Whale Rider

What's the Plot?

Scientist Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) is a man with issues - despite trying to bury them deep within himself. With a painful past that his mind has deliberately forgotten, Banner has become an emotional recluse, hence why his partner at work, Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly) has become his ex-girlfriend. Still working alongside each other, Bruce and Betty are near to completing some groundbreaking research when something goes hideously wrong. Bruce saves the life of a co-worker but in the process exposes himself to what should have been a lethal dose of gamma radiation. Alive, and feeling the better for it, Banner shrugs off the accident until he begins to experience blackouts and a strange and dangerous presence within. All the while, a massive green-skinned creature begins a rampage around where Banner has been - his lab destroyed and his house badly damaged -
leading to the intervention of the military, led by Betty's father, General Ross (Sam Elliott). As he tries to track down the creature now known as the Hulk, Betty begins to suspect that Bruce may have something to do with it, and also his mysterious father, David (Nick Nolte) who holds the key to Bruce's painful past and buried memories.

The Review

With most people believing that comics are for kids, films based on that source material tend to reflect this line of thinking. Director Ang Lee's Hulk has made a bold step to bring to the screen the more serious elements that lie between the colourful pages of the comic books but whether audiences who've gorged themselves on the likes of Spiderman and X-Men 2 are ready for this is another matter.

The trailer shows a CGI Hulk running, jumping, smashing and attacking, but there's precious little of that during the film's 2 hour running time. Instead, what you get is characterisation. Bana gets the most out of this with him showcasing emotions from confusion through to suppressed rage via moody looks whereas Connely has to make do with a Faye Raye King Kong role as she watches the Hulk take on some genetically altered dogs, including The World's Most Vicious Poodle TM. Nolte gravel-voices his way through with enough ham acting to land himself on the deli counter alongside Elliott's equally gruff- toned itchy-trigger-fingered military man. All these quibbles are a shame because, visually, Hulk is a tremendous achievement. Through an unpresendented use of camera trickery such as split-screen, muilti-layered images, converging panning shots, you name it, Lee has given to the screen a difinitive, moving, living, breathing comic book experience.

You feel as if you're watching the pages flick past your eyes but these pages should be filled with the Hulk smashing, and not Nolte blabbing on about God knows what! When the Hulk takes on tanks and helicopters, that's when you feel like you're watching what you came to see: a summer blockbuster full of action and adventure, but you don't get that until the last 1/2 hour and then you get something that should have come with subtitles and an explaination book as Hulk faces off against his Dad. A probable victim of it's own advertising campaign, Hulk may leave people feeling that they didn't get what they thought they were going to get and the distinctly cartoony look of the CGI Hulk may make audiences long for The Two Towers' Gollum again. Disappointing.

STEVE'S SCORE