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Poster (c) Universal Studios
If you go into The Hulk expecting Spider-Man, you�ll be surprised. With only a few action scenes, and more drama than you can shake a stick at, it�s clearly the best comic book movie to date, and, so far, the best summer movie. I�m actually surprised that Ang Lee would risk losing the teen demographic for this, but the movie turns out better for it. The Hulk has a perfect mix of action and drama, and, although I don�t read comic books, has the feel of a comic book.
Kudos goes out to Lee for turning in an excellent directing job. With more split-screens than The Thomas Crowne Affair, it may get annoying for some people, but to me, I really liked it. Also, Lee didn�t always have the whole screen covered up by the movie. Although the split-screen wasn�t always necessary, it added to the unique look of the movie. Lee wasn�t a Hulk fan before he signed on to direct this movie, but the whole thing looks like a giant comic book�you�ll have to see it to understand what I mean.
The plot is actually THERE; it�s involving and has depth. Scientist Bruce Krenzler (Eric Bana) is working on the same project his father David Banner (Nick Nolte) worked on years earlier, a human regeneration project. David tested it on himself, and passed it on to Bruce. However, they become separated, and Bruce moves into the Krenzler�s house. However, he is reunited with David, but an explosion in the lab causes Bruce to become a giant, green, CGI Hulk every time he becomes angry.
If a movie this far-fetched can seem so real and plausible, then that can only mean one thing: everyone involved with this movie deserves a raise. Usually Universal movies have cheesy special effects (U-571 for instance), and the Hulk in no way looked real, but for a CGI dude in a live action world, it worked well. When the Hulk interacted with humans, I was in awe. However, at the end, when the Hulk was fighting another CGI monster, that looked like it was a sigh of relief for the crew.
Bana proves that not every superhero has to have a bad actor play him (i.e. George Clooney in Batman and Robin), in fact, he�s a great actor, and now that he�s sort of well known here in the States, he�ll probably get better roles (the same is happening to Tobey Maguire after his role in Spider-Man). Jennifer Connelly, for the first half, shows that yes, she is a good supporting actress, but in the third act, makes the Academy wonder what they were thinking when they gave out her best supporting actress for A Beautiful Mind. �Let me talk to him, Dad.� �Dad, let me talk to him.� Sam Elliott, who plays Betty�s (Connelly) over-bearing, military father who has something against the Banners, does what he�s supposed to do. The real standout, however, is Nolte, yet again. After his somewhat lackluster work in The Good Thief, he�s back again, stronger than ever.
Many people won�t like The Hulk because they want it to be what it isn�t: another mindless action movie for the summer. It�s actually one of the most intelligent movies of the summer, and, dare I say, the year, so far, and expect it to be on my top ten list for the year.
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, some disturbing images and brief partial nudity.
Review Date: June 26, 2003
