Review of Hulk (2003) by Thequietgamer — 31 Dec 2017

Ang Lee has always had a knack for visual creativity. That is very easily seen here. The goal of the movie was to show a deeper side of the Marvel character. Perhaps capturing some of the melancholy of the 1978 show. This is partly successful. The Hulk himself has some truly good moments that portray him as a tragic character. Unfortunately these only apply to Hulk and not his human counterpart Bruce Banner, who gets almost all of the screen-time. Don't expect to see much of the big, green smashing machine. The problem here is that none of what's happening is terribly interesting at all. The actors are trying, but there's no emotional resonance. Their performances feel sterile. Some of the stuff they have Eric Bana say and do made me laugh. I just couldn't help it when he was growling or imitating the Hulk's huge heartbeat. Nick Nolte is the only person onscreen of any note and even he doesn't compare to Hulk's remarkably suggestive facial expressions.

I give the movie credit for trying to deliver on what really made the character popular over the years, as opposed to just focusing on mindless action. People love Hulk because he's easy to sympathize with. You really aren't able to see that here though, as he's in this movie only a small portion of the time. When he is onscreen, despite a few moments that really do show there's a heart and a brain to the monster, we mostly just get to watch him destroy. Somehow Ang Lee managed to make that dull as well. The majority of the movie is dedicated to Banner and his struggles with his past and the conspiracies of his father. Quite frankly, all of that stuff is just boring. A nice effort. A respectable one at that. Unfortunately, the final product shows that most of what's going on here just doesn't work in the way it was intended to.