Many movies based on comic books have been made in the last several years and I have seen most of them. In 2003, Hulk brought the green monster to the big screen for the first time.
David Banner was doing research with genetics to alter DNA. He started experimenting on himself when the military refused to let him progress to human testing. David believed he passed something on to his son Bruce and was working to find a cure when his research was shut down by the military. David was locked up in a mental hospital after the death of his wife and Bruce was put in foster care and eventually adopted by the Krenzler family. Bruce had been told that both his parents had died and he had no memories of them.
As an adult, Bruce was working with Betty Ross doing research with gamma radiation to try to cause tissue regeneration. Glenn Talbot, a former member of the military with a connection to Betty and her father General Thaddeus Ross, had found out about the research and wanted to use it for military purposes. Bruce was exposed to the gamma radiation when there was an accident in the lab. The radiation impacted the changes in his DNA, which caused him to change into a large, green monster when he got angry. General Ross was trying to contain Bruce and protect Betty while David was lurking around as a janitor, looking to continue the research he’d started so many years before.
Hulk was based on the Marvel comics created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The character has also been in a live action television show and cartoons before this movie was released in 2003. I did watch the cartoon and television show, but I had forgotten a lot about the character other than the fact that Bruce - or David as he was called in the television show - would turn into the Hulk when he was angry. I have learned more about the character from reading Hulk: The Incredible Guide, so I know that some things were changed for the movie. Some of those changes may bother fans of the comics.
In the comics, Bruce’s father Brian had been a physicist doing research for the military. Brian believed that he had been exposed to radiation and feared what he might have passed on to his son. As an adult, Bruce was working on research with a gamma bomb. He was exposed to the gamma radiation when he went onto the site of the test to get Rick Jones, a young man, out of harm’s way. After that, Bruce would turn into the Hulk when he got angry. Sometimes the Hulk would work with other superheroes and other times he actually fought them.
The origin story was changed around for this movie. Bruce’s father David - the name was changed as a reference to the television show - was doing genetic research and willingly experimented on himself. Once Bruce was born, David seemed to view his son as an experiment and he was focused on continuing with that experiment once he was finally released and found his adult son again. Frankly, David was more than a little unstable. As an adult, Bruce was working with gamma radiation to find a way to use it in a helpful way. The accident that exposed him to the gamma radiation happened inside the lab and did involve Bruce trying to save another worker who then wasn’t around for any more of the movie. Bruce would then turn into the Hulk when he was angry. I thought that change in the research that Bruce was involved in and the accident worked fine as a modern update. I didn’t like what was done with David. I felt that way the first time I saw the movie even though I knew nothing about the history of Bruce’s father at that point.
Time was taken at the beginning of Hulk to show David and the research he was working on. It was also shown how Bruce had nightmares as he got older. All of that was shown in short glimpses, so it didn’t take that long before things were focused in on Bruce as an adult. It felt like a lot of the back story connected to Bruce was skimmed over. When Bruce and Betty were first shown working on their project, that part of the movie did move a little slower and it did seem to take a while before the pace picked up, which might bore some viewers. Some time was taken to focus on the internal struggles that Bruce had, though I think it could have been more interesting if there was more focus on that aspect of the plot.
The Hulk really isn’t a hero and he isn’t exactly a villain either, so Hulk wasn’t a typical superhero movie. Bruce was exposed to the radiation while trying to protect someone else, so he did have it in him to be heroic. That aspect of his personality seemed to get pushed aside after the accident most of the time. Bruce would turn into the Hulk when he was angry, though he was still capable of caring about others since he was focused on protecting Betty at one point even as the Hulk. Once he was transformed, it didn’t seem like the Hulk wasn’t that intelligent and he generally wasn’t in control. He really wasn’t bad even though his acts did cause a lot of damage and hurt some people. Most people were scared of him and the military, under the orders of General Ross, were attacking him. He reacted to those attacks with what amounted to mindless anger, basically swatting at whatever was trying to hurt him. It was sort of like he was a big, angry child trying to destroy a toy that had hurt him in some way. When the Hulk was around Betty, he did show a gentler side that proved that he wasn’t just a mindless brute. That aspect of the Hulk wasn’t explored enough in my opinion.
