Don’t remake it angry, you won’t like it when you’re angry

Not to be corny, but today marks the 15th anniversary of the not-so-jolly green giant’s big screen debut, Ang Lee’s underappreciated “Hulk”. It also probably marks at least ten years since I last watched it and I’d always considered it the lesser of the two Hulk movies but it really isn’t. Revisiting it now, at the height of the current superhero boom, it’s a dazzlingly visual take on Dr Banner and his emerald alter ego.

Bruce Banner (Eric Bana), a gifted geneticist is working with his ex-girlfriend, Betty Ross (Jennifer Connolly), on experimental medical nanotechnology. When the experiment’s program sequence is triggered by a fault, Bruce throws himself in front of a colleague to shield him, absorbing a lethal dose of gamma radiation. But unknown to Bruce, his father was also a scientist, who experimented with genetic modification and may have passed some of his mutations on to his son.

Rewatching it now, I was surprised to find I vastly prefer it to the play-it-safe approach of “The Incredible Hulk” and kind of wish they’d found a way to incorporate this Hulk into the MCU (and I say that as someone who loved what Mark Ruffalo and the MCU proper have done with the character).

Ang Lee’s sublime, ambitious direction captures a comic book cinematically in a way not even Zack Snyder, comic panel recreationist extraordinaire has managed since. Not content with making the panels themselves come to life, he breathes dynamic, kinetic life into the frames themselves. Even the opening credits are suitably comic-book like, buoyed by the use of marvel lettering fonts and an impressive score from Danny Elfman. Although it starts slowly and somewhat enigmatically and then continues in that meandering vein for a considerable time, it’s a rewarding exploration of the emotional themes and issues which underpin the Hulk’s appeal rather than just jumping straight to the SFX smash-‘em-up.

Offering us two alternative takes on the sins of the father, both Bruce and Betty must confront the legacy of their parent and, in some way, find atonement. It may stray too often into the metaphysical when you’re craving the uber-physical but it all adds up to an impressively emotion-packed if somewhat abstract finale. There’s a sly, slow reveal approach to letting us see the Hulk and it’s quite some time before we get to see him in full daylight. But when we do, it’s fantastic. The whole sequence of Hulk busting out of Ross’ subterranean lab and fighting his way across the desert to San Francisco is one of my all-time favourite sequences in any superhero movie, even if it does culminate in our hero emerging into the streets of San Francisco literally covered in shit. The retconning of Bruce’s origin to include his father David Banner (Nick Nolte) – named as a nod to the TV series – might get a little bit convoluted but it helps give the final confrontation an emotional heft sorely lacking from the battle with The Abomination. The action sequences are helped by the sure hand of producer Gale Anne Hurd who in turn was supported by a young up and coming Executive Producer called Kevin Feige. I wonder what ever became of him?

Eric Bana is great as the troubled Bruce Banner, Jennifer Conolly is great as Betty Ross and Sam Elloitt is outrageously good as General Ross. In every single main role, “Hulk” is a step above their “Incredible” counterparts. Yes, some of the then cutting-edge CGI looks a little bit ropey but overall its aged pretty well and the stuff with Absorbing Man is sensational.

Yes, the pacing is a little bit wonky and it occasionally shows the bumps and bruises of its long and troubled development and at the time it seemed to be a bit of a mess. But, fifteen years later, looking back from a distance, it’s a cinematic impressionist masterpiece, a rhapsody in green that dared to give us a serious, thoughtful exploration of a cartoon character.

hulk review
Score 9/10
logo

Related posts

The Zero Theorem (2014) Review

The Zero Theorem (2014) Review

A glimpse of today's dehumanisations, tomorrow! “The Zero Theorem” sees Terry Gilliam at his surreal and inscrutable best, taking the dehumanising inconveniences of modern living and projecting them forward, through a corkscrew kaleidoscope into a garish, dishevelled dystopia slightly...

Spirited (2022) Review

Spirited (2022) Review

The haunted becomes the haunter. Finding new spins on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a tradition as old and as played out as the novelty Christmas tie or a satsuma at the bottom of the stocking, often as welcome as that awful jumper from your great auntie who has knitted her way...

Hustlers (2019) Review

Hustlers (2019) Review

Hustlers shows the so-called wolves of Wall Street as the mangy mutts they really are Inspiringly based on a true story, “Hustlers” gives us a sobering glimpse into the hideously entitled world of the so-called masters of the universe whose unbridled greed crippled the global...

La La Land (2017) Review

La La Land (2017) Review

I go ga ga for La La Land. There’s nothing Hollywood likes more than love letters to itself, and “La La Land” is a love letter of such passion and affection for the glamourous halcyon days of old Hollywood that it almost makes you willing to overlook the slightly weird effect CinemaScope...

Ex-Machina (2015) Review

Ex-Machina (2015) Review

How can you be sure this Ex-Machina review was written by a human being? Cinema‘s fascination with the concept of the technological singularity shows no sign of abating, with recent entries ranging from the sublime (“Her”) to the ridiculous (“Transcendence”). But despite the...

Pompeii (2014) Review

Pompeii (2014) Review

Like Vesuvius itself, Pompeii blows. I went into “Pompeii” expecting a disaster movie and ended up getting a pretty disastrous movie, but then what else would you expect from notoriously mediocre director Paul W S Anderson? I do mention the volcano erupts, so *spoilers* ahead, I...

Lazer Team 2 (2017) Review

Lazer Team 2 (2017) Review

Lazer Team 2 lacks a little electric boogaloo Watching “Lazer Team 2”, I was very strongly reminded of seeing Quentin Tarantino’s seminal crime drama “Pulp Fiction” in the cinema for the first time. I was bursting for a pee during the last half hour of that, too. A few years on...

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013) Review

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013) Review

The cringe is strong with this one. The history of British sitcoms making the leap to the big screen is a chequered one at best. At its height in the 1970s, the general approach was to rehash and re-film the early episodes of the TV series to create a cheap and cheerful feature-length...

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Elspeth Edwards
Elspeth Edwards
5 years ago

Have just watched Hulk again on TV and would agree with you that it is a masterpiece. Thank you Ang Lee and everyone concerned for giving us this film.