Hulk (2003)
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Over the last couple of decades, the comic-book superhero genre has been one of the most lucrative sources of Hollywood blockbuster material. More often than not, these movies end up being fairly similar to each other – the Hero bravely fighting crime and the nefarious supervillains while putting up with the angst of being an incredibly powerful but inevitably misunderstood prodigy. Generally these films would be low on depth and characterisation and high on over-the-top action scenes. “Hulk” is a comic-book superhero movie, but although it does have some of the genre's characteristic features, it also feels very different to any other film in the genre.
The first sign that we're not in typical blockbuster territory comes with is the identity of the director Ang Lee. With a huge reputation from his various arthouse films, as well as atypically character-focused martial arts film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”, there is no doubt he is a talented film director. However, taking a respected arthouse director and putting him in charge of a Hollywood blockbuster can have bad consequences – such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet's “Alien Resurrection” - but Lee manages to overcome most of the pitfalls and produce a refreshingly original superhero film, even if there are still a few problems with it.
Most people are probably familiar with the basic concept of the Hulk – Bruce Banner, a seemingly normal scientist has an unfortunate tendency to turn into a not-so-Jolly Green Giant whenever someone gets him angry. This is explained by a ludicrously convoluted origin story involving secret government military experiments, Bruce's father's own genetic experimentation, prototype medical nanobots and a large dose of gamma radiation. Unfortunately, the more the pseudo-science is explained, the more outlandish it gets. This is not too serious a problem, as the scientific explanation of what is happening isn't really the point of the movie.
The main focus of this film is on the character's interactions with each other – at least until the action-fueled last half-hour of the film. A major theme is the interaction of the two main characters – Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) and his fellow-scientist and love-interest Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly) – and their respective fathers – Nick Nolte's mad scientist and Sam Elliot's emotionally reserved military commander. Nolte is determined to exploit Banner's strange transformations, as a means of justifying his lifetime of crackpot scientific experimentation, with little thought for the effect the transformations could be having on Bruce. The film's heroine, Betty Ross, finds herself in the uncomfortable position of having to deal with the fact that her friend has the tendency to turn into a rampaging CGI Giant, while avoiding the hostile intentions of his paranoid father, who sees Betty as a threat to his plans. Meanwhile Josh Lusas' sleazy businessman believes he can make money from dissecting the Hulk and the US Army is naturally unimpressed by having an uncontrollable monster on their hands.
Director Lee handles the character interactions capably, it may be a bit slower than necessary, and the dialogue is sometimes a bit stilted, but the characters are likeable and the story is genuinely interesting. There may be comparatively few action scenes, but those that are here are highly entertaining with the CGI-powered Hulk taking on the US Army single handed in some breathtakingly over-the-top action scenes. Inevitably, it does look a bit too cartoony at times to be convincing, but this doesn't significantly detract from the entertainment value of the Hulk smashing things.
Overall the plot is quite interesting, with more depth than most superhero films, but unfortunately the film is let down by an incoherent last ten minutes. Foreshadowing of possible problems comes earlier on in the film with Nick Nolte picking up some implausible supervillain abilities for some reason, this sets the scene for a final confrontation which is never very well explained. That there is a fight is obvious, but the resolution of that fight is confusingly obscured in the over-use of seemingly meaningless CGI.
Until the incoherent ending, Lee was doing well at directing a superhero blockbuster with considerable visual style. There are some stunning visuals, even if sometimes the contents can be a bit too abstract, and there's some inventive directorial tricks involving the use of split-screen that give the film a unique feel. The acting is also good, particularly Nolte's mad scientist and Bana and Connelly make a likeable couple. Even the CGI Hulk is quite good at acting, with an impressively expressive face that manages to convey his inner thoughts better than any previous CGI creations.
In summary, this is an entertaining and unconventional superhero film that manages to combine interesting character drama with fun action scenes. Unfortunately it is let down a bit by the disastrous final scenes, but this doesn't completely undo all the good work done in the rest of the film.
Rating : 7 / 10
All content ©2003 William Marnoch.
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