Reviews: The Hulk

[JoBlo]

JoBlo's 7/10 review of THE HULK can be found here: http://www.joblo.com/hulk.htm

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[Dafixer]

Having just seen this movie (literrally) its time for my two cents at last. For a while I've been waiting to answer to all the early critics, all the people who downloaded the movies crappy version, all the CGI nay sayers. I refused to fully give any reply until I saw and could assess the movie myself. Having seen it, now its my turn.

1. The movie. It rocked, and I do mean rock. First and formost this complaint about the beginning taking too long. I completely disagree. It set up characters, situations, and story and I actually cared about those involved. Now I am a hulk fan (look at my avator.) I've been reading anything with Hulk in it since when ever. This was Hulk. Smash, trash, no nonsense, super leaps and get stronger as he got angrier hulk. It was a fanboy's wet dream to see him come to light, and simply take things apart with his bare hands. The Hulk dogs made sense for the movie, and JoBlo was right, they were there to give Hulk something to smash, and he did.
The camera cuts was a give or take thing. I personally like the way scenes cut into each other, and different perspectives were shown for the same scenes. Now my partner thought it was over used and too much like 24. But I piont out that 24 uses four screen splits to show what different characters are doing at the same time then taking you to the focus of a specific character. This movie went way beyoung that. It did look comic book and it was very effective.
I will have to agree about the last villain fight. It seem a wee on the rushed side (and I'm being kind.) And parts of it really did not make sense. But the very end was perfect.

The CGI - I found a few parts to be a little cartoony, but over all the CGI rocked. Hulk interacted excellently with his environment, and his fights should go down as classics.

The Actors. Bana was Banner, period. The love story was good, the general was great. I have to agree with most about Talbort and David Banner. Nick, please. Leave the over acting to people who do it right like Pacino or Walken. Nick wasn't bad, but he was over the top at points and lucid at others. It was hard to nail him down as a mad scientist or driven scientist. And I have to add that even the Hulk's "acting" was way better then I expected it to be. He even got a PERFECT line at a PERFECT TIME. IF they make him talk I pray they use that voice.

Over all - this movie was a work of art. Pace well, and dispite the length you forgot all about it until the credits rolled. It was much more a thinking story then X-Men or Spider-man, and highly character driven. The only motivation I thought was stretched to thin was Talbort's. He was too slimy, too evil, and his motivations seemed more tacked on - but I admit they did not flesh out his character to give the motivation more weight. Other then that, people are going to be talking about this one for a little while. My rating 8.5/10 - would have went higher if the villians were done a little better.

Get ready world, the comic book movies are about to completely flood the market. And the bad news is that they are running out of good directors.

[MovieMan75]

Yet another excellent Marvel film in the can! :) I loved how unique and risky this film was. I won't be suprised when everyone expects a big, mindless summer blockbuster, but what they're really going to get is a dark, deeply psychological drama about the complicated relationships of the characters in this film. The good thing is that is also perfectly balanced with some amazing action sequences, believable special effects, and a great comic book feel. I really enjoyed the comic book paneling for the filming. I thought it was creative, original, and gave it a perfect feel. I also was very relieved that the Hulk came off beautifully, in both far away shots, and close-up shots. It was just perfect CGI, and it led to lots of excellent action scenes. The acting and character development was also top notch. Eric Bana played a perfect Bruce Banner, and I loved Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross. Nick Nolte was fairly good as Bruce's father, as well. Overall, this movie was just a lot of fun, and I was glad it was much more of an intelligent drama then mindless fluff.


My Ratings:

Hulk: 7/10
X2: 9/10
X-Men: 8/10
Spider-Man: 8/10
Daredevil: 7/10

[Weapon X]

Let's go at this one bit at a time, shall we?

PLOT:
The overall plot itself is rather simple; David Banner tampers with Mother Nature, then Bruce gets zapped, turns into Hulk, and goes on the run. That plot alone stretched over nearly 2 and a half hours would be a prett flat movie, but it what happens with the characters around that plotline that makes the movie work. The repression of Bruce, the struggling affection of Betty, the blind ambition-turned-desperation of David, and the steely determination of General Ross. The movie is not so much about an actual story but rather an epic character study. Everybody's got a damn good reason for doing what they're doing, however noble or twisted their intentions (the exception to this is of course Talbot, who is only there for the audience to despise). My big disappointment is the resolution to the David/Bruce confrontation; it looked rushed, and didn't exactly make a lot of sense, but perhaps that will change with multiple viewings. The scenes with Hulk vs. the military are uber-bitchin'! End of story.

