The origin of the Hulk span all the way back to the 60s
during his first introduction into Marvel comic books. Since that time, the Hulk
has become a traditional Marvel character which led to a TV series base on him
in the late 70s starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. Despite the tv show being
cancelled, the popularity of the Hulk remained strong. The TV show even made a
comeback with a 2 hour TV specials during the late mid 90s. With the rise in popularity
of Marvel Comic movies in early 2000 from Spider-Man to X-Men, it's not a surprise
that production would begin with a Hulk movie. The story behind the Hulk is a
classic one. Mild manner Bruce Banner is exposed to gammer radiation during a
bomb test. Surprisingly, Banner survive being expose to the gammer radiation.
But not without faults. Being expose to the gammer ray have cause Banner to change
into a monster called the Hulk whenever Banner get's angry. The Hulk is a monster
that is misunderstood and fear by mankind due to his enormous strength and look.
The angrier the Hulk gets, the stronger he becomes. Despite being a monster with
strength that is unmatch by none, the Hulk is pretty much a good guy who help
defeat bad people. The only person that have a kind spot for the Hulk is Bruce
Banner sweetheart, Betty Ross. This is the basic concept behind the comic book.
Of course the movie adaptation will be a little different. So let's have an overview
look of the movie.
The movie began with a flashback of Bruce Banner childhood back in 1966 before
he was born to the time that he was born with his birth parents. Here we are introduce
to David Banner, Bruce's father. At a glance we come to the conclusion that David
is a scientist that is working on a gammer ray serum for the military in hopes
of improving men's genes to become super human. The military under a young military
commander named Ross has order David Banner to not test on humans. Of course being
the rash scientist that David Banner is, he ignored the order and decided to test
the gammer ray serum on himself. Time passes on and Bruce Banner was born. Unfortunately
for Bruce, he had inherited David Banner blood that was infected with the gammer
ray serum when he was born. As we get close to the end of the flashback scene,
we witness an arguement between Bruce's parents and an explosion at the military
base. What had transpire during the arguement is left in the dark as the movie
then move to present day time. Here we are introduce to a more mature and older
Bruce Banner, his ex-girlfriend but still co-worker, Betty Ross, and a lab assistant.
Here the trio are testing out the use of gammer ray to help heal wounds. During
one of the testing, Bruce got expose to a full gammer ray blast. Strangely enough,
instead of dying, Bruce merely ends up in the hospital the next day. Feeling better
than ever. Now at this point, Bruce was visited by a stranger during his stay
at the hospital by a man claiming to be his father. David Banner then proceeded
to tell Bruce about his past and that Bruce is different from other men. Dropping
hints of what David did to himself and the effect that it had on Bruce when he
was born. Of course at this point, having been expose to the full gamma ray Bruce
started to show sign of a change. During one night in the hospital, Bruce had
a nightmare vision of a childhood trauma. Here he transformed into the Hulk for
the first time and began his rampage. Next day, Bruce wakes up in his house with
Betty Ross unaware of what had transpire before. Of course all is not good as
General Ross comes knocking on the door asking Bruce about his father David. At
this point the picture becomes more clearer on what had happened to David Banner.
Apparently David Banner had escape military imprisonment and now the military
is looking for him. At the same time the connection between the Hulk and Bruce
had been made and the military deem the Hulk as a threat and that Bruce must be
locked up for good for all of mankind. This is the part where the story starts
to unfold. How the Hulk came to be. The Hulk escaping military confinement. And
of course the all out battle between the Hulk and the military. Of course you
have Betty Ross playing the beauty that tamed the beast during these great battles.
In the end, the movie got a little bit too confusing and too drawn out. The problem
with the story is that it tends to focus way too much on Bruce Banner and not
on the Hulk. Second is the drama between Bruce Banner and David Banner. As a movie
watcher, I didn't find the story behind Bruce and David Banner that interesting
or believable. There were too much talking that made this movie too slow. Only
till about half way into the movie did the action start to pick up pace. Interests
starts to pick up during the middle of the movie but then it quickly died down
again. Cause once again the movie refocus itself on Bruce and David. At this point,
you are pretty much sick of seeing Bruce Banner and his father. And that's the
problem with this story. It tries to be too serious when it didn't need to be.
