 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
. | Hulk,
The
(2003) |
||||||||
|
. |
Driven scientist David Banner is working on a project to boost the immune system at a government controlled facility. Unfortunately, the government refuses to allow him to proceed with human testing at which point he begins injecting himself with his untested serum. A few months later Banner has a child who shows worrying signs of his father’s mutated DNA. More concerned with these effects than the welfare of his son, Banner goes over the edge when the government finally shut down his project. Something terrible takes place at the base courtesy Banner and the film shoots forward to Banner junior – Bruce - working as a scientist at an independent laboratory. En route this we learn that Bruce was placed with another family and told that his birth parents died during an accident. As if guided by destiny, Bruce Banner is working on an immune system programme similar to the one his father had worked on. Banner jr. also suffers from emotional problems being tormented by a repression of the ‘incident’ that occurred with his father on the base. This has been a major influence in his reluctant break up with his colleague, the lovely Betty Ross. Unfortunately for Bruce Banner, things go from bad to worse as he is exposed to a massive blast of gamma radiation while saving a lab assistant and then finds that his anger triggers off an amazing transformation which sees him turn into a raging, green behemoth – a Hulk. That’s not all. Not only does Banner’s estranged (and highly unstable) father turn up again, but the military are keen to harness the Hulk as a potential ‘weapon of mass destruction’. Much mayhem and angst follow. When fans heard that Ang Lee was to direct Marvel’s movie version of The Hulk, expectations shot through the roof. After all this was the man who directed the wonderful Crouching Tiger – a film with extraordinary effects but not one that compromised on story or the human element. Who better to have helming one of Marvel’s flagship characters? As a comic book, the Hulk preceded Marvel’s best known character – Spider-Man – though both were born in 1962. The Hulk embodied the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde situation with a dose of Frankenstein and King Kong thrown in as well. Here was a man whose repression and anger when released emerged in the form of a massive, enormously powerful creature. But the Hulk was not evil and yet his strength and appearance led to his persecution by humans. This provoked widespread destruction on the part of the Hulk. Ang Lee was drawn to the emotional turmoil that is inherent in large doses in this storyline. But while he does try and bring this to the forefront of the film not only does he fail to do so but furthermore, he bogs down the film as a whole. The result is a heavy, unwieldy, angst ridden film that takes 50 minutes to introduce the main character (the Hulk). On top of that Lee introduces not one but several sub-plots which drag the film down further. So we have Bruce Banner and his repressed emotions and his troubled relationship with his father. Then we also have Betty Ross and her estrangement from her father. And finally Betty’s relationship with Bruce and his alter ego. With so many strings in the plot, Lee is unable to do justice to any of them. One can only assume that Lee, blinded by his success with Crouching Tiger, simply did not see the gaping flaws in the Hulk. There is absolutely no humour in the film and what emotion should have been present is dissipated by the confusion of the sub-plots. Stan Lee, the Hulk’s creator, portrayed the Hulk as the ‘victim’, concentrating on man’s inhumanity towards the creature a la Frankenstein. Ang Lee is unable to convey that key emotion. When the military go after the Hulk, it’s simply an action sequence - Nothing more. Also while we do dig deep into Brice Banner’s mind, we barely scratch the surface of the emotions that the Hulk feels. After all while the Hulk is ready to explode from within Bruce Banner, Bruce Banner is also trying to reach out from within the Hulk. Where is the conflict between them? The Hulk’s special effects have already come in for criticism but compared to the film’s other flaws they are unimportant. In fact, the effects are perfectly good – it’s just that a 15 foot emerald monster will look somewhat unreal. What Lee has managed to do is to convey the power of the Hulk. So we get a real idea of what the Hulk is capable of – the leaping is fun and the tank fight sequence and the tossing of cars is about as exciting as the film gets. Unfortunately two of the action sequences involving the Hulk take place at night and it is extremely difficult to figure out what is happening in the shadows. I think the film also suffers because the Hulk has no worthy nemesis in the film. Possibly in the inevitable sequel we will see the big green giant square off against a suitably powerful villain. Performance wise, Eric Bana suffers from not being able to engage with the Hulk part of his character. Bruce Banner and the Hulk are two separate entities and the film is weaker as a result. Jennifer Connelly brings a simplicity of beauty and method to her role and is undoubtedly the best thing in the film. Nick Nolte makes good use of a prime role but one which, in the end, fails to really pack a punch. Sam Raimi took Spider-Man,
stayed true to its comic book origins, and made a wonderful film
revolving around the character’s origin. Ang Lee has muddled
the origin of the Hulk and created one big mess of a movie. Even
younger fans will be put off by the shortage of action and the
heaviness of the film. Easily the worst of Marvel’s new
line of films, the Hulk is destined to be an expensive misfire….lets
hope that the sequel can salvage things.
|
||||||||
