Hulk
Directed by: Ang Lee
Written by: James Schamus, John Turman, Michael France
Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas

I was thinking recently that the current comic book movie craze won’t last much longer because audiences will grow tired of seeing the same basic superhero stories told over and over again. The truth is, there are enough different comic book stories out there to keep making movies for the next few decades. Hulk reminded me of this, because as we all know, the Hulk isn’t really a superhero at all… he’s just a guy who gets really big and smashes stuff when he’s mad. As many people have pointed out in the past, he’s more of a Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde or Frankenstein tragic hero, and this movie certainly stays true to that.

Roger Ebert described Hulk as a comic book movie for people who wouldn’t be caught dead watching a comic book movie. This seems completely accurate in a lot of ways… basically I look at it like this: Hulk is what you get when you take a comic book backdrop and focus on the characters and relationships from an art house director’s perspective, and then throw in a large green computer-generated giant.

Director Ang Lee (Sense & Sensibility, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) does not seem like the first person you would ask to direct a big blockbuster comic book adaptation, but I totally respect the fact that they brought him on board. Although Lee has a penchant for romance and melodrama (both of which are given ample attention in Hulk), he also is obviously a fan of comic books and uses some interesting techniques to try and recreate on screen the feel of reading a comic book. He uses lots of cool split screen effects, quick zooms, slow motion, and even some wipe transitions that actually make it seem like pages are being turned. At times these tricks work well by shifting scenes quickly or emphasizing a particular moment, but occasionally they are a little distracting. There are definitely moments where you notice connections to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, whether it be the music or some of the desolate desert settings. Having Lee at the helm has created a very unique comic book movie experience, one that sets itself apart from the X-Mens and the Spider-Mans that have been crowding the theatres as of late.

A lot of people seem to feel that the computer generated Hulk was poorly done. I disagree. I think he looks great and actually moves quite believably, particularly in the scene where he fighting the tanks. The problem is that the rest of the movie is so serious and realistic that the CGI effects stick out like a sore thumb. This isn’t like a Star Wars movie where 75% of the stuff on screen is computer graphics and it all sort of blends together. I don’t know if there were any other alternatives, but it does take away from the movie a little bit because the Hulk is under scrutiny all the time, and although they tried to obscure him by keeping him in the shadows or using motion blur, it’s still hard to buy into the character fully. That said, the only effects in this movie I really had a problem with were the terrible Gamma Ray exposure flashes, which resembled a cheesy Photoshop filter of some sort. I guess they spent all their money on the big green guy instead.

The acting was a very important part of the film, since the action sequences are kind of sparse and the story itself is pretty straightforward. Eric Bana as Bruce Banner does a good job playing up the inner rage, but something about his performance wasn’t particularly likeable. There was just a certain depth that we never get from his everyday life, and strangely the facial expressions from the CGI Hulk seemed more powerful than the ones from Bana himself. Nick Nolte… well, what can you say about Nick Nolte? His performance as Bruce Banner’s father was way over-the-top. Not only did he look like he just got arrested for one of his many drug offenses, but he also reminded me more of Whistler from the Blade movies than a scientist. Jennifer Connelly is really what keeps the movie together, and it’s hard not to compare her role here as Bruce Banner’s love interest Betty Ross to her role in A Beautiful Mind.

It’s tough to say if Hulk will please any audiences fully. Critics have responded well to it, but I think action movie fans will be bored during much of the slow dialogue parts, fans of more “refined” films will just find the whole concept pretty silly. I definitely thought the finale was a little out there myself… it was more like something you’d see in a Japanese anime rather than in a Hollywood blockbuster. It was different, I’ll give it that.

I want to appreciate The Hulk for its innovative approach to telling this kind of story, but I just can’t shake the fact that it seemed to be lacking something… maybe it just wasn’t “fun” enough. It’s true that The Hulk is a darker character, but there wasn’t really any humour at all, and there weren’t many extra little details for the fans (aside from the standard Stan Lee cameo). I’ve never read any of The Hulk comic books, so I don’t know if this movie hit the nail on the head or not. But I always found it odd that The Hulk doesn’t really have any arch enemies per se. I mean, when the U.S. Army isn’t chasing him down and trying to experiment on him, what does he do? Just hang out? I guess we’ll find that out when the sequel comes around. Until then, I have to say this movie’s worth seeing if you’re interested in a different approach to a comic book movie, but I wasn’t motivated to go out and see it again anytime soon. — Sean