Movie Plot – Hulk: Bruce Banner, a genetic researcher with a tragic past, has an accident that turns him into a raging green monster known as the Hulk when he gets angry.

Director: Ang Lee
Writers: James Schamus, John Turman, Michael France
Cast: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, Nick Nolte

The first Hulk movie

Hulk, on paper, has a good director and a good cast, yet this film remains one of the most boring superhero films I know. It’s just not exciting and this was also the last time I watched this movie.

Let’s start with the story. ‘Hulk’ revolves around the depressed Dr. Bruce Banner (Bana). The man struggles with an inferiority complex, and also in love things are not going well for him. Fortunately, Banner can always fall back on his high intelligence. However, when our hero performs a dangerous experiment involving gamma radiation, an accident occurs. Banner comes into contact with the deadly substance. Miraculously, he survives the dose, yet something is wrong. His DNA is mutated and when the Dr. gets angry, he turns into a brutal monster. Enter the Hulk.

The worse part is the use of all split screens and some odd choices for editing. I get that they wanted to create a comic book feeling but it annoyed the hell out of me while watching Hulk.

Bruce Banner/ Hulk

There is a lot of focus on the personal impacts of the characters. This is not a bad thing, but unfortunately, director Lee takes his psychological approach too far. ‘Hulk’ really doesn’t need to be a Shakespearean drama. The action scenes where we finally get to see the Hulk do not fit at all with the elaborate build-up of the film. Not only is the action unconvincing, but the pace of the film is unbalanced. Once the Hulk makes his appearance, the pace regularly drops. The explosions of violence are intense, but the build-up to the film’s grotesque finale takes far too long.

I also felt that many of the acting performances were just stiff and simply boring to watch. The only one who was an exception here was Nick Nolte as the father. He was still pretty good, though.

And then there’s the Hulk himself. Although the monster looks reasonable, he remains an oddity. Overall, I didn’t think it was too bad in terms of CGI.

Conclusion

I’m never ever going to rewatch Hulk again. The movie has too many flaws for me to care about.

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