I'll start off by saying something that I'm not sure a lot of people agree with. The Hulk is a very difficult character to put on the screen. General audiences and comic fans have very different ideas for what a Hulk film needs to be. General audiences want a Hulk film to be nothing but Hulk smashing things , while comic fans want something a bit more intellectual, something that delves more into the mind of Bruce Banner and how The Hulk plays into his psyche. Because of these two very different ideas for how a Hulk movie should be we will probably never get the perfect Hulk film to satisfy everybody. However, both films have their own positives and negatives. The Incredible Hulk made back in 2008 seems to be a pretty positively received movie on here. However the first film created back in 2003 doesn't seem to share that same enthusiasm. Well I'm here to show you that people on this site do like that film, and today I shall give my reasons as to why.
#1. The Film Was Ahead Of Its Time
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A lot of people say that the first that tried to be more adult and dark and realistic in the comic book genre was The Dark Knight. While I will agree that that film did that type of Comic book film well this film and Daredevil before it did try it first. This movie especially seemed to try to make a movie more for adults then for children. Unlike a lot of comic book films made at the time that were very simple with a very light hearted tone, this film tried to be a lot more dark like a Hulk film should be, and very complicated, exploring the ideas of Banners psychology. It tried to be more than just a regular goofy comic book movie like Spider-Man (2002) or X-Men (2001). Even if it wasn't 100 percent sucessful, it attempted something different and I can respect it for that.
#2. A Very Good Villain.
We all love ourselves a good villain. However people seem to think that Nick Nolte in this movie was not only a bad villain, but I've heard one of the worst in Comic Book Movie history. Most peoples arguments coming from the fact that they made his father the absorbing man, this not being comic accurate, and Hulk dogs. Now while I agree with people on the Hulk dogs, I can't in good conscience agree that David Banner is a bad villain in this film. Sure, he may not be like the comic, but I've always kind of gone with the idea that as long as the changes serve the story and you're not replacing something good with something worse than I'm fine with whatever changes are made to a character. But that's neither here nor there. This is a villain with a lot of depth to him, Very often we see the hero create the villain, usually by mistake, but that is still a common thread in most superhero films. This film flips that idea on its head, having the villain create the hero. But they also decide to take David Banner and make him a parallel to Thunderbolt Ross. You get the idea that neither father in this film truly loves their child, both of them using their children to get something they want. David Banner is just willing to go farther then Ross is. This is a man who wanted power more then anything, but instead he ended up giving his son the power he always wanted,thus trying to gain the power his son had by replicating the experiment. By the end of the movie only trying to get the power out of his son that he feels he deserves. There is a line in the film that I feel sums up what makes David Banner interesting as a villain.
"I didn't come here to see you. I came here to see my son, my real son. The one inside of you. You're nothing but a superficial shell, a husk of flimsy consciousness, ready to be torn off at a moments notice."
I know i've already been rambling on this point, but it raises the most interesting aspect of David Banners character. He doesn't see Bruce as his true son, cause Bruce isn't what he saw when he studied his son. He saw what he viewed to be his true son, The Hulk. He doesn't see his son as someone he created through the traditional means, he sees his son as what was created thanks to the experiments he did to himself. That is a very interesting idea, and makes for a very unique villain. Unfortunately though he isn't perfect. Even though the confrontation scene between Bruce and David has that very excellent quote it is later ruined by Nick Nolte acting like Nick Nolte, and I'll agree with people that the climax is very weak. However I guess the argument i'm making here is I would rather have a great villain for most of the movie and have a weak climax, rather than have a not so good villain but a good climax.
#3 The Film Explored The Hulk Character Very Well, As Well As His Connection To Bruce.
Like I stated earlier, The Hulk is very difficult to put on the screen. He isn't just a big roaring monster. He has a character, a very interesting character at that. Different writers have interpreted him differently, but this film seems to take the most inspiration from Peter David. The Hulk being the inner child of Bruce Banner. But the film does seem to take it a bit farther, not only does The Hulk seem to be Bruces inner child, but he appears to be the living personification of Bruces repressed memories. The Hulk being a result of the experiment attempting to fix the mental trauma caused by what happened to Bruce when he was a child. Unlike The Incredible Hulk where he was just sort of a physical reaction to the experiment. This film really delved into the relationship between Banner and The Hulk, showing that both parties really hated each other. Wanting nothing more than to be rid of the other, despite the fact that both are sort of two sides of the same coin. This isn't demonstrated in dialogue, as like the other film versions The Hulk doesn't speak much. However it is shown in one very good scene in the film.
This scene is the Hulk/Banner relationship. With little to no dialogue. We haven't really gotten a scene like this in any live action Hulk related property since. The Hulk has been more of a thing used to solve the problem rather then being an actual character in his own right. Even in this film, when he is escaping from the Military base, he goes to all the locations he remembered as a child, the whole time also trying to get back to his current home in San Francisco. While the film didn't exactly make a whole character study on the Hulk it did explore it enough to show that there was a character there. The sequel was apparently going to have the Grey Hulk be a factor as well, which would have definitely been an interesting angle to go by, especially if they would have gone with Grey Hulk being the representation of Bruces arrogance like in the comics.
"You know what scares me the most? When I can't fight it anymore, when it takes over, when I totally lose control. I like it."
