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Amazon.co.uk Review
Amazingly, Ang Lee's Hulk makes a fair fist of pleasing everybody. The latest in a run of Marvel Comic-to-film transfers, it acknowledges the history of a character who dates back to 1962 while recreating him in contemporary terms. Though this, Hulk's origin still draws on the 1960s iconography of bomb tests and desert bases, this new take mixes gene-tampering with gamma radiation and never forgets that poor Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) has been psychologically primed by a mad father (Nick Nolte) and a disappointed girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) to transform from repressed wimp to big green powerhouse even before the mad science kicks in.
The long first act is enlivened by comic book-style split-screen effects and multiple foreshadowings--Lee keeps finding excuses to light Bana's face green--but is also absorbing personal drama from the man who gave you The Ice Storm before flexing his action muscles on Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. When Banner begins his Jekyll-and-Hyde seizures, the ILM CGI boys step in and use Bana as a template for the most fully-realised digital characterisation yet seen in the movies. Comics fans will thrill as a credibly bulky, superswift, super-green behemoth tangles with mutated killer dogs (including a very vicious poodle) in a night time forest, bursts out of confinement in an underground secret base, takes on America's military might while bouncing around a Road Runner and Coyote-like South Western desert and then invades San Francisco for some major "Hulk... smash" action. Artful and entertaining, engaging and explosive, this is among the most satisfying superhero movies.
On the DVD: Hulk two-disc set doesn't quite hulk-out as well comparative Marvel movie releases for the X-Men films, Spider-Man and Daredevil. Disc 2 assembles a pile of those infotainment documentaries prepared to drum up pre-publicity but which feel a bit redundant once the movie is out, especially since there's so much repetition between the featurettes. It's all very well, and some of the technical stuff is fascinating, but this particular film could do with a more in-depth thematic approach: there's a lot about how the CGI Hulk was realised but little on the development of the story, the performances or the general tone, though Ang Lee's slightly sparse commentary makes interesting stabs in that direction. The biggest revelation in the background material is that Lee, known for his delicacy of touch, himself wore the motion capture suit and smashed up plywood tanks as a guide for the CGI animators. --Kim Newman
Product Description
Universal, Studios, Region 2; Region 4 2003 138 mins
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good but flawed film in an excellent collection.,
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This review is from: The Hulk: Limited Edition DVD Box Set [2003] (DVD)
I always had great hope in my heart at the prospect of a Film version of Marvels classic The Hulk. The story was so relevant to society, so moving and so exciting, perfect for the cinema. Yet i also worried that whoever made the film would ruin the look of the hulk or by making it all action, so when i heard Ang Lee had got the rights to make the film, my excitment increased. My expectations were not fully met. As a person who has no clue what makes "great" CGI and "poor" CGI, i personally thought the Hulk looks great. How else other than CGI could you make this monster come to life? A man in a suit and make up, i think not. Yet its not the Hulk itself that makes this film somewhat a dissapointment, but the over complicated story of the Hulks creation.The original version has Bruce Banner saving a young man during a gamma bomb test, in which Banner himself gets poisened, making him turn into the hulk whenever he gets emotional. The film, rightly so, has a good story behind it of how Bruce has "issues", what these issues are and how they effect his transformations. But we also get, in great deatail, a story of biological research of his Banners father, how he was used in experiments and many other complex biological issues, and then all of a sudden........there is a mistake with a Gamma test and Banner has to save his assistent thus getting infected himself. What was the point of all the biological talk when in the end they just stuck with the original events? Apart from this the film is great, if not too long, and mixes comic capers, good acting and serious issues well. The film itself only deserves 3 stars, but this excellent version gains an extra star as it has a great bonus DVD, comic replicas, extensive liner notes and of course comes in the great "hulk fist" packeging! Essential for marvel, film and Hulk fans alike
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hey,come on,it's not that bad...,
By
This review is from: Hulk [DVD] [2003] (DVD)
