After months of bad press regarding the disputes with the star, a less than impressive first trailer and lukewarm reception from the fan community, the early reviews of Marvel’s new Hulk film are good. Despite Edward Norton not getting control over the final cut of the movie or even a writing credit (Zak Penn received primary credit) the film still appears to be an improvement to the angsty first film.

We won’t be seeing the movie until next week but from what we have been hearing from people we know and other sites that have reviewed the film, the buzz is getting better. In addition the latest TV spots have been looking pretty good, lots of green on green (the Army & the Abomination) action.

The site, Sci-Fi Movie Page gave the film a rating of three and a half stars while admitting that “The Incredible Hulk has [been] dumbed down” but “action-packed”. The have a detailed review with some spoilers.

From what we heard (from a pretty reliable source) the Hulk film is loaded with references to the greater Marvel universe. He said that the film is “90 percent” of what Iron Man was, which is a pretty big claim. In specific the he mentioned Super Soldier program, Tony Stark (Hulk -Tony Stark TV spot) and the Avengers.  This guy was really amped about the film and from what we had seen at the time we could not understand why.

Now from what our friend Dave over at The Bad and Ugly just reported, at least one connection to the greater Marvel universe  is still in the film. TB&U also looks at reviews from around the web as well and they seem fairly positive. Check out their slightly spoilerish coverage here: Hulk Smashes Early Fan Reviews

Color Crave interested, especially after hearing Hulk director Louis Letterier say (on Friday's Attack Of The Show)  that "you might see Captain America himself" in The Incredible Hulk film. Check out the video below for the full interview.

You can check back with us next Friday for our review of The Incredible Hulk.

New images from The Incredible Hulk and videos after the jump.

Incredible Hulk Videos

Blonsky battles Hulk

Hulk protects Betty

Hulk vs. The Abomination