Instead of focusing on the Hulk which is the reason why we are watching this movie,
it focuses on puny Banner. The ending of the story didn't help too. Without giving
away a spoiler, the ending was just too confusing, too dark and not down right
to the point of satisfaction. Part of it was the fact that everything was filmed
in the dark. By the time the story was over. You are just plain glad that it's
over. Too long with scenes that are drawnout to the point where it made watching
some scenes a pain. Let's looks at some of the good and bad on the movie.
A pleasure
to look at.
Now I'm
pissed!
Good
There aren't a lot of good stuff in the movie but there
are some that fans can look forward to. Of all the interesting characters in the
movie, the Hulk, is the best. That's surprising considering that the Hulk is made
of pure CG and not played by a real live actor. It's not so much as the actors
that are bland, but the characters that they portray. I found that of all the
scenes in the movie, the ones that includes the Hulk were more interesting. The
scenes go by quicker and a lot more interesting. Okay, sure you can bet a scene
with the Hulk will include action sequence so it will be more exciting but there
are scenes with the Hulk and Betty that makes you want to know more about the
Hulk and what he's thinking. Overall the Hulk doesn't really talk at all other
than the normal grunting and screaming in anger. But you can tell there's more
to the Hulk than just that. Which makes the Hulk a very interesting character.
The special effects and action is also very good. You can tell that a movie like
this can only be made when the technology is available. Well that technology has
arrive, called CG. The Hulk for one is made of pure CG. No longer will we have
a guy being painted green as the Hulk. But a CG rendered Hulk that can truely
capture the Hulk in his size and power. One of concern when having an all CG Hulk
was that he might look too fake. Luckily in this reviewer opinion, the CG Hulk
look very real. You can't really tell that it's CG unless you know beforehand
that the Hulk was done in CG. In which case most viewers do. Still despite knowing
beforehand, the Hulk doesn't look fake at all. He blends well with live action
characters. A shot of the Hulk towering next to Betty looks good and show off
the sheer size of the Hulk. The action sequence in the movie is excellent. Especially
those between the Hulk versus the U.S army. I thought this was done exceptionally
well. It truely shows off the power of the Hulk when he smashes tanks and helicopters
to bits with little effect. Deflecting incoming missles like they were flies.
All good action sequences. But the best special effect that does the Hulk justice
and showcase the real Hulk is the part where you see the Hulk jumping from one
area to the next. This is something that can't be done with a live actor. This
is a scene that is breathtaking that is directed excellently. And would make any
Hulk fan say, "Yeah, finally we get to see the Hulk jump." The Hulk looks good
when moving from one spot to the next. In terms of live action characters, the
only saving grace that is forth a look at is the lovely and beautiful Jennifer
Connelly as Betty Ross. Ten years ago, Jennifer Connelly was one of the most beautiful
upcoming actress around. Ten years later, she's still one of the most beautiful
actress around. You can see why her character, Betty, is the beauty that tamed
the beast in this movie. Any man or monster can get lost looking into those beautiful
eyes. Her scenes with the Hulk are the best ones in the movie. Despite the fact
that Jennifer (Betty) and the Hulk don't have any real speaking role with one
another, you can clearly see the connection between the Hulk and Betty. Just by
the way they look at each other. Not a lover connection but something special
and different. And it works perfectly in the movie. And director Ang Lee captures
some excellent close up shots that shows the beauty and concern in Betty. In short
three things that are good about this movie: the Hulk, the action & special effects,
and Jennifer Connelly.
Look at
me. Dork Alert!
I'm the
real Hulk!
Bad
Where to begin? Well let's look at the overall movie. Super-hero
movies have always been in this reviewer's opinion base on science fiction and
action. But the Hulk is different. It's more science fiction and drama than action.
The problem with the script is that I think they try to make the Hulk or Bruce
Banner more complicated then he should be. In the comic, it was just a simple,
Bruce Banner was hit with a gammer ray bomb. Here they made Bruce Banner a person
who suffers from childhood memory oppression due to a traumatic event when he
was little. And add that in with a dysfunctional relationship between his father
and him. It all makes the story more complicated than it should be. There's nothing
wrong with trying to bring depth to a character but trying too hard with too much
depth will end up hurting than helping. In all honestly, I didn't really care
too much between the comparison and interaction between father and son. It just
fell flat to me. To make matter worse is the casting of Eric Bana as Bruce Banner.
