What went wrong with Ang Lee's HULK?

It's actually a pretty good film.

I liked this film alot, it was a unique take on CBM for its time. Bana was a great Bruce. The ending was pretty sub par. Good write up.

Everyone here knows I prefer 'Hulk' to 'the Incredible Hulk'.
It's not that tIH is a bad movie, because it's actually pretty enjoyable - but the interpretation was fresh, unique, and extraordinary.

Onto your article.
Jennifer Connelly was NOT a mistake, she was in fact, one of the best aspects. Her Betty begins a crusader, wanting to fight the good fight, and then over the course of the movie, her optimism is squeezed and drained through her efforts to find answers and help Bruce. She's actually one of the most active and important love interests in a comic book movie. She's the first to meet David - and while he's a creepy character, she's fairly polite to him. When she discovers his identity, she confronts him - blaming him for Bruce's fate, and shows no fear beyond his posturing while he describes in detail just how much of a monster he really is. The scene where the Hulk reverts back to Bruce in San Francisco and the two hold each other is one of the most tender sequences in a CBM. They know they can't be together, they know that this is what it is. You can see it in their body language, their eyes.

I do understand the complaints about David Banner not being a menacing enough villain, especially in the way he gets his "upgrade" in the final portion of the film. That said, he is the film's main character in the beginning, and we get a lengthy exploration of his goals, his insanity, and his evil.

I think the "problem" with 'Hulk' is that it is in the realm of the CBM, and although it is a deep, thoughtful exploration - it's geared towards the wrong audience.

I really loved Sam Elliot's General Ross - he's not a villain, he's just an overprotective father serving in the military. He's charming to a degree, reasonable for a spell, but also very opinionated and biased. He loves his daughter, and that's the reason why he puts up a fight to protect Bruce from being turned over as a lab rat. We're meant to think that it's a grudge from the past with David, but at the end, when the two are face to face, they only glare at each other wordlessly.

One deleted scene (cut for time) showed Bruce and Betty's delivery of the nanomeds to the board, and it gets to be philosophical. Bruce explains the problem with the nanomeds is that they work too well, that they try to suppress and repair all the things that make humans/organics these chaotic life-forms. From his point of view, we know he understands this all too well, and Betty takes a long contemplative look at him, as they understand that he's disconnected in a similar way from his emotions.

A great scene that goes down in my selective memory, is when Bruce is exposed to the nanomeds and gamma rays in the lab. It's greater than Doctor Manattan's intrinsic field origin, and that's mostly because of Jennifer Connelly's Betty. She watches. She screams in terror. Bruce, however, knows what he has to do and doesn't hesitate.

It's really one of my favorite CBMs, mostly because it lacks so many elements that make it a CBM.

@JJ63
I know a lot of Ang Lee fans actually think that he dumbed it down for 'Hulk'. There's no real happy medium for most people. Having never cared about the Hulk in general, I guess I managed to fit into that niche.

Comparing Ang Lee's Hulk to The Incredible Hulk isn't a good idea. The main things I hated about Ang Lee's Hulk, was Hulk's design (Shrek) and the false advertising. With that said I still believe Norton's movie was better. I think they should have released Ang Lee's Hulk in 2030. When adaption a comic book character don't show us the unfamiliar before the familiar. If they released Norton's Hulk back 2003 it would have been much more successful while if they released ang lee's 'Hulk' way later it might have been better received.

I'm a huge Hulk fan and this was boring......boring like Superman Returns.

Norton's Hulk/Banner is the best interpretation from the comics.....yes better than the Avengers version IMO......both still way better that Lee's.

@JJ63 The best? Really? I appreciate it for what it was. I wouldn't really call it 'deep' but it sure deal with interesting issues concerning the Hulk. I wasn't (And still) not happy about how they handled his father issues. It would have been an interesting sub-plot but making him the absorbing man wasn't a good idea.

@highflyer
I would argue it is one of the best because of the depth and psychological aspects of the film that make it much more interesting than any other Marvel film. Spider-Man 2 is probably the best, but Lee's HULK if its not my favorite it's top two with Spidey 2. Daredevil (Director Cut), First Class, Wolverine and Iron Man are the top five IMHO.

I like Lee's HULK the best because of the creativity, but also the dark psychology it had in the film. Hulk has always been my favorite Marvel hero, and growing up it was The Incredible Hulk (2008) that made and kept me a huge fan of the character. I love that movie as well because of the Hulk action and the excitement of the story. But I like Ang Lee's effort better because it focuses on what makes the character who he is. Why he is what he is, not just what he is capable of. (avengers, TIH) HULK is all about the character of the Hulk and when he transforms you can just feel the burn, the hate, the bitterness and resentment and just the rage piled up within the character that is absent from the other versions of the character. What is interesting is that Bruce LIKES transforming into the Hulk, he feels that it gives him freedom in a world where he has next to none. I liked the stuff about it "already being inside" and even the father thing was interesting. I liked every single live action depiction of Hulk to date, but Ang Lee's movie has become my favorite. The story, the character development, performances, even most of the action is top-notch. Not to mention the downright beautiful score, and the epic scenery.

Also, what I loved is that it found a medium between comics and movies in a way no other CBM has. It looks and feels like a direct comic-to-movie adaptation but also makes changes and finds it own identity as a deep, dark MOVIE. I loved Lee's Hulk, one of my all time favorite CBMs.

@highflyer
Agreed on Hulk having his own personality. As for my all time favs, there's too many but the best of the best are Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, HULK, Hellboy, Spider-Man 2, Daredevil (Director's Cut), Watchmen and The Wolverine.

For the record I loved The Incredible Hulk, but it's in the same way I loved Man of Steel, Avengers, Blade 2 or Punisher: War Zone. It's escapism, fun and excitement but not exactly the most well made.

Superman Returns was good, unfairly hated IMHO.

Also, on the villains angle, I think that Hulk is an excellent film, because it's complex and shows a bunch of characters making compromises and struggling with demons. The enemy isn't some overt "bad guy" but something that might be inside everyone. You have a crazy, hard to gauge father figure, a simple greedy businessman, a general approaching the situation from a military perspective, and at the center of it all, an innocent guy who can't control his "inner self."

Jennifer Connelly was just fine.

@Thunder
Yup, that pretty much sums up the movie.