Thursday, March 4, 2004
Member since:
January 2003
January 2003
If you're looking for "Hulk Smash" look somewhere else. If you've picked this one up, you're going to get a filmic treatise on anger management.
I can understand why so many people didn't like this movie, what with Hulk not showing up until almost an hour into the movie, and then having the remaining hour and a half concentrate on keeping the demon within at bay, leading up to a climax which could definitely be seen as anything but climactic.
But this isn't John Woo directing. It's the other Hong Kong import of current renown, Ang Lee. This is the introspective director who gave us a vision of family discord and social detatchment during the 1970s in The Ice Storm; who showed us the ballet of martial arts and epic romance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Anyone knowing who Lee is and expecting an actionfest from his version of the Hulk is in for a huge let-down.
The protagonist is Bruce Banner (Eric Bana). Orphaned when his mother dies and his father goes to jail for killing her, Bruce grows up in foster/adoptive care. He has no memory of what happened to his parents and suffers from nightmares and repressed anger. He works in a science facility with his former love interest, Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly), striving to create a serum to heal wounds at an accelerated rate. When an experiment goes wrong, Bruce gets bombarded with gamma radiation. Enter Banner's birth father, David Banner (Nick Nolte). David fills Bruce in on a secret even he doesn't know. In an effort to keep his own healing research going, Papa Banner genetically altered Bruce as a child. The effects of which we see in short order as Bruce's repressed anger turns him into Hulk.
Once Hulk is set loose, the military is quite naturally concerned. Leading the contingent set on capturing or destroying Hulk is General Thunderbolt Ross (Sam Elliott), Betty's father. Also interested is Talbot (Josh Lucas) who wants the technology that makes Hulk who he is in order to procure a government contract and create super-soldiers with advanced healing powers and superior strength.
Everyone on his tail, Hulk fights Talbot, genetically altered poodles, tanks and helicopters in an effort to elude his pursuers while Banner tries to keep his rage under control and find the keys to his past.
The Hulk, even in the comic version, is about a man dealing with his own personal demons, trying to understand what drives him and his anger. With this in mind, Lee set out to make a thinking person's comic book, and he did a bang-up job. Even in the midst of tearing apart tanks and running from helicopters, Lee has Hulk stop to contemplate a moss surviving in the dry desert. To put in such an internal moment during the action without slowing the pace is a testament to his effective, if idiosyncratic, technique.
Nolte chews up and spits out every scene he is in. However, his over the top performance somehow seems to fit in Lee's comic book world.
Connelly puts in a sturdy performance as the damsel-not-really-in-distress-except-in-one-scene. Her purpose is to move the character in the direction it needs to go in order to move the movie in the direction it needs to go, and that's just what she does.
I look forward to more from Lucas. His turn in A Beautiful Mind was subtle, but complete. It's fun to watch him so gleefully get into playing the jerk in this one.
Interestingly, the person who really gets the least to do is Bana. Basically he does the following: look angry, look tired, look angry, look hurt, look angry, and finally, look angry. His character is there for one reason: to get worked up and turn into the Hulk, and he does this admirably. I'm sure we'll see more development in the sequels yet to come, but for right now, there's not much to work with.
Then there's Elliott. Let me just say I love Sam Elliott. Most every character he plays embodies the type of guy each one of us would like to be. Here is no different. As the tough-as-nails general and concerned father, he hits it on the head. He better be in the sequels.
The transfer is great, as one would expect, detailed right down to the freckles on Hulk's shoulders. An array of colors show vibrantly throughout, and even in the washed out desert scenes, Hulk contrasts beautifully against the dullness of the sands.
Audio is wonderful as well, the 5.1 Dolby Digital encompassing the listener with speaker-specific effects that create an enjoyably enveloping environment. The bass is full without being overbearing or boomy. However, I did have difficulty with some of the dialogue. This could have something to do with a certain 2-year old and 6-month old and the background noise they create (how dare they!?!), but I definitely had to turn up the volume when conversation took over a scene.
Now the big question: does he look fake?
Personally, I don't think so. I know a lot of flack about the movie had to do with this very point, but let's think about the situation: you're watching a movie about an oversized, angry, green behemoth rampaging through San Francisco and the desert. To me at least, that in and of itself requires some major suspension of disbelief which lends me to be pretty accepting here. I felt Hulk was rendered quite well. His expressions and movement were realistic, and his interactions with characters and objects were quite natural. The bottom line: the CGI was good enough to convince me this was a living, breathing character.
Once again, if you want a smash-em-up action movie, this is not for you. Lee has crafted a movie that combines action and thought, destruction and introspection. He set out to respect the audience's intelligence while still giving them some great action setpieces, and in my opinion, without question, he did just that.
