Hulk (DVD)

...he finally does appear, the Hulk is a believable, living, breathing, roaring, tank-throwing addition to the cast. In fact the computer-generated imagery (GCI) is so good that it looks better the closer you get to it. It's said that this film was in development for 12 years while they waited until the CGI technology was sufficiently advanced to create the life like look they needed for the Hulk. And they certainly made every effort to ensure that ...
...the computer model of the Hulk created by ILM used 12,996 texture maps and required 1,165 muscle movements. It was the work of 69 technical artists, 41 animators, 35 compositors, 10 muscle action animators, 9 CG modelers, 8 supervisors, 6 skin painters, 5 motion capture wranglers and 2 ILM art directors and the whole project took over 2.5 million computer hours in the one and a half years to reach fruition. (That's almost as much work as I put into ... more

The relluctant hero?

Life's complicated enough for mild-mannered, reclusive, geneticist Bruce Banner. Not only is he struggling to harness the medically miraculous potential of cell-regenerating genetic mutations in his lab (try saying that with a mouthful of marshmallows) but he's also trying to fend off the advances of a military power-maniac, hell-bent on a hostile takeover of his life's work. Oh and this is all whilst working alongside his beautiful ex-girlfriend (Connolly) who has an annoying habit of reminding him of his self-imposed emotional isolation. And I thought my Monday mornings were tough…

And so it is that Bruce Banner achieves the first qualification for superhero selection; all he wants is 'a quiet life', but nothing about his life shows the slightest inclination towards 'quietness'. Add to this the disturbing-yet-vague childhood memories (flashbacks to a military camp in the middle of nowhere) and sinister genetic inheritance from his mad scientist father and the stage is set for the 'accidental' exposure to lethal levels of gamma rays, and the familiar shirt-ripping, size-mutating, green rage.

Most directors would have reached this point within the first few scenes of the film. But it soon becomes apparent that this isn't your bulk standard, comic hero summer blockbuster. In fact, for most of the first hour of the film, you find yourself wondering if you're ever actually going to see the comic strip star in all his muscular, gigantic green glory.
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The really Incredible (CGI) Hulk

It 's well worth the wait though (42 minutes to be exact) as when he finally does appear, the Hulk is a believable, living, breathing, roaring, tank-throwing addition to the cast. In fact the computer-generated imagery (GCI) is so good that it looks better the closer you get to it. It's said that this film was in development for 12 years while they waited until the CGI technology was sufficiently advanced to create the life like look they needed for the Hulk. And they certainly made every effort to ensure that they made full use of the technology once it arrived. According to indb.com the computer model of the Hulk created by ILM used 12,996 texture maps and required 1,165 muscle movements. It was the work of 69 technical artists, 41 animators, 35 compositors, 10 muscle action animators, 9 CG modelers, 8 supervisors, 6 skin painters, 5 motion capture wranglers and 2 ILM art directors and the whole project took over 2.5 million computer hours in the one and a half years to reach fruition. (That's almost as much work as I put into every review!)

Conversely though, the further away we get, the less believable the effects become. The Hulk retains a cartoon-like motion as he bounds effortlessly across the sparse desert landscape, jumping incalculable distances with surprising grace. CGI may have mastered the effective rendering of every twitch and nuance of human/hulk expression in that big green face, but when it comes to the physics of motion most CGI fails to convince, especially when that motion involves a 15 foot green giant leaping several miles at a time and traveling at a rate of several hundred miles an hour. Overall though, despite some uncharacteristically gentle and almost childlike moments, the star of the show fails to disappoint - even delighting us with immortal lines such as "Out of my way puny human!"
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Not bad, for a puny human

Eric Bana is convincing as the troubled scientist and reluctant anti-hero. Steve Buscemi, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp had all been earmarked for the role in the run up to filming but eventually Bana was chosen on the strength of his role in 'Chopper'. And in my opinion he undoubtedly better suited for the role than any 'mainstream' Hollywood star (although I can't quite imagine anything more menacing than a 15 foot, pissed off, mutated version of Steve Buscemi..)

