Old Stuff
Hulk (2003)
Directed by Ang Lee
I have to preface this review by saying that I grew up reading comics and the Hulk was one of my favorite characters. That being said, even though I like Ang Lee's films, I had really low expectations for this one. The trailers looked awful. I thought the computer generated Hulk looked really bad. "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" was a good movie, but it was a bad Kung Fu movie, which is what I expected to see going in. In that sense, I thought it was a disappointing film and I was afraid that the "Hulk" would have the same problems. That's not what happened, however. I enjoyed the Hulk. It was a little slow for a movie that is being marketed as an action film in the genre of X-Men or Daredevil. If you are a comic book fan who is looking to see the character from the comic book, you are not going to get it. I'm sure Gronky, Hollywood Outsider's resident geek, will be able to fill you in on all the things that the movie "got wrong" with respect to staying true to the original character. The "Hulk" is it's own interpretation of a story that was told back in the early sixties. People's fears about nuclear testing were married with the classic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to create a new, modern monster that has stayed popular for forty years. Ang Lee's "Hulk" is brought up to date by adding nanotechnology and genetic engineering, two present day fears in the American collective consciousness.
But, for all its originality, the "Hulk" is one of the most comic-booky films I have ever seen. For what is really a sad story, it is approached in an almost playful style. Throughout the film the screen gets divided into different frames so it almost looks like a page from a comic book. There are wipes that bubble across the screen, like some chemical accidentally spilled during a laboratory experiment, that move us from scene to scene. The entire visual style of the film is an homage to the comic book format (forgive me for using a pretentious word like "homage." I never wanted the word homage used in any Hollywood Outsider review). So, though the film does not closely follow the comic book story, it is true to the comic book spirit. It really borders on being campy.
I don't know if I like changing Banner's father from an alcoholic to a mad scientist. In the comic book, it is eventually revealed that Banner's father was an alcoholic who abused his wife and child. He eventually kills his wife when she tries to take Bruce and leave during one of his drunken rages. Though they keep the story about his father killing his mother, now he kills her accidentally when he was really trying to kill Bruce. Not that seeing his mother killed in front of him wasn't a life-altering trauma, but they gave up the whole concept of Bruce's rage starting with his being an abused child. I was disappointed and surprised that they chose to change that part of the story. Not because I think that they should stay true to the comic, but because I think the idea that child abuse can turn innocent children into monsters is much stronger thematically. More people can relate to children of abusive, alcoholic parents than to children of mad scientists.
As much as I hated CG Hulk in the trailers, I thought it worked on screen. A cartoon looking character in what is essentially a kind of cartoony movie fit just fine. The combat scenes between the Hulk and the military were a lot of fun and, again, very much in the spirit of the comic book.
The cast was good, in that they all played it for lots of melodrama. Jennifer Connelly is as gorgeous as ever, playing the woman that all of us wish was in love with us. Nick Nolte was Nick Nolte.
I heard the Times panned the "Hulk" big time, and I can understand why. They either didn't get it, didn't accept it for what it was, or have no angry, frustrated child inside them. All you other angry, frustrated children out there, go see it. The rest of you, don't bother or wait for the DVD. -- Rating: $5.00
Mike Mauer -- copyright 2003 Hollywood Outsider