“Hulk” is an Ang Lee film. There is it, it is an Ang Lee film where there is a considerable attachment and personal empathy of him over this comic character. It is a super hero film which is not one, since the hero is evolving and at the end of it is more of a confused calamity than a saviour. He destroys government properties and causes havoc in the streets. He is more real than he should be and he is less real when he should not be. “Hulk” finally produces a mixed feeling of witnessing something new in this genre but could not quite get it or sinks in us.It has aptly the hunk man Eric Bana as the nerd (which surprisingly is believable in a make over) been turned into a hidden monster by the obsession of genetic immunity of his father, a disturbed scientist David Banner (Paul Kersey) a young family man when Bruce is a kid. Something happens in his childhood with his father and mom Edith (Cara Buono) which will be revealed later, he grows up with adopted mother (Celia Weston). He follows his biological father’s footstep to become a scientist himself and works on very same research his father was obsessed about. He is said his parents were dead, which of course means they or at least one is not, a universal known fact in a film. The father now grown into a deranged old man is played by Nick Nolte bringing some of his sweaty weariness. Bruce begins to experience stuffs and accident with some anger is enough to invoke the green monster in him.
The film surprises us in taking its ample time to develop the chemical and genetic complexities. While it adds the substance to show the real time development of such a phenomenon through science terms, it begins to make us restless. Not that there is intelligent to follow about but the effort of mentioning it now and then almost becomes pompous on the film’s declaration of its reality. There is a deep buried memory in Bruce who has been bottled up and weirdly it mixes with his dad’s science project in his blood to react arbitrarily with dangerous consequences.
Have we been fine tuned by the super hero film genre that an approach which breaks or fair to say flexes the content of it to produce a character drama and action is repulsive and resistant to change? It might be but it withers away because Ang Lee with a rhythm he populates immediately from the title makes us come to speed. Things happening fast and clear alert us on its prospective super hero to come alive. As with the entire super hero who take some time to quite understand the strange reaction of their body and soul, Hulk undergoes that too but it is as confusing is to us as to him. Some times the audience should know the powers and causes of it before the character could even grasp it. This anticipation believe it or not nullifies our grand expectation or revealing those. We are in a position that CGI does not make us agape. “Hulk” is a slow process in understanding him which quite does not happen at all.
It is a fine film which takes us occupied and tied to our seats well before the final forty five minutes. Ang Lee so patient up to that point takes an unexpected jump almost ravaging us with the special effects and alas some blatant stupidity and silliness we would see in regular block buster junks. That includes the General Ross (Sam Elliott) shooting down the mountains to bury the monstrous Hulk and conveniently heads back with the mission accomplished face. How come did he forget the immortal damage he did right before that with tanks, bombs and what not on him?
The beautiful Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross cannot be more perfect for the role. She is talented in the scientific mumbo jumbo happening around and at the same time has the charm of a lover desperate to save him from others and himself. The character does what the character will do seeing an unpredictable and unstable giant. This is a film which is exhausting to know that it just started a scratch in a great sequel. While it is rather unfortunate that the film’s lead is not taken as a sequel in the “The Incredible Hulk”, it would be an experience to a concept approached by two personalities.
Ang Lee introducing the film said that Hulk is repressive character as himself. He talked about sexual repression and that obviously was not dealt in it. The reason for the repression is never explored in Bruce. Not that it happened as a child or it happened long time ago but it has got to do more than that. The scene inside the room when Bruce as a kid is watching the door outside befuddled is the pivotal plot which moves around the grown up Bruce but when the real events are unfurled, the expression misses and hence the film well made for most part stops right there.
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