By Chaos, Freelance Writer
Hulk's sheer power, rage and his being a child are all clearly expressed. His emotions are clear on his face, muscles coils and unleash and, to all intents and purposes, he almost looks like he came straight out of the comic. - File
HULK IS based on The Incredible Hulk, the comic book character created by the Marvel company stalwarts Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s.
Knowing this, and from the perspective of a self-proclaimed comic aficionado, one could be forgiven for expecting an all-out action film, where plot is incidental, lots of things get destroyed and the title character says "Hulk will smash puny humans!"
After all, having seen X-Men, X2:X-Men United and Daredevil (which are, with Spider-Man, some of the most recent Marvel movie adaptations), an emphasis on special effects, mind-bending displays of superhuman powers and ridiculous plot twists would have been about par for the course.
NOT HIS STYLE
Then you might stop to think. Hulk was directed by Ang Lee, the man who gave us The Ice Storm and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lee might do any number of things, but a mindless action movie is definitely not his style. So, not knowing exactly what to expect, one goes to see Hulk.
The result is somewhat confusing at best. In the comic, Bruce Banner became the Hulk when he saved his eventual best friend, Rick Jones, from the effects of a Gamma bomb he had designed and was testing in the desert, exposing himself to gamma radiation which enabled his transformation into the 15-foot tall, 3000-pounds behemoth, which gets stronger the madder it gets. Simple.
EXPERIMENTS
In the movie however, Bruce becomes the Hulk when exposed to gamma rays after saving a co-worker in a lab where they, and Banner's recently ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (Academy Award-winner Jennifer Connelly) are scientists working on nanotechnology and gamma radiation. In this case, the exposure to radiation sets loose something in Banner's DNA which was there courtesy of his father, David's, experiments on himself.
This is where one of the first confusing things appears in the movie. Bruce is supposed to have inherited some sort of mutated DNA from his father,
yet there is a scene where David is seen injecting his son with a green substance, Bruce subsequently briefly develops green veins and tinged skin, implying that is what caused the mutation. However, back to the story. Bruce grows up repressed - emotionally and in other ways, which leads to a break-up with Betty - who early on in the film blames herself for her attraction to emotionally-detached men.
As far as Bruce knows, his parents died when he was very young and now he and his colleagues are working on an experiment with far-reaching implications when it comes to rapid healing and the like. Of course, their work attracts unwelcomed attention, from both the army - in this case led by General Ross (Sam Elliot), who also happens to be Betty's father, and the private sector in the form of Glenn Talbot (Josh Lucas) - both characters from the comic.
David Banner pops up out of nowhere - with three dogs, including a French poodle - Bruce pulls a hero act and lo and behold, the Hulk appears.
Comparisons have been made to the Frankenstein monster and even Hyde of Jekyll and Hyde with regards to this version of the Hulk. Personally, what came to mind was a repressed inner child which suddenly found itself able to vent after years of being forced into the underground of a subconciousness.
A dangerous thing at best.
A WORK OF ART
Ang Lee treats Hulk like a work of art - poetry even. Everything has a reason and sometimes understanding these reasons gets convoluted.
Australian Eric Bana plays Bruce Banner and does well, considering the fact that he has to portray a character that is devoid of emotion until he starts to almost remember his shattered past. Connelly as Betty Ross spends a large part of the movie crying and dependent on others, a direct contrast to the comic, where she 'stands by her man', no matter what.
Nick Nolte chews the scenery with relish, especially in a post-climatic scene where Lee deliberately has he and Bana on what could be a stage for a two-man play, in which Nolte emotes and exposes, under stage lighting, in a manic manner before going over the edge and literally digging his teeth into a source of power, leading to the movie's climax.
A final word or so. Much has been said about the fact that the Hulk in the film is CGI (Computer Graphic Imaging) animated, with many saying that Lou Ferrigno (who played the Hulk in the television series and has a cameo as a security guard with Stan Lee in the film) should have played the role in the movie. The Hulk, again, is 15 feet tall and 3000 pounds. The CGI is excellent. Hulk's sheer power, rage and his being a child are all clearly expressed. His emotions are clear on his face, muscles coils and unleash and, to all intents and purposes, he almost looks like he came straight out of the comic. Which is a good thing.
Hulk, written by John Turman, Michael France and James Schamus and based on a story by Schamus and the Marvel comic book character is not for those who want a 'normal' summer movie. It makes you think. You might like it or you might not but it sure as hell makes you think.
