Hey folks, Harry here... I saw the HULK about a week ago now, but can't put my review up till the Eleventh due to an Embargo I agreed to. As a result, I can't really tell ya how I feel about THE HULK, but I can tell you this. Personally, this is very much a CINEMATIC experience. One - You've never seen action quite like the action in this film, this is true HULK action - in the same amazing way as "Nightcrawler Action". You owe it to yourself to catch it on the big screen. The multi-panel THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR in image editting is wonderful on the big screen - and the sound - I guarantee your home system isn't up to snuff on this. So be cool, it'll be here in another week, and you'll see why HULK SMASHES! Here ya go...
Hello Harry!
I've been reading your news site for aeons but this is my first review for you. As you may guess I am not a native English speaker but please don't let that bother you. Today I had the pleasure to see a press showing of Ang Lee's Hulk in a theater in Helsinki, Finland. I am talking about the real finished movie, NOT some unfinished Internet bootleg copy - I would never ever watch one of those.
How was it? In a word, tremendous! I have never been a fan of Hulk in his comics incarnations but Ang Lee has taken the material and managed to turn into something that at the same time is both faithful to the original comics and also manages to rise above it resulting in a deliciously Shakespearean vision of this tragic character. It is wonderful that Ang Lee is not afraid to keep the movie narrative slow enough at times so as to make the viewers really care about the portrayed characters. Therefore when the action sequences roll on the silver screen they really hit you, there are several scenes where I just had to start laughing in giddy exhilaration. SPOILER: For example we see Hulk twisting a cannon of a tank so that it points at the worrying commander of the tank and we also witness Hulk carried into the stratosphere by a jet fighter. SPOILER OVER Just great, great stuff. Similarly great are all of the actors. Eric Bana was a great choice for Hulk. Likewise Jennifer Connelly as Betty and Sam Elliott as Betty's father General Ross are very good. My favorite of all the talented actors however must be Nick Nolte as Bruce Banner's enigmatic, slightly crazed scientist father.
Ang Lee has chosen to use really effective cinematic narration throughout the movie with an astounding number of weird sweeping or morphing cuts. At many points during the film the image breaks into multiple screens each showing the action from different points of view, e.g. the scene in which helicopters carry Hulk to the desert base is an instant classic with the weird music enhancing it with chilling vibes.
ILM's effect work in this film is also exceptional. The first Internet images of the Hulk character didn't really do it for me so I was pleasantly surprised at just how believable the CG character actually is. Almost everything looks great - maybe some of Hulk's bouncing scenes could have been more believable but even that may be due to the fact that it is hard to accept a guy moving a kilometer (or a mile, heh) in a single leap. I loved the anime or Akira-like ending visions with their surreal quality but some people may disagree.
So, all in all, in my opinion Hulk is definately the best superhero adaptation so far, better than the good Spiderman, and the great X-Men and X-Men 2. I have no doubt that this is all because of Ang Lee, he really is superb director who knows what matters the most. Great action just isn't enough, you need to have more. With Hulk Lee gives us not only great action and great characters but also big issues and drama of truly Shakespearean dimensions. If this movie is not successful, I shall weep for humanity =)
I am a Finnish movie reviewer and a fan of your site that is not afraid to deal with the emotional and intellectual side of the movies (although the talk-backs could be more civilized =). Please, call me ZIP.
Next - here's a completely spoiler free review...
I was lucky enough to be invited to a press screening of the HULK. Ang Lee was there to introduce it too.
Thought you might want to see my spoiler free review.
I've SEEN the movie and all I can say is if you've ever read the Hulk comic book, you are going to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this movie!!! Ang Lee has crafted a mighty fine piece of cinema. My experience of seeing the Hulk on screen was just like being a ten year old kid again. When I left the movie theatre I was high as a kite from the sheer excitement it generated.
And forget about all those people that keep droning on and on about the lame TV show. The HULK is a comic book hero!! The TV show was NEVER a faithful adaptation of the Hulk and always bummed me out as a true Hulk Fan. The TV show was just a lame rip off of the Fugitive, except the main character turned angry and green every now and then. And another thing, Dr banner's name is BRUCE!! Not David!!! And, sorry Mr Ferrigno, I know you put a lot into your performance as the TV Hulk, but a human being could NEVER do justice to what the HULK really is. The Hulk in this movie is EXACTLY the way the Hulk is meant to be. AWESOME!!!!
