill Bixby was the main man in this movie. not only was he the star, he was also the director and executive producer. As Lou Ferrigno said in his book, This movie was Bill Bixby's baby, more than any of the others. What really surprised me was that very brief soft core love scene between David Banner and Jasmine. That scene completely took me by surprise.
Finally, I felt the same way many Hulkaholics like myself feel regarding the ending. Our hero dies at the end. I felt like we got ripped off twice. We never got to see an appropriate ending for the series because the jackass running CBS at the time axed the show. And now in this final movie, The Hulk dies, but that also means David Banner dies.
This movie is truly sad to watch now knowing that Bill Bixby would die three years later and that plans to do the Revenge of the Incredible Hulk would never be. Just like the Psychic episode with Brenda Benet who would later commit suicide. The one thing that kills the movie for me is the unforgivable omission of Jack McGee. I can understand his absence from the Trial, but this movie should have had him in there. My idea would be for him to discover who John Doe is at the end and when Banner dies, Jack McGee finally loses his mind and probably winds up having to be placed in a mental institution after losing his story of the century forever.
But still the Death of the Incredible Hulk is a good way of going out with a blaze of glory, even though I would have preferred David Banner getting cured and marrying Jasmine. Bill Bixby, you will be forever missed. I give this final movie two thumbs up!
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