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by Jim Van Nest Published: June 18, 2003
 The Hulk is pursued by the military through the streets of San Francisco in "The Hulk." Hello good people and welcome to The Trades review of Ang Lee's comic adaptation, "Hulk." Before I begin, I have to say that I am one of the many people who have not been impressed with the ads for "Hulk." I thought the CGI looked bad and the Hulk himself looked little better than a guy in a rubber suit. I understand that the Hulk is way bigger than a muscle-man painted green, but the way the spots were looking, I was almost wishing they had gone that route. So, it was with reluctance that me and my popcorn and large Mr. Pibb sat down to watch "Hulk." First off, I'm not a comic book guy. I know very little about the Hulk. I know the basics of his origin and that he has a temper that I wouldn't want to mess with. So, I was absolutely thrilled to see the movie spend the first "act" setting up how Dr. Bruce Krenzler (Banner) "becomes" the Hulk. The film begins with the genetic research of military scientist, Dr. David Banner, Bruce's father. When not authorized to test his research on a human subject, he decides to test it on himself and then destroys his lab and all of his work. While the serum doesn't seem to have any affect on David, his soon to be born son, Bruce is a different story. Even as a toddler, Bruce shows signs of the anger that lives within him. Sitting in his crib when he loses his pacifier, you can tell that there is something inside of him. Something wanting to come out but needing a catalyst. Once the army, General Ross in particular, finds out about Banner's testing, he quickly locks up David Banner and helps get Bruce placed in foster care with the Krenzler family. Fast forward some 30 years and Bruce Krenzler has followed in the footsteps of his birth father and become a brilliant geneticist. He is heading up a project working with nanobots and gamma rays to create an instantaneous healing process. His right-hand girl, so to speak, is former girlfriend Betty Ross (yep, you guessed it, daughter of General Ross.) Through a mishap in the lab, Bruce is accidentally "shot" with an incredibly huge amount of gamma rays. It is this gamma radiation that acts as the catalyst that helps give Bruce's pent up anger a body. It's around this time that Bruce's estranged father shows up and wants to tell Bruce all about himself. not only that, David Banner wants some of Bruce's DNA so he can continue his research. That is as far as I will go into the story of the film. But, Jim...what about the CGI? Well, let me tell you...I was incredibly impressed with the CGI. Only Gollum in "The Two Towers" would I rate ahead of the Hulk. I was amazed by the facial expressions and emotions they were able to give a computer generated character. The action sequences were stunning, with the exception of some bad CGI on the helicopters. It was odd to see them take so much care to make the Hulk as realistic as possible and then make the helicopters look like crap. But the scene is short and easy enough to put aside. The acting is top notch all around. Newcomer Eric Bana does a terrific job as the reserved Bruce Banner, but really shines during his "transformations." Jennifer Connelly is solid in a role that offers very little in the way of challenges. Sam Elliott is perfect as General Ross and Nick Nolte shines as David Banner. Although, I must say, Nolte looks like he came straight from his infamous mug shot to the set. There are some cameos that I won't spoil for you, but keep an eye out for those. And I'm saving the best for last, Ang Lee's direction. He uses a wacky assortment of dissolves, split screens and frames to actually edit the film. In a lot of movies that would have really annoyed me. But for some reason, in this one, I thought it was incredibly creative. There are several times that you almost feel like you're watching a comic book. I mean, he sets the screen up in frames not that much different than the pages of a comic book. To me, I thought it was outstanding and helped make a very fun film, even more fun. About 2/3 of the way in, I leaned over to my buddy and said, "If this thing finishes up strong, I'll have to say that Ang Lee is THE master." Well, here's where I have to get negative. The movie didn't finish up strong. In fact, I'm not exactly sure how the movie finished up, because I'm not exactly sure what happened. About midway through the movie, you have a feeling what the climax of the film will be, and you'll be right. I just didn't quite get what was going on. I don't want to spoil the film for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I'll put what I didn't like about the ending in white lettering. To see it, you'll have to take your mouse and highlight it. To remain spoiler free, simply ignore it. About midway through the film, it became obvious to me that the big showdown at the end of the movie would be between Bruce and David Banner. After procuring some of Bruce's DNA, David tries to Hulkify himself by absorbing the gamma rays. Apparently, it doesn't work on him the way it worked on Bruce. For David, he seems to be able to blend into whatever he's touching, I think. Anyway, the part I had trouble with was at the end with Hulk facing off against whatever his father had become. It just seemed like they couldn't figure out how to end the picture, so they went crazy with special effects. The CGI used on David's new alter ego looked like some sort of George Lucas Episode I reject, especially compared to the beauty of the Hulk. It's as if they ran out of money when it came time to design the character. I didn't like the look, nor did I like the outcome. I couldn't figure out what was actually happening. It seemed like a big mess to me. And that sums up my one real problem with the film. The ending aside, I thought "Hulk" was very good. Not quite "X-Men" good, but miles better than "Spider-Man." (Keep in mind, I darn near hated "Spider-Man.") I give the film a solid B. For more HULK movie links, be sure to check out: Hulk Official Movie Site | SirLinksalot: Hulk |
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