"The Hulk"
Universal Pictures
Rating: D
Sam Raimi and Bryan Singer have defined how to make successful film adaptations of comic books. In "The Hulk," director Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") seems to do everything in his power to avoid the successful formulas.
The short list of blunders in this film include -- but are not limited to -- disrespect to the source material, frivolous characters, a convoluted plot, poor structure and an inability to develop characters honestly. Joel Schumacher would be proud.
In order to properly adapt a comic book to film, one must make some changes. Spider-Man was given organic web-shooters. In "X-Men," Singer ignored Storm's claustrophobia for the sake of the plot. These sorts of changes are acceptable.
The changes made to Hulk went beyond adaptation to film; they fundamentally altered the core of the character.
In the comics, Bruce Banner (played by Eric Bana in the movie) was working on the Gamma Bomb (a highly destructive weapon) when an accident occurred, causing Banner to become the Hulk. Banner is "punished," in a sense, for working on something so destructive.
In this movie, Banner's transformation is due in part to his father's manipulation of DNA which is passed on to Bruce. This makes Bruce Banner a victim. Victims make terrible central characters, especially if they aren't responsible for their own salvation.
Bruce Banner is just along for the ride. He has no choice in his fate. He doesn't persevere on his own merit. He is only saved because of Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly).
That makes for some terrible story telling. Bruce Banner as a victim would work if we could see how Hulk represents the "monster" in mankind (like in Frankenstein) but the movie barely shows any human reaction to the Hulk.
Bruce Banner as a victim would work if the movie did anything to make us love Bruce Banner; then we could sympathize with him. The movie never lets us connect to Banner, either.
Instead, what we get is a character we can barely relate to who gets dragged along on a nightmare of a ride that isn't very nightmarish and ultimately has little, if any, consequence to the people that surround him.
Every character in the movie is a static character. Even Betty Ross has barely changed by the end of the movie, save for a slightly better relationship with her father.
As for the Hulk CG performance, it did not meet expectations. Hulk could have been scarier. Too often his anger seemed unjustified. Worst of all, all three Hulk-out incidents included a shot of a sad, remorseful, puppy dog-faced Hulk. From the get-go we are expected to sympathize for Hulk, not fear him. The sympathetic angle should have been saved for the end of the movie.
Perhaps the film's biggest flaw is that Ang Lee doesn't provide Hulk with a context. "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "Daredevil" all painted vivid pictures of the worlds in which their respective heroes live.
In "The Hulk," we barely ever leave science labs and military bases, let alone see one common man's reaction to the green giant. If not for Connelly's acting, the movie would have been entirely void of humanity.
I suppose this film is a good popcorn flick, but as Marvel movies go, this is the first one to let me down.
Write to Mouse at bbmcshane@bsu.edu
Visit www.classicalgeektheatre.com
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