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Of the new breed of super hero movies, none is as divisive as Hulk. You either like it or loathe it. There are few that claim to actually love it, and I doubt there are any out there who love it as much as the detractors seem to hate it. While I don’t categorize myself with the small fanbase of people who love it, I do like it quite a bit, and view it as a failed-but-fascinating experiment in filmmaking. I’d certainly take Hulk’s avant garde (and maybe even pretentious) comic / movie amalgamation over paint-by-the-numbers flicks like The Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider.

One of the common defenses I’ve seen used for movies like Hulk is that it is a movie based on a comic book, and that our expectations are somehow wrong. I personally find this to be a rather lazy defense. Just because Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo is supposed to be stupid, doesn’t mean that I should forgive it for being the cinematic equivalent of refuse from a hot dog factory. Part of the problem with Hulk was that it was too convoluted, a problem that I have with a lot of newer comic book stories. A secret to the success of films like Spiderman and X-Men is that the stories are relatively simple, yet still smart. Hulk gets downright confusing, especially in the third act. I’ve seen it a number of times and I’m still not quite sure what happens in the end. Somewhere in the mess, however, are quite a few interesting story points and characters.

Ang Lee likes to explore the concept of forbidden love. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has two characters whose love society won’t allow — same with Brokeback Mountain. Hulk is no different, except that instead of forbidden love because of job responsibilities and societal norms, Hulk is about the problems that arise from loving a twelve-foot-tall monster. When Peter Jackson released his version of King Kong, I argued with a friend that Lee had beaten him to the punch. (It was argued back that no one cared.) Still, once aware of it, it is easy to see Hulk as Kong and Betty Ross as his Ann Darrow. Instead of fighting a dinosaur, Hulk fights genetically engineered poodles. Basically the same thing, when you boil it down.

There are also the relationships that both Bruce and Betty have with their respective fathers. Bruce wants nothing to do with his father, David, but is forced into it. While David’s interest in his son is more scientific than sentimental, their relationship is just as caustic as Betty and her Father’s. Betty’s father is all business and cannot open up to her. She desperately would like to get to know her father, but can’t deal with the fact that he is obsessed with his military job. David would be the same way, if his job didn’t involve Bruce.

As interesting as these elements are, they won’t matter if the rest of the movie doesn’t work. And it does. Partly. Part of the reason that the Hulk character is so interesting to me is because he is both a monster and a hero. He is, in essence, the personification of wrath, an emotion I find rather fascinating because it is so rare in me. However, the appearance of Hulk is a huge catharsis to both Bruce and the audience. At times it would probably feel pretty good to cause some of the random destruction that Hulk causes. However, because I’m not invincible (and due to the high cost of damage repair), the closest I can hope for is screaming into a pillow or punching a mattress. Hardly the same thing.

To hold everything together, Lee utilized a unique editing style in an attempt to bring a comic book experience to the screen. There are multiple split screens and splices where objects meld and merge amongst different backgrounds, much the same way comic panels are set up and overlapped. During the first viewing, this can be rather disorienting and annoying, but upon rewatching it, I loved these editing tricks for their uniqueness and inventiveness. The film may be pure eye candy, and a prime example of style over substance, but it’s a damned impressive style.

Another crossover the film retained when making the jump from comic to movie was the cartoonishness. Hulk is not a bad guy, and they make an effort to show that even though he’s bashing stuff to his hearts content, he’s not really hurting anyone. In one scene, Hulk beats the crap out of a tank and then hurls it about a hundred yards. After the tank crashes back to Earth, the gunner and driver are shown — a little disoriented, but none the worse for wear. This kind of unbelievability seems like the whole scene could’ve been accompanied by a loud SPROING! sound effect when the tank landed. This wouldn’t be so bad if the rest of the movie had the same kind of lighthearted tone, but the rest of the film is rather dark, except for aforementioned genetic poodles and Hulk’s arch nemesis, Talbot, played with much villainous gusto by Josh Lucas. Talbot spends most of the movie just being a sleaze and existing solely to bully Bruce and later act as the Hulk’s punching bag. After getting thrown through a building early in the film, he shows up later in casts and a neck brace. At this point, Talbot’s exploits turn into antics, until he meets his demise in a moment fit for Wile E. Coyote.

Amidst all this are some truly amazing “Hulk smash” moments. The desert sequence is one of my favorite action film moments. It’s sheer energy with a gorgeous background. It was also quite a treat to watch Hulk bounding blissfully from rock to rock, a look of delighted serenity plastered on his face. You can see that he’s not just a mindless destroying machine. Also, when Talbot first makes Bruce angry it perfectly shows how Bruce’s life is going off kilter and out of control.

While it may not be the best movie — or even the best superhero movie — there is enough good in Hulk to make me overlook the crap. While the main storyline is confusing, the action scenes, the editing, and the sheer awesomeness of Sam Elliot ensure that I’ll pick Hulk over most other superhero movies time and again — and that is just this reviewers humble opinion.

Anyone that disagrees with me needs to move out of their parent’s basement and stop touching themselves so much.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2007 at 12:32 am and is filed under Movies, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.