I've been wanting to do this one for a while now because it always provokes debate and I also wanted an excuse to watch Hulk again because to be honest I could never really understand the hostility towards it. Well, I watched it and I still don't! In fact if anything I think Lee's movie may even be an all round better film than Louis Letterier's recent re/boot/make/quel.
I've heard it all before.."not enough action, too focused on drama, silly Hulk dogs!" ..and I'm sure we will have it all again in the comments section, but regardless of its flaws..and they are many no doubt..Hulk is a very good movie. The story is of course an origin for the big fella. Bruce Banner is involved in a terrible accident which turns him into a rampaging monster. His on again/off again girlfriend Betty Ross seeks to help him control the beast within, but her father General "Thunderbolt" Ross believes him to be too dangerous to allow to live. So aided by a slimy git ex of Betty's, Glenn Talbot, who wants to harness Hulk's power as a weapon, they capture him..big mistake. Thats a very simplified version of the plot of course, but thats the part that I reckon the fanboys didn't have much of a problem with. Its the daddy issues. In this version of the story, the Hulk was already a part of banner before the accident because his father, David, experimented on himself and the genes passed on to his son. They also make Banner Sr the main antagonist, turning him into a version of The Absorbing Man by the end of the movie. Its a pretty big liberty sure, but for the most part its still works in the confines of this particular narrative. People also have issue with the look of The Hulk, complaining that he is too big as he grows as he gets angrier. He does maybe get a tad on the ginormous side at times but many artists have drawn Hulk with varying size..and if you think he looked too big in this movie, check out Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's incarnation of him in Old Man Logan! And the dogs, yeah so they don't really work that well. But not because they are a ridiculous idea, again, just look to the comics if you think its too over the top, its just not set up properly and comes out of nowhere. My point is, if writers and artists retcon, change, and downright contradict others at times then why does the fan community go into such an uproar when a film maker does it? Unless they are basing their film around a self contained story like Watchmen or something, there really is no definitive version of a comic character that has seen so many incarnations. Of course there are certain things that are always associated with the character, the essence if you like, but I find that a lot of the time the movies get this right, but the changes they do make cause enough frustration and anger to obscure any good work done.
Performances are great pretty much all round. Some felt Eric Bana was miscast as Bruce Banner but I though he was spot on...if at times a bit dry. Jennifer Connelly excels as Betty Ross as does Sam Elliot as her Father. People make fun of Nick Nolte's manic turn but I loved it! David Banner comes across as a completely insane but strangely sympathetic villain. The only performance I didn't like was Josh Lucas as Talbot. He's not bad exactly, just seems to go from naught to eeeeevil far too quickly and he hams it up a bit.
Basically Ang Lee set out to make a thoughtful, deep drama and he succeeded. He is more interested in telling the story behind the Hulk's rage than showing the effects of it..the problem is that the character just doesn't lend itself to too much of that. What he does best is smash, and thats where the film falls flat. What action there is is done very well, Hulk doling out some serious smackdown to some tanks being the highlight, but their really should have been more of it. Still, I just can't get on a films case for being "too dramatic". Its not possible. When one scene(David Banner's revelation to Betty of what happened to his wife, and subsequently Bruce..see above) packs more of an emotional punch that an entire "improved" movie by Monsieur Letterier you know which film I'm going to lean towards. I don't want to go into the reboot too much because I'm sure I'll be revisiting it at some point but I will say that it is just as good as Lee's film for very different reasons. I always say a perfect Hulk movie would combine the strengths of both.
Anyway, give Hulk another bash..you might be surprised at how much you enjoy it!
Check out all of my reviews and revisits here