ACTING:
Lots of top-notch stuff here. Eric Bana plays Bruce Banner with all the right keys; there's quiet and reserved Bruce, the agitated Bruce, and mucho-pissed-off Bruce. In all honesty, I found him a little wooden at times, but he still does a great job. Jennifer Connelly does just as well as Betty, and even though her figure has taken a drastic size reduction, she still has a captivating screen presence (read: she's still fuckin' hot, boobs or otherwise). As I said earlier, Josh Lucas's only purpose is to be hated, and had he been given a little more character, I might have appreciated his role a little more. On the other hand, seeing him get manhandled by the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant is worth plenty of giggles. The showstoppers, however, are Nolte and Elliot as David Banner and General Ross, respectively. Sam Elliot shows he's the man running the game, and if you question that, he'll see to it your ass is grass. Nick Nolte managed to frighten me a couple times, and every time he spoke he had my full attention. At the same time, he also proved there's not much to separate him from that now classic mugshot. ;)

MUSIC:
Is it me, or is Danny Elfman getting less and less impressive with every movie he works on? His score for HULK is just as unmemorable and unimpressive as Spider-Man, and at times, I thought it was somebody else's work entirely! In fact, a couple bars sounded like leftovers from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Let-down.

DIRECTING:
The only reminder that Ang Lee directed this was the appearance of his name in the credits. Lee takes a very different approach than Crouching Tiger, but he still takes things very seriously...for the most part anyhow. I loved the use of color. If you look closely, you can see green is in almost every single shot; whether it's a subtle tinge or a backdrop of trees, it's there, and it's a cool look. The design of the opening credits is lifted from Spider-Man, and that's both a good and bad thing. Hulk's credits look better (the title logo notwithstanding - you'll see what I mean), but the resemblence to Spider-Man's opening sticks out like a bad wart.

My biggest problem with the look of the movie was the constant transitions. I like the concept of comic book-like panels in a comic book movie, and I thought certain shots were strokes of genius, but most of the time I found them distracting. In between scenes, that's one thing. In between different shots within the SAME scene, that's overkill. On the brighter side, I appreciated their inclusion in that while the uninitiated will like the movie's dramatic flair, those transitions are like a huge slap to the face saying, "Hey, it's a comic book! Maybe your view that comics are kid's stuff is a tad misguided, eh?" (I still growl when I think of a stranger's comment that stuff like X2 is something her 5-year-old would enjoy more than she would. Grrr.)

EFFECTS:
This ain't no Gollum. You can tell Hulk is CGI, but if you're not looking for it, you'll hardly notice. In fact, sometimes Lee's directing hides the obvious CGI in pretty clever ways. The final "showdown" is in my opinion the most glaring flaw. Have no fear, though, there are some bright spots, my favorite of which being the "de-Hulking" scene, which is finely tuned as well as poignant and beautiful.

OVERALL:
Despite its minor effects and plot boo-boos, this is a damn good comic book movie, and a damn good movie PERIOD. My one biggest problem - the one thing that's majorly gotten under my skin - is the cutting of the best part of the trailer; where Bruce is overpowering Talbot and he says, "You're making me angry. I don't think you're gonna like me when I'm angry". That was the PERFECT way to include it, and they fucked it up! They still include the line, mind you, but its use is cheesy and feels tacked-on by comparison.

Long story short: Is HULK a smash? You bet your green gamma-radiated ass.

8/10

[Lindsey]

The Hulk: 4/10

Let me be the first to say that I'm not a comic book fan. Not once have I read a comic, noir anything like it. I wasn't on planning to see The Hulk, but since my date was a huge Marvel fan, he insisted that we went. It was so damn crowded in the theatre, that I ended up sitting next to some fat guy! Half of the audience consisted of screaming children pleading to their mothers to go see Finding Nemo.

Anyways, I knew nothing about the Hulk to begin with. So I was asking dumb questions like: "Why in the hell is he leaping"? My date gave me this stupid look and said: "Because he's part frong, duuuh". I did get notice the cameo by Stan Lee (Thanks to Mallrats!) and I also got a kick out of Nick Nolte in handcuffs. Look familar?

Here what I think of the film: I hated the CGI animated Hulk. And when he was flying all around, it got a little boring after a while. And what was with the CGI hulk dogs? Okay. The only part really dug is when Nolte's character touched something, he would blend into it. Pretty neat! But I just didn't dig the movie. Except for a few parts that were okay...!

[DieHardBruceFan]

I agree with much of JoBlo's review, except I thought Nolte did a fine job as David Banner. I also thought the Hulk looked great and the special effects were fantastic.