Forget all those cynics that doubt the movies FX etc. Everything in this movie looks incredible. The intergration of the CG Hulk into the real environments is flawless. When you see Hulk smashing things like crazy and tossing tanks around etc, you believe he's there doing it for real!! The visual effects are among the best I've seen in a movie ever. The action scenes are amazing to behold. They are big, fast, loud and capture Hulk's awesome strength and size perfectly. And wait till you see the scene with the Mutant Dogs. It's savage, brutal and jaw droppingly exciting. It will give kids nightmares!!!
Also, Ang Lee did a wonderful job in translating the comic book feel with his clever use of split screen shots and inventive transitions between scenes. Sometimes the movie actually looks like the page from a comic book! Such a great idea and it works so well. This movie has so much energy, including the music from Danny Elfman, which is his best work yet. I really feel that he's hitting his stride as a composer of film scores. Usually his music feels seperated from the action on screen. Not this time!! The music here works so well. It enhances every scene without ever taking over. Exactly what a film score should do.
I don't want to give away the story, but Ang Lee made sure that the story reflected the very basic theme of the Hulk, and that is the theme of emotional repression. The story is based on freudian theory and explores all the ideas of repressed memory, emotional trauma and of course the unique freudian dynamic between father and son. This is not a simple story at all. It resonates on so many levels and also greatly improves upon the "science" of what created the Hulk by being true to the comic book origin, but spinning it in a new direction. So yes, we still have the gamma radiation explosion in the dessert, but this screenplay runs with that idea and creates a much bigger and complex concept for what really creates the Hulk. It also is the central thrust of the narrative as opposed to it being a simple and disposable origin like Spider-man's was. The origin and creation of the Hulk is basically the whole story of this movie.
Eric Bana is wonderful as Bruce Banner and the chemistry between him and Jennifer Connely works really well. Their relationship seems so real, so fragile and wonderfully heartfelt.
It was so important to me that this movie worked. The Hulk comic book was such a big part of my life as child and teenager and Ang Lee just got it soooooo right. If you liked X-Men and Spider-Man then you will LOVE this. If you didn't like those movies, then why go and see this? It isn't for you. Everyone else, strap yourself in cuz this is one bumpy ride!! HULK RULES!
Now we have OMAC...
Hi Harry, OMAC calling in with a short review of THE (REAL) HULK which I viewed at a press screening, this evening, at the Loews Lincoln Square Theatre on yupper West Side Of Manhattan.
Overall this film was a surprisingly turgid affair that finally delivered some goods in the final act. Ang Lee takes several giant steps down the pulp ladder here as this picture delivers an endless series of talky scenes where actors sit around trying to add perplexingly unnecessary psychological dimensions to what seems a simple 1-2-3 concept. All of the main protagonists are tangled in an elaborate back-story/mystery that receives an endless autopsy but ultimately adds little or nothing to the enigmatic nature of the scientist hero ---and created derisive laughter in the audience here and there with a blatant lack of internal logic. For most of the running time, The Hulk seemed to be slowly sinking in a tide of tedium. Director Lee tied to jazz up lots of dull conversation scenes with endless flashy, flamboyant, transitions and split screen effects that also added little and soon started to seem trite (then downright tacky).
The special effects do wind up looking somewhat like playstation animation----but when The HULK finally dispensed with the humans and lets the CGI take over---I'm happy to say : the flick REALLY DELIVED SOME JUICE! A mid-story forest battle between The Hulk and a pack of mutant beasts was strong but a little hard to discern----and in the third act, The Hulk made great leaps across a desert landscape with a horde of tanks and fighter planes in hot pursuit --- and we FINALLY got a clear big, ugly green character we could understand and some really cool prolonged battle stuff.
At this point I could only shake my head at how long we’d taken to get there
and why we’d taken the lumpy road.
Here's Nole...
Harry,
Long time no scoop ... it's 'Nole' reporting on Hulk. Saw the first NYC screening of the picture earlier tonight at Lincoln Square ... and while I can't give you a detailed review because I'm at work, I did want to chime in early.
On a scale of 1 to 4 stars ... I'd give it ... 2 1/2 stars ... almost 3.
In a nutshell, the movie's pacing stinks. At least for the first half of the film. Ang Lee sets up the film in detail, but he takes way too long to get to the key part of the film ... Bruce becoming 'Ol Greenskin. He bogs things down with the science stuff ... and while it helps ground the Hulk origin at least in the ballpark of our reality ... it also completely swallows up the character of Bruce Banner. In fact, Banner is the weakest character in the film, bar none.
