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Hulk Smash! Indeed The Hulk does smash through
every expectation of it as a movie. What makes The Hulk
so special is its uniqueness even within the comic book genre.
Director Ang Lee and Company have transcended the stereotypical
adventure by creating a psychological thriller, romance, Greek
tragedy, and action film all rolled into one.
The Hulk chronicles the adventures of Bruce Banner
(Bana), an emotionally troubled scientist whose inner
rage transforms him into a mindless creature of incredible
strength. Fellow researcher Betty Ross (Connolly) provides
the beauty that calms the most savage beast, while her father
General Ross (Elliot) is concerned about his daughter’s
interest in Banner for reasons unknown to anyone but himself.
General Ross knows that the adopted Banner is conducting the
same type of research as his real father, the deranged David
Banner (Nolte). The film’s stylish but overlong opening
credits explain the kind of work his father was doing. David
Banner experiments on himself and passes on his mutated DNA
to his son by accident. David knows that the world will not
tolerate a unique creation like his son. His father’s hopes
and fears of creating a human with regenerative capabilities
and superhuman strength are realized when an accident at the
lab exposes Bruce to gamma radiation, activating the beast
within him.
All this science experiment gamma radiation stuff is total
mumbo jumbo. The movie explores the true origins of Bruce
Banner’s power—his deep-seated emotional problems. From the
very beginning the movie hints around at Banner’s troubled
past, slowly unveiling more and more of the truth until revealing
a secret that would make the most well-balanced person more
than a little disturbed. Eric Bana handles Banner’s inner
conflict just like the character does; by ignoring it. He
remains completely focused on his work, shutting out all emotions
including his love for Betty.
She still feels compassion for Bruce even after his condition
is revealed, partly because she is drawn to emotionally distant
men like her father, another all-work, no-play kind of guy.
Betty clearly always wants to do the right thing and Connolly
uses every moment of screen time to its fullest, conveying
that the right thing is not always easy. She’s able to emote
more with one facial expression than other actresses are with
pages of dialogue. General Ross, like his daughter and all
great villains, is convinced that he is doing the right thing
and, just like Bruce, he is completely incapable of displaying
his love for Betty. Sam Elliot plays him just like that, a
total straight shooter with duty first and all other priorities
a distant third. David Banner, on the other hand, is just
plain nuts. Nick Nolte is given entirely too much time to
mug for the camera and the subplot about David’s quest for
superpowers represents a needless tampering with the source
material.
Part of The Hulk’s uniqueness even within the comic book
world stems from his powers being a curse. Bruce Banner is
a well educated, extremely intelligent guy, but when he transforms
into the Hulk all the muscles grow except the one that matters
the most. Worse still, when he awakens from his berserk rage
he has only a shadowy recollection of the actions taken by
his alter ego. This dichotomy of Bruce as the superego and
the Hulk as the id is duplicated in the pacing of the movie.
During the first half the movie is slow and clinical, featuring
many scenes of experiments in the lab; even the psychological
exposition is dealt with in a more detached way. The Hulk
dominates the second half, delivering non-stop action.
In addition to its dark psychological undertones The Hulk
has some truly original cinematography going for it. Constant
usages of split-screen make The Hulk appear as if a
comic book has been recreated on the silver screen. The film
adroitly transitions from one scene to the next by zooming
in and out, using wipes, or any number of other film tricks.
Best of all, The Hulk looks good. He looks just like Eric
Bana except bigger, angrier, and greener, and he seamlessly
interacts with his environment. The Hulk swaggers after manhandling
opponents and takes down his enemies in some rather unusual
ways, imbuing the Hulk with a little personality. Jennifer
Connolly also demands attention in every shot she’s in, with
her large, deep green eyes and thick black hair, every time
she has a close-up the cinematographer has made the right
decision. Accompanying the view at just the right times is
Danny Elfman’s note-perfect score.
Ang Lee and Company swung for the fences on this one and
made it to third base. The movie is unevenly paced. Too much
slowness at the beginning and too much mind-numbing action
at the end, coupled with the David-Banner-total-waste-of-time
subplot, prevent The Hulk from being as perfect as
a movie can be. The whole jumping through the air with the
greatest of ease was appropriate for Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon, but somewhat farfetched for The Hulk. The Hulk
is definitely different from many other movies like it and
most of the original ideas it introduces are good. Let us
hope Hollywood can tolerate more unique movies like this.
—Woodrow Bogucki
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While we would never encourage anyone to destroy a video... 