Ang Lee has really made an interesting and well-rounded comic book film. It achieves what it sets out to do and it does it well. Kudos to all involved in this movie!

The final scene with David and Bruce Banner bugged me (felt tacked on like Jo said), but I loved the final line from the film :)

Sad to not see a McGee character in the film (the reporter from the TV show) . . . oh well

HULK is a great addition to the awesome Marvel films. Keep 'em coming guys, I love these cool flicks!

Grade: B+

[Negrotigre]

What happened? I went in to see the hulk, yet what I saw more closely resembled the Three Faces of Eve. Ang Lee turned my rampaging Hulk into a touchy feely shadow of himself. "Rampaging Hulk," is that too much to ask? Lee went on a tangent in this flick, taking the audience on an extended excursion into the Id of Bruce Banner. Now, I'm all for backstory and understanding the character's inner thoughts, but damn, I get the point already. I mean, does it take 2 hrs and 20 minutes to make the Hulk? At least 25 minutes of could have easily been cut from the flick. It seemed like everytime I thought the Hulk was really about to bust loose, the tempo would slow down again, the music from Gladiator(When Maximus was dying) would kick in, and the Hulk would get all sentimental on me.

Acting- Someone sedate Nick Nolte, then again considering recent events, I'm not sure any more medication is in order for Mr. Nolte. Maybe someone could just ask him to tone down just a little bit. Jennifer Connelly, boy she's pretty, and her character of Betty must also be quite fragile, because it seems like she burst into tears in almost every scene. Sam Elliot was good as the hard nosed General Ross. He was intense, yet not over the top, (yes it's possible Mr. Nolte) Bana wasn't bad, pretty good actually, not great by any means, but more than serviceable. Actually the best acting in the movie came from the Hulk himself. They did a wonderful job with the facial expressions on the CGI star, it made it really easy to discern his emotions.

For me as a huge comic book fan, seeing the Hulk jump from mountain to mountain like he did in the comics was very cool.

In my opinion an uneven effort. Although it has it's moments when it's really cool.

6/10

El Negro.

[Snowboy]

THE HULK - 7/10

A decent film which provided from some interesting characters, AWESOME action sequences, but one which never really completely enveloped me. Like Joblo, it is probably because of my high expectations for this film, most of which were happily met. But I did have a few issues with the film. First off, 2 1/2 hours is a bit long for a movie of this sort--trim it down by half an hour and I would have been completely satisfied. Secondly--those darn screen-splits/panels. They were cool at first but I was rolling my eyes halfway through the movie. Although I will give props to the visual effects/camera crew--I did appreciate some of the neat camera trickery and imagery thrown my way. Finally--NICK NOLTE. He just did NOT belong in this film.

On to the good stuff. The cast is superb, with Eric Bana presenting us with a guy with a troubled past, and his transformations were just breathtaking. I honestly felt I could relate to the guy in one way or another--having to deal with something that consumes you so much that you just feel rage...except, I don't turn into a big green monster when I get angry. *G* I appreciated the drama behind this film--something rarely seen in films such as these (although X-Men is far better in terms of the dramatic aspects). Jennifer Connelly was also rock solid as Banner's flame..although I think the whole father/daughter feud could have been cut out completely...but that's just me.

The CGI wasn't anything spectacular but it was definitely very cool at times, especially the close-ups of Hulk's face..wow. Great job there. Watching him throw tanks through the air and jump over canyons certainly made me smile! I loved the final scene where he meets with Betty (Connelly)--the look they exchange was just so nice. His final transformation was brilliantly done.

All in all, HULK is an entertaining picture with only a few minor issues, but nothing unforgivable. Granted, I'm not a HULK fan, but I certainly did enjoy myself here. Good job, Mr. Lee.

[blankpage]

Visually Amazing, some nice acting, but what else?

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0286716/2288_FS24_10725_50_MAC_16_rgb.jpg



The Hulk

Starring- Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas

Directed by- Ang Lee



Story: After an experiment goes wrong, a man turns into a big green monster thru is anger.


Review: Very mixed emotions coming out of The Hulk. Many things worked, but many things didn't. Visually amazing, some good acting, an interesting story, but what else? After all, I did sit for 2 hrs and 25 mins (not to mention sitting thru Rugrats go Wild before..). I was pretty disappointed, but at the same time, I got some good stuff.

What really surprised me (in a good way) was the fact there wasn't a lot of action throughout, and it focused on an actual story. With real human emotions, and pain a man has to go through. I find this is becoming a trend in comic-book films. I think this film had the best story, in terms of backround and emotion, in a comic book film. Not to mention some excellent visuals throughout the film. I think Universal and the producers did a good thing with hiring Ang Lee. If you want amazing visuals and some good story told in your film, Lee is the man for the job.