More on him in a sec. Jennifer Connolly was fine in her role, in fact, I really liked her. But the romance between her and Banner is completely mishandled. You just don't care about it, because it's handled at first in the past tense ... then it turns into the old 'poor, tortured Bruce' angle that was prevalent in the Hulk comics of the 70s.
Sam Elliot was great as General Thunderbolt Ross, making him a fully realized character. Instead of just rehashing the metaphoric Capt. Ahab-like character obsessed with the Hulk, Ross is seen as a concerned father and loyal patriot who truly believes he's doing the right thing.
Josh Lucas is dead-on as the despicable Glenn Talbot. A bit of a twist in the Talbot character from the comics, and it works well in making him one of the two key bad guys. Lucas seemed to relish working on the dark side, btw.
Then there's Nick Nolte. Wild, insane, going on a drug-and-booze bender Nick Nolte. His look in this film is as if Ang Lee bailed him out of jail after his now-infamous arrest, and walked him to the set. Over-the-top and completely certifiable, Nolte totally immerses himself in the character, which is good and bad.
The problem is the script. The whole father's sins follow the son angle just doesn't work; it bogs down the movie and really hurts the Bruce Banner character. Also, it seems like one of the screenwriters was assigned to write Nolte's dialogue .. because it never seemed to fit in with the rest of the stuff being said.
Actually, the best actor in the movie ... is the CGI Hulk. That's right .. the single aspect of the movie that everyone's being belly-aching about is unbelievably cool. Spectacular, awe-inspiring, groundbreaking ... freakin' amazing!
I could go on and on about it ... it was dead-on perfect. In fact, I'll come out and say it right now; They should come up with a special achievement Oscar for the ILM guys for their work, because they've broken thru ... they've figured out how to make a CGI character competely believable. I'm telling you, wait 'til you see it. This is all the proof anyone ever needs to not judge a movie's effects by the trailers or crappy illegal 'Net downloads.
Every time the Hulk smashes something or roars, or simply turns his head ... you believe you're watching a real-live Jade Giant. And the leaps .. the leaps! The first time he takes a flying leap ... I thought I was watching one of Jack Kirby's panels from the 60s coming to life on the screen.
I loved how Ang Lee perfectly captured the majestic fear the Hulk inspires in the comics. He's as powerful here as he ever was in the comics, which was great for someone like me, who liked the old TV show but hated the fact that a bullet could wound a guy who went toe-to-toe with Thor. Not here ... Hulk kick Puny Human butt here ... and it didn't matter what they threw at him!
Once the Hulk makes his first appearance in (more than a half-hour in), the film really picks up the pace. One quibble: Lee didn't create a 'Holy Shit' first appearance .... I would have liked to have had a slow buildup and had Hulk make a grand 'splash page' entrance.
Overall, it was enjoyable and a good film, with some GREAT action sequences. I just felt Lee worked too hard trying to justify the fact that he, the serious filmmaker, was making a movie about a green comic book character. At 2 hours, 15 minutes, the movie's too long ... and most of the unnecessary length is at the beginning.
And honestly, despite a plot twist I didn't see coming (and one which was a shocking and pleasant surprise), Nolte's father Banner didn't work for me. I would've preferred they focus on the romance between Betty and Bruce and get rid of the whole father angle. It seemed to paint the filmmakers into a corner they couldn't get out of.
It also hurt Bana the most. I like him a lot, but he looked like he had no grip on the character at times. Once he started sharing time with the Hulk, it got better, though.
So, that's it. Go out and see it, and enjoy the unbelievable effects that will make you believe a one-ton Greenskin Goliath can leap for miles and miles .. and that he can bitch slap most of the U-S Army. You will be blown away ... once you endure the first 35 minutes or so. Oh, and the Hulk dogs? COOL!!!!!
Peace,
Nole
Finally - here's Lord Summerisle - who wins coolest name on this page! God I love that film. Here ya go and BEWARE OF SPOILERS!
Howdy Harry.
Call me Lord Summerisle.
(Hope I didn't inadvertently co-opt that name from another aint-it-cool reader. This is my first time writing in). Just got out of an advance press screening of Hulk in Hollywood. Definitely a finished product -- not a "workprint" that has caused some controversy within your site.
In a nutshell -- if you liked Spider-Man, you will probably like Hulk. However, if you are expecting an X-Men style experience perfectly fusing great effects with characters and plot lines that you really care about, then you might be disappointed.