Video: 9
Audio: 9
Film Value: 8
Sean
I can understand why so many people didn't like this movie, what with Hulk not showing up until almost an hour into the movie, and then having the remaining hour and a half concentrate on keeping the demon within at bay, leading up to a climax which could definitely be seen as anything but climactic.
But this isn't John Woo directing. It's the other Hong Kong import of current renown, Ang Lee. This is the introspective director who gave us a vision of family discord and social detatchment during the 1970s in The Ice Storm; who showed us the ballet of martial arts and epic romance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Anyone knowing who Lee is and expecting an actionfest from his version of the Hulk is in for a huge let-down.
The protagonist is Bruce Banner (Eric Bana). Orphaned when his mother dies and his father goes to jail for killing her, Bruce grows up in foster/adoptive care. He has no memory of what happened to his parents and suffers from nightmares and repressed anger. He works in a science facility with his former love interest, Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly), striving to create a serum to heal wounds at an accelerated rate. When an experiment goes wrong, Bruce gets bombarded with gamma radiation. Enter Banner's birth father, David Banner (Nick Nolte). David fills Bruce in on a secret even he doesn't know. In an effort to keep his own healing research going, Papa Banner genetically altered Bruce as a child. The effects of which we see in short order as Bruce's repressed anger turns him into Hulk.
Once Hulk is set loose, the military is quite naturally concerned. Leading the contingent set on capturing or destroying Hulk is General Thunderbolt Ross (Sam Elliott), Betty's father. Also interested is Talbot (Josh Lucas) who wants the technology that makes Hulk who he is in order to procure a government contract and create super-soldiers with advanced healing powers and superior strength.
Everyone on his tail, Hulk fights Talbot, genetically altered poodles, tanks and helicopters in an effort to elude his pursuers while Banner tries to keep his rage under control and find the keys to his past.
The Hulk, even in the comic version, is about a man dealing with his own personal demons, trying to understand what drives him and his anger. With this in mind, Lee set out to make a thinking person's comic book, and he did a bang-up job. Even in the midst of tearing apart tanks and running from helicopters, Lee has Hulk stop to contemplate a moss surviving in the dry desert. To put in such an internal moment during the action without slowing the pace is a testament to his effective, if idiosyncratic, technique.
Nolte chews up and spits out every scene he is in. However, his over the top performance somehow seems to fit in Lee's comic book world.
Connelly puts in a sturdy performance as the damsel-not-really-in-distress-except-in-one-scene. Her purpose is to move the character in the direction it needs to go in order to move the movie in the direction it needs to go, and that's just what she does.
I look forward to more from Lucas. His turn in A Beautiful Mind was subtle, but complete. It's fun to watch him so gleefully get into playing the jerk in this one.
Interestingly, the person who really gets the least to do is Bana. Basically he does the following: look angry, look tired, look angry, look hurt, look angry, and finally, look angry. His character is there for one reason: to get worked up and turn into the Hulk, and he does this admirably. I'm sure we'll see more development in the sequels yet to come, but for right now, there's not much to work with.
Then there's Elliott. Let me just say I love Sam Elliott. Most every character he plays embodies the type of guy each one of us would like to be. Here is no different. As the tough-as-nails general and concerned father, he hits it on the head. He better be in the sequels.
The transfer is great, as one would expect, detailed right down to the freckles on Hulk's shoulders. An array of colors show vibrantly throughout, and even in the washed out desert scenes, Hulk contrasts beautifully against the dullness of the sands.
Audio is wonderful as well, the 5.1 Dolby Digital encompassing the listener with speaker-specific effects that create an enjoyably enveloping environment. The bass is full without being overbearing or boomy. However, I did have difficulty with some of the dialogue. This could have something to do with a certain 2-year old and 6-month old and the background noise they create (how dare they!?!), but I definitely had to turn up the volume when conversation took over a scene.
Now the big question: does he look fake?
Personally, I don't think so. I know a lot of flack about the movie had to do with this very point, but let's think about the situation: you're watching a movie about an oversized, angry, green behemoth rampaging through San Francisco and the desert. To me at least, that in and of itself requires some major suspension of disbelief which lends me to be pretty accepting here. I felt Hulk was rendered quite well. His expressions and movement were realistic, and his interactions with characters and objects were quite natural. The bottom line: the CGI was good enough to convince me this was a living, breathing character.
Once again, if you want a smash-em-up action movie, this is not for you. Lee has crafted a movie that combines action and thought, destruction and introspection. He set out to respect the audience's intelligence while still giving them some great action setpieces, and in my opinion, without question, he did just that.
Video: 9
Audio: 9
Film Value: 8
Sean
Thursday, March 4, 2004
Member since:
January 2003
January 2003