The acting was pretty good here, too. I may be the only one who thinks this, but Nick Notle did a very fine job in his role. The only time I felt he was weak was when he went VERY over-the-top. The other actin was pretty good as well, but I thought Notle was top notch.

Now for my complaints....

As the film got to it's end, I felt that it was way too crazy, and over-the-top. Even for a comic book film, I thought that some of the things being done in this movie were too unbelievable for mine and it's own good. I think dh1989 hit on when he said too much was trying to be done. It tired to have lots of action, lots of visuals, lots of story, lots of art, etc. Like come on, you can't expect me to give this an 8 or 9/10 when so much is trying to be done. It just gets worse if your trying to do something like that.

There are other little things that I can complain aobut but the phrase, "too much was trying to be done" can sum it all up. The Hulk had some great stuff going for it, but it failed in some parts. It was decent, but barely getting that praise.

6/10 (could be soon a 5)




Where the f*** is blankpage coming from?

X-Men- 8/10
X2- 9/10
Daredevil- 8/10
Spider-Man- 7/10
Batman- 8/10
Batman Returns- 9/10

[dxhc99]

First and foremost I Think that most comic book movies are really good. !!THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

This is one of those suprising summer blockbusters that actully has a mind of its own and uses it. Ang Lee is a great director and he shows it by the way he uses comic-esque scenes where they show two or more things at once. I really liked all the acting in this movie especially Sam Elliot who play the General or whatever but he played the character the way it should be played as a guy who u think is a bad guy but really isn't which shows later on. I really liked the ending and thought that it really wasnt over the top for this movie. His father really was evil and i could see him doing that (Plus he was insane). The Hulk was also done very well and looked even more real in the daylight. Overall this is a great movie that no comic fan or movie fan should pass up on.

X-Men: (7.5/10)
Spider-Man: (8.5/10)
X2: X-Men United: (9/10)
Batman Forever: (7/10)
Daredevil: (8/10)
Blade: (8/10)
Blade II: (8.5/10)
The Matrix Reloaded: (10/10)
The Matrix: (10/10)
The Hulk: (9/10)

[moviemuffin]

Review of The Hulk
©reel-reviews.net

Running time 138 Rated PG 13
Directed by Ang Lee

Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, Paul Kersey

Based on the Marvel Comic

Well, the Marvel Comics just keep coming. Latest in the installment of superheros to invade the big screen is the much-anticipated film directed by Ang Lee, The Hulk. Lee did an interview with TV Guide in which he whined about criticism that hit the press before the movie's release, saying it was unfair. He claimed that the CGI-Animated Hulk had not yet been finished, and final touches had rendered him much more lifelike.

I shudder to think how crappy he looked before the touch-ups.

There is absolutely nothing new happening here, and the old stuff is delivered with positively dismal triteness. Nothing works but the luminescence of Jennifer Connelly's eyes, which are quite lovely, but can't carry an entire movie. They're nice eyes, they're just not that nice.

Eric Bana is flat as Bruce Banner. When he is not threatening to transform into the Hulk he is one dimensional. We are supposed to buy him as a shallow young man who is secretly concealing hidden depths of pain, repressed memories, loneliness. We never do. He shifts from absolute banality (the play on words is irresistable) to believing he is showing us "uncontrolled rage" by shaking and breathing hard through his nose. To paraphrase every 10 year old alive: whatever.

Nick Nolte plays David Banner, the green meanie's dad, who reappears like a ghost to haunt a young man who believes him to be dead. I'd say Nolte might have been convincing if the script were, but I'd be lying. Hollywood persists in believing that top-secret, highly secure corporations, military installations, and scientific labs are open to pretty much any nutcase with no security clearance and a set of keys on an over-sized ring. Nolte persists in believing that his voice is impressive enough, when growled good and low, to do his acting for him. It isn't. Not even with the mug shot hairdo. One wonders why the makeup department failed to ponder the implausibility of a man's hair growing darker as he ages. The younger David was blond. The aging David has dark roots and grey tips and looks as if he told the stylist "think Einstein after a bad three day binge in Baja."