A lot of people have slammed this movie. Never having been a great fan of the Hulk in any respect,I was not very excited about the idea when my seven year old son 'made' me take him to see this. To be honest,I quite enjoyed it. The special effects were (in this day and age) adequate,and the storyline,although not as upbeat as X-Men or Spiderman,was fairly straightforward, albeit a bit drawn out. The first hour of the movie is far too long,where it doesn't have to be. The persona of David Banner,(the Hulks dad) is unnecessary and shouldn't have been there. Along with mutant poodles and hanging around on jet fighters and (almost) flying into space,these bolted-on kiddy exciters have no place here. Marvel movies,really have one of two places,they cater to the adult audience (Blade,Daredevil - No don't laugh!) or Spiderman (which was fantastic!) for the kids. It seems that trying to cater to both tends to leave something missing from both. When The Hulk! finally gets in an appearance and starts leaping around the desert on well-muscled legs,the action is rivetting,and obviously you want more of this wonderful CGI US Army - bashing fun. This is great stuff. There just isn't enough of it,though. It soon degrades into unrealistic flights into the ionosphere and underground antics below the 'Streets of San Francisco'. The main thing that lifts this film out of the mire,though is the acting. Relatively unknown actor Eric Bana (not Banner!) is superb in his portrayal of the tragic Bruce Banner and Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross also delivers the goods,showing that a poor script CAN be overcome by good actors. The ending of the movie is a total disaster and completely spoilt it for me. When The Hulk fights his nemesis (no clues!), it is done at night for some strange reason,and I for one,(even on the big screen!) could hardly make out anything that was going on. I am used to working nightshift and have very good vision,but I am going to buy the novel when it comes out,just to find out what happened!. See the movie,the entertaining bits are very entertaining.If you have the DVD or video,just fast-forward the rest.Needless to say,my son enjoyed the movie,too,although I found myself at a loss when he asked,"What happened at the end,Dad?"
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Destined to be re-evaluated as a classic.,
By
This review is from: Hulk [DVD] [2003] (DVD)
Here's a funny thing. A film about a man who turns green and smashes stuff when he gets angry turns out not to really be about that after all.
When I first saw this film at the cinema I was left in a neither-here-nor-there frame of mind. I saw it was good but didn't fully appreciate what I'd just seen. It wasn't really a film about the Hulk but a film about relationships which happened to have the Hulk in it. Now after the umpteenth reshowing on ITV2 I am finally seeing some of what I think Ang Lee was trying to show us in the first place. It's a beautiful film about complex emotional issues transposed into a comic book world. Isolation, abandonment, love, familial duty, jealousy, emotional trauma and of course finally anger mixed with frustration at emotional impotence. In many ways it even serves as a metaphor for repressed sexuality. Have no doubt this is a tragedy of immense proportions. Hulk is a distinctly brave and visionary film which has largely been dismissed as just another comic book film by some yet it doesn't pander to a casual audience either. This is possibly why it was perceived as a failure by so many. Particularly noteworthy is Jennifer Connelly's performance. Unhurried close-ups of her face, subtly reflecting her changing emotional involvement become almost overwhelming the longer the camera intrusively lingers. I'm tempted to say that this is possibly her best performance in a movie so far even though she's been great in so many others. It's easy to portray such (comic book) supporting characters as caricatures or stereotypes (just look at the dismal 2008 Hulk movie for evidence of that) but Lee and Connelly bring such depth to Betty Ross that she somewhat steals the whole film. Eric Bana is well cast as the emotionally distant and vaguely unsympathetic Bruce Banner not forgetting the excellent supporting cast including Nick Nolte and Sam Elliott. Action scenes are handled deftly but similar in tone to the work of legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni, the action is the merely the device by which the larger picture is revealed, and not the other way around. The difficulty obviously arises when you try to sell a film like this to an audience. Short sighted reliance on populist demographics is always going to fail with a work of this complexity. So there you have it. A film that is neither fish nor fowl but adroitly occupies the no-man's land in between. I feel certain that this film will eventually garner the level of praise and appreciation it truly deserves but probably only by future generations. Ang Lee constantly reaffirms just why he has earnt his place among the all-time directorial greats by constantly challenging audience preconceptions and never failing to create thoughtful and intelligent films whatever genre he works in. "Hulk" a future classic?.......... I have absolutely no doubt.
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