Your friendly neighborhood Hulky-man.
Written: Jun 11 '03 (Updated Jun 11 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: CGI transitions, comic book effects, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, purple pants
Cons: Bad CGI physics, not enough laughs, slow start, too many flashbacks, weak female role
The Bottom Line: Honestly, how many people wear purple pants?
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| pixeljerk's Full Review: The Hulk |
I'd give you a brief description of the plot, but you know what it's about. It's the Incredible Hulk for crying out loud!
As comic book movies go.....
Batman was dark and gothic, Spiderman was quirky, and X-Men was super-serious. They each had their own style of delivering the goods. Hulk takes the super-serious route, but incorporates some crafty CGI to cut between scenes, reminding us we're watching a living, breathing comic. Elements of the next scene will zip across the screen and dissolve, melt, and morph into the next location. There's a lot of this in Hulk. The use of split-screen and picture-in-picture is all over the place. Made to look like the panels in an actual comic book, the multi-angle viewpoints give mundane cinematography a little shot in the arm. A nice touch, indeed. If you've ever seen Creepshow, you'll know what I'm talking about.
In addition to fancy transitions, we get an interesting opening credit sequence. Using that famous all-caps handwriting as seen in comic book talk bubbles, the credits become an entertaining part of the movie. They interact with the abstract laboratory scenes that not only serve as a backdrop for the credits, but also as a backstory to start us off on the right foot.
Action
The best scenes are when the Hulk is opening up a green can of whoop-a$$. He goes postal on tanks, mutated dogs, Apple LCD displays ;) , and lots of expensive props. Of course, since this is Hulk, all the action scenes involve smashing things and running and jumping. It would have been more entertaining to see Hulk spend more time in an everyday, populated setting rather than a remote army base. But I'm hoping the sequel will feature him in a grudge match against another large beast in a city somewhere. Seeing the Hulk throw cars and smash buildings is a great sight. Unfortunately, we only get a quick glimpse of that in this movie.
I admire the filmmakers' approach to the Hulk's behavior during these action scenes. They could have easily gotten carried away with Hulk's temper... smashing everything with reckless abandon. But they didn't. Hulk only goes postal when someone, or something, stands in his way or is about to harm his ex-girlfriend.
CGI, FYI
I just know Roger Ebert will give this movie a mediocre or bad review. His review of Spider-Man was marred only by his disdain for the lackluster CGI effects. He complained that Spider-Man's movements lacked realism and physicality. Well, Roger, dust off that review and get ready to copy and paste those same remarks for Hulk. While the CGI is impressive, the movements still aren't believable. Hulk jumps way too unnaturally. Okay, so he's a fictional character and no-one has seen a Hulk jump before... but he could at least follow a realistic trajectory while jumping. And this goes for the CGI fighter jets as well. Come to think of it, I have YET to see ANY movie give us CGI jets that fly in a natural manner.
I remember watching the early teaser trailers for Spider-Man, thinking, "they've got plenty of time to patch up that shoddy CGI of Spidey swinging between skyscrapers. I'm sure they'll make it look better." Well, I said the same thing about the Hulk teasers I saw. And like Spider-Man, they didn't fix it at all.
Make me laugh... please!
Another element I found lacking was comedy. There really aren't any side-splitters in this film. Maybe a line that will make you chuckle or crack a smile, but no flat-out jokes. Maybe that's what makes the pacing of the film's first half a bit dull. Spider-Man never took itself too seriously, so it was able to get away with some goofy dialog. Hulk never takes a break from its serious approach to storytelling. The only humorous lines I can remember are the very last two lines of the film. I won't tell you what they are, but you'll definitely get a kick out of them!
The non-CGI candy.
Jennifer Connelly (Betty in this flick) is a bit underused. She only shows up to turn on some tears every now and then. And I swear I don't think she ever smiled in the movie! Maybe I just can't remember, but she doesn't seem like a very fun girl to be with.
She also doesn't have a cuteness about her (other than her physical appearance). Mary Jane in Spider-Man acted cute and helpless, even though she dressed like a slut. Jean Gray from X-Men was sexy in that butt-can-get-kicked-by-a-girl way that we all love. And Vicki Vale was... well... Kim Basinger. Betty in Hulk really doesn't give us a reason to want her to stick around. Also, she doesn't get into any trouble, nor is she directly involved with any of Hulk's action scenes. We see Hulk on the Golden Gate Bridge, followed by a shot of Betty watching all of this and looking concerned. Now repeat that for every location that Hulk jumps to. There's Hulk, over there's Betty. How'd she get here so fast?
Please, no more flashbacks.
And then there are the flashbacks. And more flashbacks. Bruce struggles throughout the movie to remember what the heck happened to his real parents. And every time he transforms into the Hulk, he unlocks more pieces to the puzzle of his troubling childhood. I guess, being a first movie in a series, that all this backstory is a necessary evil. But, like Matrix Reloaded, I wanted more action and less talk, and I was getting restless for some Hulky Hulky smashy smashy. Luckily for me, when Hulk does get smashin'.... man, he gets smashin'!
Family-friendly
As for whether this film is kid-friendly or not... I'd say you're safe with the Hulk for ages 9 and up. I can only recall two people actually perishing in this flick, and even then it's implied rather than actually shown. Even the guys that get tossed in their tank get up and walk away. And I can only recall two curse words: g*ddamn and sh*t. And for nudity... if big green man nipples get you hot and bothered, you may want to take a cold shower before hitting the box office.
All in all...
...it's a pretty entertaining flick. Nick Nolte and Sam Elliott deliver their standard good performances, and Danny Elfman's score is reliably enjoyable (heck, all of his soundtracks sound like a mixture of Batman and Beetlejuice). If you don't take it too seriously, you'll have a great time. And if you do like that nipple thing, please don't sit behind me!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pixeljerk
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Location: Lancaster, PA, USA
Reviews written: 13
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