The film also delved into how Bruce saw the Hulk, seeing him as a monster, wanting nobody to get their hands on it so he could kill it, wanting to live a normal life after what happened, since his life has been anything but normal, however he doesn't full hate the Hulk, when he's caught up in the adrenaline and is transforming the film shows through dialogue that he enjoys the power and the freedom The Hulk gives him, showing that he is human after all, and we all kind of want that level of freedom and power in our lives, despite the price Bruce pays in the film for having that freedom. However it doesn't take him over for very long and he becomes level headed enough to try to get rid of those feelings when he changes back. While that idea isn't explored to a great deal it is explored enough to get you thinking, and would have definitely been expanded upon in the sequel. Sadly we never got that film.
#4. The Score Fits The Hulk Character
Yeah I know, once again I talk about the score when I'm talking about a film. But that's just it with me, Score plays a big part in films, especially when you are trying to establish a tone, and this film tried to go for a tone of more dark and a kind unsettling feeling about The Hulk and the films score composed by Danny Elfman did just that. Where as the score for The Incredible Hulk tried to be a bit more traditional with its score, thus not having it really stand out all to much in comparison to other superhero films, with the exception of the lonely man from the incredible hulk tv show playing in part of the score. However this score went for something a bit more unique and memorable, which is definitely something you get when you hire Danny Elfman to score your film, at this point the man had already scored Batman and Spider-Man, so he had quite the job ahead of him to make a unique score for The Hulk, and he did. He made something that had a bit of an uneasiness to it, with mostly quiet more calm tracks, to kind of offset The Hulk in the film. The tracks had enough of a kind of worry to them, letting you know something was on the horizon, helping you calm down but never really putting your guard down all the way. The Main theme especially being very memorable. Ironically I could listen to these tracks on my own on repeat for days, I usually use a good chunk of them to calm myself down when I get angry.
However there is something else I want to dive into here that I didn't on my other ones. The film does have problems, and I want to look into why this film was as negatively received as it was. There are a few reasons for it. Aside from the regular arguments we hear such as the lack of action or the mostly emotionless acting or the terrble pacing of the film. Which are three big problems I can agree with. However there are two big other reasons as to why this film wasn't received well by audiences and why the film wasn't as strong as it could have been, despite the great Ideas put on screen.
#1. The Awful Marketing.
A film's reception can be effected by the marketing. Bad marketing can ruin a film for people, make them either not want to see it, or be angry they didn't get the film they were promised. This film is a prime example of that, This film is not a film to bring your kids too, despite its PG-13 rating. However you would never guess that based on all the toys and kids books and figures they released for this film. What's sad about this is that despite the films poor marketing when it came to its merchandise it started off really well when it came to the trailers released for it, having a teaser trailer that gave off the tone that the film would have and having a good sense of mystery to it.
However, as stated before it only started off good. The marketing eventually took a big dip in quality, not in the actual quality of the trailers, they were well made. But the film was marketed wrong on all fronts. What was on all the merchandise? The Hulk, and who was the main thing showed in the trailers? The Hulk, and all the action in the film.
As you can see from those trailers, the film is being advertised as your standard big action movie, with The Hulk going on a rampage, and with there being so many toys and board games and even video games showing that same sort of thing it's no wonder audiences were angry when that's not the movie they got. The film even had tag lines that gave that kind of impression. Taglines such as
On June 20th Let it All Out.
Unleash the hero within
Unleash the fury!
Rage. Power. Freedom.
Taglines like that alone are bound to get people excited to see a big action packed Hulk movie with lots of anger and transformations, but clearly that's not what the movie is. The movie should have had advertising more similar to a drama. They could have even refrained from showing the Hulk in the trailers, only show teases, leave him for the film, so people could get excited about that aspect. That's my opinion on that matter, but maybe that's why I'm not a marketing executive.
#2. The Wrong Writers Were On Board.
This could have been a film that really grabbed audiences attention, and with the man who was the head of the story James Schumas, it could have been a very well written film. The man who helped Ang Lee write some of his movies up to that point including Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. He would later go on to become the Ceo of Focus Features, a film company who helps produce a lot of films so this was an intelligent man. However then you have the other two writers Michael France and John Turman. Michael France not having really terrible credits to his name, having written the film Cliffhanger and coming up with the story for Goldeneye. However he would also go on to write Fantastic Four (2005).
So a writer like that doesn't inspire confidence as that film also had a similar problem to this movie that a lot of people had of not a lot happening just to stretch out their origin, with a pretty weak climax. However the cream of the crop in this trio when it comes to bad writing is none other then John Turman. The man behind such classics as the straight to DVD Cuba Gooding Jr movie Ticking Clock, or the equally forgettable Ben 10: Alien Swarm. With his final credit that must be seen being Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer.
As you can clearly see these two were not the right people to write a movie with these kind of ideas and tone, clearly they shouldn't be writing movies at all, but that's a different story altogether, what could have truly saved the film from the scorn it got from the audience would have been better writers, delving into the ideas we got for this film, but doing so in a way that could have kept the audiences interest. Unlike what we got. I don't know exactly who they could have gotten instead, but there are writers out there in Hollywood who I'm sure could write a very good script for this type of movie. But at the time Universal didn't get those people.
That's the end of my rambling on this movie, I know I went on and on about this film, but its all to make one point, I like this movie. I personally find it a bit better then The Incredible Hulk (2008) even though I like both films I feel that this one is closer to what I want a Hulk film to be, you may disagree and I'm okay with that. What do you think of this film? What did you think of my arguments? Did I convince you? Or is your mind not changed? As always list your thoughts off down in the comments. Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a wonderful day.