At times however Banner's character appears so emotionally estranged from Betty, his ex-girlfriend, love interest and only true ally (played by the delightful Jennifer Connelly) that he risks isolating the audience from the stoic inner workings of his uneasy mind. His performance is certainly restrained, which will add or detract from your enjoyment of the film depending on how you view the purpose of this adaptation. Connelly plays Bana's emotional opposite, and helps to capture the audience's engagement early on and sustain our interest as Bana becomes increasingly remote. It's not a particularly strong role, but her performance is credible as she struggles to deal with a world in which the men she loves (Banner and her father) suffer extreme cases of emotional detachment.

Nick Nolte is absorbing in the maniacal role of Banner's unhinged father and genetic scientist, whose original experiments leave not only a latent hereditary mutation with Banner but also a whole closet full of suppressed childhood memories, of which we are given occasional, nightmarish glimpses. Freud would of had a field day.
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A blessing or a curse?

What gives Banner's character an extra element of interest over your standard superhero fare is that his powers are a genuine curse, (not a fake curse like most reluctant heroes who always ended whining on about how hard it is to have superpowers "Oh I wish I wasn't a superhero. The weight of responsibility is like totally crushing me, I just wanna be a normal guy" yeh right, shut up Spidey and get back to work) Hulk doesn't use his powers to fight for justice and truth and the American Dream, not in this film anyway. We see the affliction that his 'power' brings and are constantly aware that brutish transformation comes about as a result of his 'creator's meddling in a power-crazed lust to unlock the secrets of regeneration. His character therefore has more in comon with the likes of Frankenstein's monster than he does with the logo-enriched Superman or even the darker and more gothicly orientated Batman.

By delving into the deeper, darker nature of Banner's character, Ang Lee gives the film a tense, psychological edginess, at the expense of much of the continuous, colossal comic book action which many would have expected. However, he skillfully retains the comic book feel by using a series of clever (if highly contrived) edits, split screens and animation-style collages to remind us that in this setting, anything can happen, and that our disbelief should remain suspended from start to finish.
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'Daddy, why won't you hug me?' 'Because you're a 15 foot tall, bright green mutant freak, son'

The father-child alienation theme is explored in some detail within the four main characters, but without ever really finding resolution. Both Bana and Betty are, as Roger Ebert puts it, 'two wounded adult children of egomaniacs' and Lee creates a dynamic four-way tension, where each characters fate is interlinked with the others. The two children wrestling with their emotionally estranged and slightly psychotic fathers whilst trying to reconcile their own ill-fated love for each other at the same time as trying to save each other from the malevolent intentions of their own parents. Rather convoluted for a mainstream blockbuster, but then Ang Lee's films have never sat all that well with the mainstream, to his credit.

Despite covering a diverse range of settings and genres, all of Ang Lee's films are essentially stories of human relationships, focusing in on a few key characters, and following their unfolding lives, paying meticulous detail to the interplay and the interweaving themes of love, loss, survival and hope. Lee seems both fascinated and preoccupied with finding, then telling, the human story. And Hulk is no exception, although occasionally it suffers from a little too much preoccupation with the human element, and an unspoken reluctance to linger too long on the monstrous aspect of the Hulk. At times this means that the pace is unexpectedly slow, and when the action does arrive it seems to sit awkwardly next to the reflective exploration of Banner's internal struggles with his past and the ensuing turmoil as he wrestles with the lurking rage-fueled monster within.
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The (big) bottom line

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All that said, this is an admirable attempt to create an intelligent, thought provoking film and break the stereotypical mould of action based comic hero movies. However, it comes nowhere near the quality and depth of Ang Lee's other work and is ultimately prevented from taking itself too seriously by the occasional, yet indisputably obvious, presence of a large, pea green mutant.

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The DVD extras include;

• Audio commentary by director Ang Lee

• "Captured Fury" - Illustrators from around the world create a scene from the movie in comic book form

• "Superhero Revealed" - The Anatomy of the Hulk

• "Evolution of the Hulk" - From the first metamorphis of Bruce Banner into the Hulk on the pages of comic books to his on-screen metamorphosis

• "The Incredible Ang Lee" - A tribute to the Ang Lee's hands-on directing style

• Making-of

• The Dogfight (making-of-featurette)

 

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