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Scientist Bruce Banner has anger management issues. His quiet
life as a brilliant research scientist working with ex-girlfriend
Betty Ross conceals a painful past. A freak lab accident reveals
Bruce's heroic impulses but also unleashes his inner demons.
And he becomes the most powerful being on the face of the
earth. A super-hero and a monster...
Hulk
was one of Summer 2003's most anticipated movie releases but
it failed to live up to the hype. Part of the problem was
the fact that the movie doesn't seem to have a proper focus.
Is it an action movie? Or a film about the monster within
us all? Or is it a love story? It tries to be all three, but
fails to do any with any real conviction. The movie also seems
confused as to whether to stay faithful to the comics or to
leave the Marvel Universe behind and try to stand on it's
own two feet.
The
extras bear this out. In one featurette we are told how they
were trying to stay away from a comic book feel, yet in another
featurette we were informed how they were trying to emulate
the look of the comics?!!?
Another
problem is that too much is invested in the big green guy.
I'm sorry, but CGI is still not advanced enough for Ang Lee
to be able to pull this off. There are a number of good looking
effects, but there are also a lot of poor ones. When it comes
to the real actors the acting is faultless but the script
is poor. There are moments when you'll laugh out loud because
you won't believe how badly the story is patched together.
There is a terrible sequence which has a flashback within
a flashback which was pointless.
Stylistically
this movie is way off the mark. Every now and then, for no
good reason, Lee decides to produce a comic book feel to the
screen in the form of comic panels. However this style comes
across as amateurish. Instead of going for the style that
viewers of TV show 24 are familiar with (i.e. the split
screens tying in events going on at the same time in different
locations) we are, more often than not, given two, three four
or more shots of the same scene. And the panel's move around
all over the place giving the impression that the director
is a young pop music director who has just been given some
new software to play with and insists on using it everywhere
for no good reason.
There
are a few exceptions to this that are explained in one of
the documentaries. There is a scene with Betty in a car which
sees the background chance (which I didn't spot the first
time I watched the movie) and a great scene with the Hulk
crashing through a building and then the bits of flying wall
etc actually explode out of the picture to reveal the Hulk.
While these work well, they are the few and far between. The
in-your-face frames spoil the better subtle effects.
Even
the extras are rather dull (mind you aren't most these days).
Although I was surprised to learn that Lee himself played
the part of the Hulk. You'll be rolling around on the floor
in tears of laughter as you watch Lee "getting into character"
and the back slapping "lovey" talk that all the
actors spew out about how wonderful Lee was will be enough
to make you spew yourself.
Extras
include: Feature commentary with director Ang Lee; Hulk Cam:
Inside the Rage - access to behind the scenes footage throughout
the film; Making of; Superhero Revealed: The Anatomy of the
Hulk - manipulate and dissect a 3D hulk model; Deleted scenes;
Hulkification - "You're Making Me Angry" scene drawn by illustrators
from around the world (in Japanese Anime, Euro Style and Marvel
Comics style); Evolution of the Hulk;
The Incredible Ang Lee; The Dog Fight Scene; The Unique Style
of Editing the Hulk; DVD-ROM content.
If
you watch this movie without doing at least one of the following
then you are probably under 12 years of age, or insane: Laugh
at some corny dialogue; Loose the plot - what little there
is of it; Say: "That looks crap!" or "As if!";
Say: "Oh look! Isn't that the original TV Hulk in a cameo!";
Suddenly remember the TV Hulk being a lot better than this;
Fall asleep at least once; and suddenly realise that you're
missing tonight's Coronation Street.
One
thing is certain if you bought this DVD expecting a quality
movie it's going to make you angry!
Pete
Boomer
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