By Jason Dean

June 19, 2003

Ever since the early teaser and then subsequent trailers (not to mention the embarrassing lapse in security with regards to the working print), much of the talk surrounding The Hulk has revolved around the quality of the title character. I can quell some of those fears by saying that the CGI is fine, if not excellent. The finished product works very well in close up shots where the facial expressions rival the Gollum effects. Some of the long shots are less successful, but they still appear to be better than some of the Spider-Man shots, especially the Spider-Man shots from the early parts of the movie.

The movie itself is along the lines of one might expect given Ang Lee’s guiding hand. Instead of very simple representation of the characters, we are given a fairly involved back story for the characters. The two leads in Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly have been well-cast as the star-crossed lovers/co-scientists at the heart of the story. The screenplay further entwines the previous generation as their fathers are also at odds.

In an interesting twist on the origins, Nick Nolte as the elder Banner has a hand in the creation of the Hulk, as we are shown in a interesting mad scientist-type of montage that serves as the title sequence. As in any good classic tragedy, father and son are destined to cross paths again. The movie also uses the classic tragedy storyline of fathers keeping their children apart.

Unlike previous comic book adaptations, Ang Lee has chosen to use interesting scene transitions as well multiple angles and split screens to invoke the visual look of the a comic book page. Instead of settling on simply bringing the action within a comic book panel to life, Lee attempts to create the look and feel of the multiple panels on a comic book page.

Overall, the movie is a rather somber affair punctuated with out-and-out action sequences of the Hulk in action. This gives the pacing a rather rollercoaster-like feel. As is typical for the first movie in a hopeful franchise, the Hulk does suffer from having to set up the overall world and at times does feel every bit of its nearly running time of two hours and 20 minutes.

The Hulk will probably not be as universally well received as Spider-Man, but it is arguably one of the truest comic adaptations to date. Hopefully there will be enough business generated to justify the sequel and we will get to truly see the Hulk in action as opposed to the one and done nature of Jennifer Connelly’s previous foray into comic book adaptation in the Rocketeer.