A few issues that people have been concerned about -
1. Does the Hulk look "realistic"? In a word - no. But he still looks interesting, much the same way that Spider-Man's movements never truly looked realistic on screen but were still fun to watch. I think most readers will know what I am talking about. He definitely looks like a CG or rubber character. Not in the realistic Gollum sense - but in a...well....comic book sense. If you are looking for realism, Hulk will disappoint. If you are looking for cool "comic book" feel, then Hulk will aim to please.
2. Is there a compelling story? In a word - no. It's not that the dialogue scenes without Hulk were a chore to sit through. Its not as though I ever looked at my watch or tapped my feet in impatience. But after about 30 minutes, I must confess I said to myself, "Ok. Lets shoot this boy up with gamma radiation, get him mad, and have him start smashing things already!" The story isn't a distraction by any means -- but it doesn't hold the heart of the film the way that X-Men did. The good things in this film are reserved for the Hulk appearing on screen and smashing everything in sight.
3. Is it true to the comic? I must confess that I didn't follow the original comic closely enough to give an opinion on this. But there is quite a bit of backstory regarding the history of Bruce Banner's parents that I don't seem to recall from the comic. I think many of the actual plot elements are made up - but don't slam me if I happen to be wrong on that. What I can comment on is that I distinctly remember Hulk being in the (very) roughly 12 - 15 foot range in height in the comic whereas in the film he seems to tower well over 20 feet in some sequences. Also, they decided not to have Hulk speak except for a word or two during a dream sequence and a single short sentence near the end. Don't expect any "Hulk smash tank!" proclamations though.
Bottom line -- fun summer movie viewing. Nothing more. Though there are two or three sequences that a very fun indeed! Hulk only appears about 4 times for any extended period of time. The first few times he is in the dark, so you have that "CGI during night" look that many effects people use to hide real detail. But one battle sequence between Hulk and the U.S. Army takes place in bright daylight in the open desert and should please even the most jaded Hulk skeptics. This shows us what the TV show Hulk could never show - Hulk literally smashing everything in sight that he can get his hands on. Smashing a lab to pieces. Throwing tanks a mile over his shoulder. Picking up rubble and downing helicopters with it. Catching missiles and biting them in two. Absolute destruction for everything in Hulk's path. Fun stuff! Couldn't help but smile every time Hulk would growl and smash things.
The final battle sequence between Hulk and an adversary (the identity of whom I will keep secret for now) seemed to feel a bit shorter than it should have been. That was disappointing. But overall, there was just enough cook Hulk sequences to overcome the other mediocre elements to make it a worthwhile experience. (once again think Spider-Man in terms of character and plot experience. Not bad. Certainly doesn't distract from the good elements. It's just not the purely satisfying experience that you will get from X-Men which admittedly raised the bar on comic films. Though I thought the action sequences in Hulk were a bit more enjoyable than Spider-Man. The Hulk might not look real, but at least his surroundings did.)
Again, if you aren't expecting characters that you can really attach yourself emotionally to, then the cast ends up doing a credible job.
Eric Banna looks eerily similar to Corey Feldman in this film until you realize that Bana can actually act in some scenes.
Jennifer Connelly just does another riff from her "Beautiful Mind" character here as a lab co-worker in love with Banner despite his "problem".
Sam Elliott plays an army general as well as Jennifer Connelly's father. Doesn't quite do the army role with the panache that an R. Lee Ermey would have done, but again he delivers the goods well enough.
Nick Nolte plays Bruce Banner's father and I must say it looks as though he walked on to the film set directly from being released on his DUI/drug bust in Malibu. Most everyone saw his mug shot for that one. Just picture that look of Nolte's with a beard and you get the picture. His gruff, mumbling, manic ways ended up working in this film, but I can't help but wonder if Nolte is seriously imploding in his overall career direction.
Look for a couple of cool cameos by Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno as two security guards early on in the film.
Ang Lee must take pride that he can switch between wildly different genres so smoothly. He obviously set out to direct this film with a literal "comic book" feel to it. He uses some interesting transitions and split-screen panels taken right out of comic pages (think "Creepshow" -- only more sophisticated). Some of the split-screen work is reminiscent of De Palma's technique, but it is only used a brief visual -- not as a real tension raising device the way De Palma uses it for.
Perhaps the "comic book" feel was the way to go with Hulk. After all, its just inherently silly to try and direct a "realistic" style film when you have some big green guy in purple pants standing in the middle of San Francisco tossing cars around.
That's my two cents. Do with it as you will.
Lord Summerisle. Out.
