| THE HULK |
 2003 – USA
Director: Ang Lee - Reviewed by Vickie
By now, everybody and their cousin knows the story of the oafy green monster and his comparatively quiet human alter ego, Bruce Banner (played here by Eric Bana). Just in case there's someone who hasn't heard, the gist of the tale is this: get Bruce angry, and all hell literally breaks loose. In the film, Bruce is a scientist working in genetics alongside his ex, Betty (Jennifer Connelly). When an experiment goes awry, Bruce is zapped with a whole heapin' mess o' gamma rays that, at first, seem to have had no effect on him. Eventually, though, he discovers that rage triggers a massive metamorphosis and a sudden urge to smash things. And people, for that matter. Nick Nolte, looking haggard and more than a little crazy, plays Bruce's long-forgotten (and long-imprisoned) father, who turns up to chew the scenery, provide Bruce with his familial and genetic backstory, and generally turn the camp factor of the movie up a couple of notches thanks to some choice outbursts and soliloquies. There isn't really a story, per se, so much as there's just one sequence after another designed to slowly release Bruce's inner Hulk and then have the military chase him. That's pretty much it. And yet, the film d-r-a-g-s on for two hours and twenty minutes! And when I say drags, I mean draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaags. There were numerous scenes that felt like they went nowhere, or took way too long to get wherever it was they were going. The last hour of the film felt completely directionless in terms of story: what's the point? Where is the story going? Didn't we just sit through this exact same sequence about 15 minutes ago??? Motivations were never clear. I couldn't tell whether characters were good or evil or neither, and the flow of the film seemed choppy. In addition to its hefty running time, The Hulk also suffers from what I guess was director Ang Lee's attempt at recreating a comic book on screen via framing, coloring and camera angles. The result is disorienting (whenever he crosses the line of focus) or unintentionally funny (when nameless enraged officials berate others in a way that would work perfectly if drawn on paper) or just irritating (splitting the screen into several quadrants). Nevermind the fact that two of the most crucial fight/battle sequences take place AT NIGHT, in the dark, so that trying to see what's happening becomes a challenge. We were literally squinting at the screen saying, "What? What just happened? Can you see anything??" And then there's the CGI Hulk himself. My main issue with him was the fact that, to me, he didn't seem to have any *weight*. He looked like he was filled with air, not muscle, and his pounding and thudding seemed off. Ditto for the Hulk hounds who (again, in the dark) look more like toothy blobs than mutated canines. The performances, save for Nolte, were fine. Eric Bana is interesting to watch, and Jennifer Connelly does what she can with what is essentially a girlfriend role. Nick Nolte isn't the only over-actor, though. Someone please arrest Sam Elliott (as Betty's father) and Josh Lucas (as the token smarmy villain) for the same offenses. Really, the movie could have been an hour shorter and it would likely have worked much better. The trailers give away what the Hulk looks like and how he behaves, so the only thing left to entice audiences is the actual transformation process which, admittedly, adds a nice level of anticipation. Waiting for Bruce to get angry enough to turn was fun, but watching the proceedings afterward... not so much. |
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My expectations were low. A friend of mine had already seen The Hulk
and had declared it a disappointment. Now, normally when I go in
expecting very little, I wind up pleasantly surprised (witness films
like The New Guy). This time, though, she was right. It was kind of
stinky.
