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By
WAYNE KLEIN
First the bad news -- many
times the Hulk looks like a CGI character. It's
not likely that CGI actors are going to replace
human ones anytime soon. While the CGI Hulk was
able to do amazing things (leaping tall buildings
in a single bound anyone?), he was never involving
the way a human actor could be. And Nick Nolte was
waaayyy over the top as Bruce Banner's Dad. Plus,
Ang Lee's film is too long at 2 hours and 18
minutes. Given the density of the narrative, it's
clear it probably couldn't have been done in less
time but with fewer subplots, the film might have
worked a bit more effectively. I'm not saying too
much plot is necessarily bad but it is when the
central character and main story gets lost in the
process.
Now the good news -- "Hulk," despite its many
flaws, is an ambitious, interesting drama that
provides a fresh spin on the Frankenstein's
Monster story. While the film is hobbled by having
to explain the origin story, Banner's childhood
and the central conflict between Banner, the
government and a mysterious multinational
corporation (represented by Josh Lucas in a
wonderfully oily performance), Ang Lee still
manages to invest considerable emotion into this
action drama. Although Lee isn't always successful
at merging the action comic book genre with the
Greek tragedy at the core of the story, I have to
give him kudos for the effort.
Eric Bana gives a nicely shaded performance as
Bruce Banner. It's clear that Bana is no fluke and
is definitely an actor to watch. Every performance
he's given has been distinctive and powerful. This
is no exception. Jennifer Connelly's dramatic
talents are a bit wasted as Banner's ex-girlfriend
cum fellow scientist. She gives a good performance
but is little more than window dressing for much
of the film. But Lucas is marvelous as Banner's
evil doppelganger. His role, like Connelly's, is a
bit underdeveloped given all the story crammed
into this two hour plus feature. And Sam Elliott
gives a crisp, tightly wound performance as
Connelly's father. He makes a convincing military
commander.
But Nick Nolte is a loon. His character looms over
the film like a bad odor. It's clear that he's the
catalyst for much of what occurs and he clearly
relishes playing the role over the top. Still, I
had difficulty having much sympathy for him. He's
not misunderstood just crazy as all get out.
The plot goes like this: Bruce Banner is a
charming, brilliant scientist who has developed a
new technology using nanobots to improve human
health. His research has its dark side as well;
there's considerable risk and dark military
applications as well. During the course of an
experiment, Banner sustains a blast of gamma
radiation when he tries to save another
researcher. While Banner should be dead he isn't
because the blast of gamma radiation released the
mean, green guy the Hulk. Turns out that Banner's
real father was a scientist tinkering with
genetics, who altered himself as part of his
experiment and, in turn, Bruce. Daddy managed to
turn himself into a monster and his poor son too
in the process.
Now the military commander overseeing his Dad's
experiment becomes involved in Banner's world as
well. Seems the military commander's daughter is
in love with Banner and working with him. Papa
didn't like Banner before, and likes him even less
when he finds out he's the son of Banner senior.
The DVD looks great. Lee's stylized comic book
panels look better on television than they did on
the big screen. The resolution is sharp and there
are few digital flaws marring the transfer. The
sound makes full use of the 5.1 format.
The extras are included on both the first and
second disc. There's a feature length commentary
by Lee, and also behind the scenes footage
available to watch during the film when the extras
icon is activated. There are also a number of
deleted scenes (some completely finished others
not quite). It's clear why Lee cut these; they
don't provide an additional depth to the story
although they do provide some nice moments for the
actors.
The interactive exploration of the Hulk's physical
capabilities was underdeveloped. There's also
background text on each actor in the main roles,
director Lee, the screenwriters and producers of
the film.
The second disc includes an Xbox game that allows
you to play one level, and an interesting sequence
where well known artists recreate key scenes from
the film in their own animation styles. This was
actually quite interesting to watch. The sequence
that discusses the creation of the aerial dogfight
scene is also quite interesting.
Although "Hulk" underperformed in theaters, the
film is quite good. It's clear that part of the
problem was too much hype from Universal and an
all too revealing sneak look at the main character
himself. It's clear that Lee wanted to make a film
with the same fidelity and stylistic strength of
Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man." Although he doesn't
quite reach Raimi's film, "Hulk" manages to be an
interesting drama. |