I haven't the foggiest idea as to what director Ang Lee sees in Erica Bana that
would make him a good Bruce Banner. Hulk fans have always invision Bruce Banner
as an intellectually, calm, and mature individual. Something totally opposite
of the Hulk. Someone who we are suppose to care about as someone being cursed
with an alter rampaging ego like the Hulk. But here you wish Bruce Banner would
fall off a cliff to save us the grace of seeing him anymore in this movie. Bill
Bixby makes a good Banner. Erica Bana does not. Another problem is the lack of
chemistry between Jennifer Connelly and Erica Bana on screen. Betty Ross and Bruce
Banner as suppose to be sweathearts, but you just don't get that feeling here.
More or less, you are thinking that these two shouldn't even be together within
a 100 yard radius. Sure in the movie Bruce and Betty are an ex-couple, but you
still have yourself scratching your head as to what Betty Ross sees in Bruce Banner
to begin with. It's not a good sign when the leading actress have more chemistry
with a CG animation then with a real leading actor. Then there's the so call relationship
between General Ross and his daughter Betty Ross. From the start of the movie,
we are under the impression that they don't get along with one another even though
they love each other. But the movie doesn't really tell us why their relationship
is strained to the point where they don't get along with one another. Do we really
care to know? I doubt it. And that is where the problem lies. We don't really
care too much for any of these characters in the movie. And if you don't care
about the characters in the movie, then chances are that you're not going to enjoy
the movie much. The length of the movie is also it's enemy. The movie stretches
for 2 and a half hour long. 2 and a half hour long is still too long for a movie
these days, even though more and more movies are lasting that long. If a movie
is going to stretch more than 2 hours than it should be a fast pace movie that
you don't even notice the time. Unfortunately this movie is very slow pace. The
action doesn't even start till nearly an hour into a movie. That's much too long
for a super hero movie. You have to endure nearly an hour of the father and son
thing with the Banners as well as Bruce Banner's childhood past. Seeing the Hulk
is like a relief from the mindless Banner sub plots. And finally to cap off in
what is already a bad movie experience is the ending of the movie. This is by
far one of the worst ending for a super hero movie since 2000. The ending is done
in night time where everything is dark. You need to have vision of a bat to be
able to see what's going on in the movie to see all the action clearly. And to
top it off, by the time the ending had gone and the big end movie fight is over,
you will be left scratching you head and saying to yourself, "That's it? That's
all there is? What just happen?". A very disappointing ending to a disappointing
movie. In short, too much of Bruce and David Banner sequences that people don't
really care for, a story that is uninteresting, and actors being casts for the
wrong parts.
I love
extras !
The future
is not clear.
Bonus
The DVD comes in a 2 DVD set. There are bonuses in both
of them. But the main bonus comes from the second CD. A quick run down on some
fo the bonuses on the DVD set. You will get deleted scenes, a look at how the
production of the fight with the mutant dogs is done, an inside look at the history
of the Hulk through the years in Marvel Comics, an exploration of the power of
the Hulk, how the special effects came about in making the Hulk to be a life like
character, a feature length interview with director Ang Lee, as well as a full
movie version that includes inserted commentaries from the directer and cast.
There are other added bonuses as well. But the point is that the added DVD is
top notch. Gives you an excellent insight to the making of the movie as well as
the full history of the Hulk during the days when he was first created. Everything
you need to know about the Hulk, you can pick up with these bonus packages. It's
well worth your time to take a look over the bonus features.
Final Analysis
With the current buzz in Marvel Comics movies, the Hulk
so far is the worst of them. Up till now, I enjoyed all the Marvel movies, from
Spider-Man to Daredevil. And let's face it, in general, Marvel have been doing
pretty good but I guess it's just a matter of time before a movie becomes a dud.
And as big a budget the Hulk is, it's a dud. It will be known as the blockbuster
movie that became a bust in summer 2003. They had the right idea and look for
the Hulk but the script just wasn't good as well as the casting for Bruce Banner.
Would I like to see a sequel? I think this movie deserve a second chance with
a better script. Plus I like to see Jennifer Connelly again as well as the Hulk.
There are great possibility. But being as how hype and big budget this movie was,
will Univeral Pictures take a chance on a sequel? That's the question.
