So now that we’ve had two great interpretations of the Hulk in film, (The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers), I decided to go and watch the 2003 film by Ang Lee, entitled “HULK”, which is known for being notoriously bad. And it was bad. Very bad. So I watched it over and tried to study what went wrong with it. Here is what I came up with.
I’m gonna have to issue a spoiler alert here, just in case you haven’t seen the movie.
STORY
There is very little story in this movie. And what there is there, it’s weird. I don’t know if the whole father/son aspect was from a comic run, but even if it was it was handled very poorly and didn’t work. And also, Betty betrays Bruce not once, but TWICE and he still trusts and loves her. A bit odd if you ask me.
VILLAIN
Ehhhh. This is definitely one of the biggest problems I had with the film. The problem is, there’s no real villain in this movie. I mean, there’s one person that apparently Betty knew in college, but he has no character development and I don’t even know his name. His dad’s a shady character, but he tries to help Bruce, and the audience is never sure if he’s good or bad, until he turns in a crazy cloud thing. One could argue that Thunderbolt Ross if the villain, but they played him to be more sympathetic and just trying to do right, and get back in touch with his daughter.
BORING
This movie is two and a half hours, but it only feels like five. Most of the film is dialogue scenes, which I don’t mind at all: IF IT’S GOOD DIALOGUE. Most of the dialogue in the movie is trash, poorly executed, and poorly acted (with a couple good actors in there).
DISTANT HULK
Whenever Bruce turns into the Hulk, it’s like he’s another character. Part of this may be due to the technology of the time, but, with the exception of about two scenes, he just seems so distant. Even with The Incredible Hulk, where he doesn’t look just like Banner like in The Avengers, you still have the feeling it’s the same dude.
HULKIFIED POODLE
One of the only action sequences in the movie is Hulk fighting a “hulkified” poodle. ‘Nuff said.
CASTING
I personally think that casting Jennifer Connelly was a mistake. I think they could have gotten another, better, actress for the role of Betty Ross. And even though Eric Bana did the best he could do with what he was given, (and was actually one of the parts I liked about the movie), I never felt like he was Banner like I did with Edward Norton, and (to a lesser extent) Mark Ruffalo. Nick Nolte was good as his father, and Sam Elliot was good as Thunderbolt Ross, but I prefer William Hurt’s portrayal.
So, these are the main reasons I think that the movie failed. That being said, there were some things I liked about it; I thought some of the (few) action scenes were good, and the comic book panel feel was pretty gutsy and it looked nice. So what do you think? Leave a comment down below and let the internet know. Until next time, I’m EpitomeofAwesome.