The (Not So) Incredible Hulk Movies

a Hulk of boredom.

Continuing with our current obsession, the Marvel cinematic universe, today's review will be about what we, and many more like to call one of the worst ideas Marvel Comics had: Live action films of The Hulk. Nevertheless, it is our job, if not our duty, to review films in the likes of The Hulk. 

I'm a complete idiot, who the heck is Hulk?

(David) Bruce Banner, a brilliant scientist with a cloudy past about his family, is involved in an accident in his laboratory causing him to become exposed to gamma radiation and Nanomeds (A tiny life-form that is supposed to heal wounds but has killed everything with which they have made contact). Confused and curious about his survival, Banner discovers that since the accident, whenever he becomes angry he transforms into a giant green monster destroying everything in sight in an act of fury. Bruce's mysterious past and the answer to why the radiation had this effect becomes revealed to him as his Birth Father David Banner intervenes with hopes to continue experimenting on him...

Eric Bana's talent was severely wasted in the film.

Angry Shrek.

Hulk (2003)

Ang Lee attempted a different approach in his direction in Hulk. The recipe for superhero comic book movie was not followed and for that, it failed in entertaining the mainstream audience. It is more off-beat, more difficult. The music score by Danny Elfman is much heavier than on the average Spider-Man film. The character is not a hero--nor is he a villain. It is a dark story of a pretty dark character. I believe that this is its essentially biggest problem: it is humourless to the core and when featuring a dark character like the Hulk, you need some serious light-hearted comic relief to counter it.

I barely even recalled the plot after having watched Hulk, but I remember that it was paper-thin. It's mostly Eric Bana as Bruce Banner coming to terms with his new green identity and the conflicts that this curse this brings. While Bana acts with more conviction and skill than any of the superhero actors (Tobey Maguire, Brandon Routh, even Christian Bale), he is only ever used for acting that varies between the extremes sad or confused in the film. It is not fair that this fantastically talented man is overshadowed by the alter ego of his character.

Dr. Banner sure knows how to pick up his girls.

The action scenes are also sub-par and rare. When they are attempted, Lee makes them too overblown to emphasize the sheer strength of the Hulk--and we have a green CGI monster in purple pants spiraling up in the sky--a Shrek on steroids. This may sound like the comic relief that was needed, but it isn't funny -- it's mostly bizarre. Some well-placed and traditional action scenes could and should have been included, in my opinion. It's not "selling out" so much as it's balancing the dark Hulk with light entertainment. If you make everything dark, then the character is not going to look dark or stand out.

And we're live!

I think you're kinda hot.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

This one definitely belongs on Failblog.

I seem to have the diametrically opposite opinion as some other commenters in here, in that where Ang Lee succeeded in actually creating characters for us to like, no such attempt is made in this movie, and thus we couldn't care less about the white, black, green and yellow characters on screen.

Apparently, the team here decided to totally ignore the previous installment of Hulk, both by changing the title from Hulk 2 to The Incredible Hulk, and by ignoring the story that precedes this installment. So, basically, we're starting from scratch. Let's see.

Dr. Banner's pussy.

"We must explain how the characters know each other, why they're supposedly in love, why they hate, etc., let's get that over with during the opening credits." Fail.

"If we cut the fundings for CGI effects, we'll have more money for marketing!" Fail.

"'Wroooarrara roowowoaraaa Wrrraaaahh' makes for good dialogue." Fail.

"The Hulk smashes things, so the point of the story must be to smash things." Fail.

Edward Norton does a great job but the ship's still sinking.

So ,your dad is a rocker.

And this last point is exactly why Ang Lee got it right. I can understand if some people who left their trailers and Oprah on the television would find it hard to have to endure in excess of an hour being fed plot and character construction before the Hulk finally gets around to throwing around tanks and soldiers, but that's exactly what's needed to make an over-sized angry Apache-smashing green guy become recognizable and worthy of empathy, and not just become a joke worthy of laughs. Which is what happens in this second Hulk movie.

Ang Lee's Hulk worked because of this, Spider-Man works because of this, Iron Man to some degree also, but this? This? This is just awful. You hate the characters on screen, each and every one of them, because they didn't earn your caring. I find myself commenting on Tyler's "Nooo!"s with, "Why don't you just shut up?!", and The Hulk's "Hulk smash!" with, "We knooow, why not try something else instead?" I'm sorry, but bad CGI and smashing stuff, including the army firing miniguns from choppers at residential buildings in downtown Manhattan (what's that about?) just doesn't make a good movie. It makes for audience disrespect. 

Hulk smash terrible sequel!

These films are an abomination!

Overall, The Hulk films are nothing but disappointing adaptations of a character that is way more complex on the inside than on the outside. What made The Incredible Hulk TV series so appealing to audiences was there was enough time for character development, the show was mostly about Dr. Banner and his human struggle, rather than depicting spectacular battle scenes with the green beast within.  The technological limitation the series had was definitely its major strength as it was a real challenge for writers & producers, a challenge that was greatly outdone while the show was fresh. On the other hand, the films relied heavily on the use and abuse of CGI in order to develop onion thin plot lines, failing miserably in the portrayal of a character that is more man than beast, and let's not discuss Comic Book accuracy because you wouldn't like me to get angry!