When the television show was made, there were obvious limits to what could be done with special effects which did impact how the Hulk would look once David changed. Bill Bixby portrayed David and Lou Ferrigno portrayed the Hulk. Since the Hulk was still a real person, he just got a bit taller and more muscled. Things were done differently for Hulk and CGI was used to create the Hulk. When I first saw previews for the movie, I thought that he was made entirely too big because of my memories of the television show. Once I got Hulk: The Incredible Guide, I learned that he actually did get much taller than I had thought. I did think that the effects for the Hulk were done well for the most part. The Hulk’s size did change throughout the movie and there were times when he was fighting when it was clear he was getting bigger. I know from the book that he would get stronger as he got angrier, but there wasn’t any mention that he would get bigger as well. There were times when his head looked out of proportion in comparison to the rest of his body. Certain things created by CGI in addition to the Hulk looked out of place at times. The effects were over the top during the climax, but then again, the climax itself went way overboard and veered off into the ridiculous. I think that really hurt the movie.
Director Ang Lee took a somewhat unique approach to showing things in Hulk. During certain sequences, several things were shown on screen at once in different sections. That did sort of recreate the feeling of panels from a comic book. It was interesting to see the same thing from different angels at the same time, but it was also a bit distracting in other scenes. There were some downright strange transitions between scenes and some odd movements as times as well. I didn’t really hate all that stuff, but I didn’t love it either. I mostly just think it was odd.
The Hulk did end up in several fight scenes, which did add a decent amount of action to the movie. The violence didn’t seem that graphic or extreme, but it may bother some people. The movie was rated PG-13, so this isn’t a movie for children. None of the actual villains that Hulk faced in the comic books was used in the movie for some reason, which seemed strange to me. Instead, he battled weird dogs and someone who seemed to be an odd blend of a few of the villains from the comic book. The final confrontation between that character and the Hulk, which seemed to take place in the middle of nowhere, was downright bizarre even by comic book movie standards.
The complex relationship between Bruce and Betty has been important to the comic book for years. Bruce turning into the Hulk obviously complicated their romance. In Hulk, there really wasn’t much of a romance aspect included. The two of them were working together on the research and had known each other for a while. At that point, it seemed like they just had a working relationship. Betty was worried after the accident, and Bruce did turn to her for help. When he thought she was going to be hurt, his only thought was to protect her. Both of them had some issues from their childhood, which was probably why neither of them was that good at expressing their emotions. By the end of the movie, it was made clear that there were stronger feelings between them. I just thought it would have been better if there was more emphasis on that aspect of the plot since it had been so important to the comic book.
Bruce seemed to be a bit shy and somewhat emotionally repressed before the accident. Even as a child, he tended to bottle some things up. As an adult, he was a brilliant scientist who was unsure about other aspects of life without being a geek or nerd. Eric Bana was fine in the part. Betty was the scientist working with Bruce. She was intelligent, though she didn’t always make the best decisions. As far as I know, Betty wasn’t a scientist in the comics. I thought it was nice that Betty was capable of taking care of herself and not just a woman in danger waiting to be rescued. She was trying to help Bruce. Jennifer Connelly was good in the part.
Glenn Talbot had been in the military, which was how he already knew General Ross and Betty. Glenn still had ties to the service and wanted to use Bruce and Betty’s research for military applications. He was only around in a few scenes, but that was enough for him to come across as a giant jerk who I couldn’t stand. Josh Lucas handled the part fine. General Ross had his own feelings about Bruce because of what he knew about David. Ross was determined to protect Betty and he didn’t take her feelings about things into consideration. Sam Elliot fit the part fine. David was a scientist who turned to experimenting on himself when the military wouldn’t go along with what he wanted. Once he saw his son as an adult, David seemed to just consider him yet another experiment. David was very unbalanced and not a nice guy. Nick Nolte fit the part very well. Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee turned up briefly as security guards at the facility where Bruce and Betty worked.
Main Cast
Eric Bana - Bruce Banner Jennifer Connelly - Betty Ross Sam Elliot - General Ross Josh Lucas - Glenn Talbot Nick Nolte - David Banner
Ang Lee - Director
DVD Information
I did end up picking up the two disc special edition of Hulk when I found it for under $10. My copy has the widescreen version of the movie. There might be a full screen version as well. The extras included deleted scenes, commentary from the director, and things that focused in on how a specific scene was created and on the history of the character in the comics and what sort of technology was used to make the movie. I haven’t taken the time to watch the extras yet.
Hulk isn’t the best superhero movie I have seen, but it isn’t the worst either. I felt it ended up being an average movie that could have better if certain things were handled a bit better. Fans of the characters may like it, but they could end up annoyed by all the changes instead. From what I have seen and read, I am thinking that the new Hulk movie, The Incredible Hulk - The Incredible Hulk (2008), will end up being much better and I am looking forward to seeing it.
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