The Green one himself is laughable. His movements at worst are jerky, stiff, and very ameteurish. At best they are cartoony. As if this weren't enough to turn anyone off, his powers seem completely ridiculous. One can not have a superhero who is completely unkillable; one can not give him absurdly advanced powers without explaining them somehow. Though the movie opens with a long montage encapsulating the "how" of the Hulk's creation, it doesn't give enough specific information to convince. This guy can leap for miles. Missiles are playthings to him. The military can't kill him. Why? Nothing in the opening sequence is substantial enough to really explain. What's more, a hero who has no achilles heal (besides his warm fuzzy for Betty) is boring.

It doesn't work. The plot is not enough to interest plot lovers. The effects are not enough to satisfy effects hounds. There are better Marvel adaptations out there to satisfy Marvel fans.

[Boba Joe]

Well, it's been several hours since I saw the HULK at the theatre. I think the HULK is one of the coolest and certainly most original comic book super heroes of all time. I loved the 1970s TV show starring Bill Bixby, but I'll admit that I really never followed the comic books all that closely. All things considered, I really wasn't expecting very much out of this movie. I haven't been very impressed with the super hero movies as of late. In fact, I've only really enjoyed the first two movies of SUPERMAN and BATMAN . Anyhow, back to the review:

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

First and foremost, I have to tell you that I absolutely hated these "transitions" as Weapon X called them. To me, it was distracting all 92 times they used it. I realized they were going for a "comic book feel", but it was more like "watching a Quentin Tarentino movie feel". Damn, that was just annoying...no getting around it. I sympathized with Jennifer Connelly's "Betty Ross", but Eric Bana's performance as "Bruce Banner" was a little dull.
I just never really felt bad for him even when I was supposed to.
Sam Elliott played "General Ross" about as good as anyone could (Remember the scene where he was about to eat with Betty before she walked out? I wonder if he ordered some beef. Get it? It's what's for dinner.) He was a gruff character, but yet you could understand why he had destroy the HULK . If something crazy like that ever happened in real life, I would hope that the Government would take it out as well. Nick Nolte is crazy. We all know this. That's why if "David Banner" is described as a crazy, delusional old man, then Nolte was born for the role. Sometimes I was convinced that Nolte was just drunk on the set rambling on and Ang Lee just kept filiming it. Josh Lucas' character was truly one-dimensional and served as nothing more than an antagonist for Bruce. The action scenes, when actually used, weren't as bad as I thought they were going to be. I got a kick out of the cameo scene with Stan Lee and Lou Ferigno, but I was hoping Lou's cameo would be something like: (He looks up and see the size of the HULK , looks at his bicep while flexing it, looking back at the HULK and waving his arms like 'Get outta here!") Now, THAT would have been damn funny. The final transformation back into Bruce was absolutely solid and perfect...it's amazing how they pulled that one off. I enjoyed the final line of the movie as well played on a different angle. I was hoping the movie ended with Banner sneaking into a laundrymat or a backyard wearing only town-up purple pants. Then he would leave some money as he took a fresh pair of clothes as another tribute to the TV show.
Finally, the CGI HULK : What I thought was going to be the worst part of the movie actually turned out to be the very best. Sure, it wasn't flawless...but what CGI character is? I've seen this Gollum. Please! Not impressed, but that's a whole other story. Would anybody really believe that the HULK was real?! Unless their name is Nick Nolte...hell no they wouldn't!! Duh! But what we got was perfect enough. Those eyes. Those facial expressions. I was damn impressed! If only I could have been as impressed with the rest of the movie.
By the way, I think before they decide to make any more hero flicks they should consider teaming some up for future movies. Some people like the recent flock of flicks and that's fine for them. For me, I would personally love to see a SPIDER-MAN vs. HULK movie as opposed to the sequels they will be making for each film. How about CAPTAIN AMERICA in the next X-MEN movie? Oh well...that's just my opinion. Anyway, for those few schmoes who give a rip I give the

HULK.....6/10

...still better than SPIDER-MAN , but that ain't saying a whole lot.

SUPERMAN 9/10
SUPERMAN II 9/10
SUPERMAN III 5/10
SUPERMAN IV 2/10
BATMAN 9/10
BATMAN RETURNS 9/10
BATMAN FOREVER 7/10
BATMAN & ROBIN 2/10
X-MEN 6/10
SPIDER-MAN 2/10
DAREDEVIL N/A
X-MEN 2 N/A

[anakinsrise]

My review of The Hulk


IN SHORT:A vivid and dramatic new look at a legendary character




THE GOOD:Ok going in i had my reservations about the movie.Of course i had seen the ads,hear and read reviews of others,with comments like "Oh its not like the t.v show",and the "CGI effects are horrible and the Hulk looks like a combo of Shrek and Sylvester Stallone.There is no one that adored the t.v show and the comic book more than i.It was the most fun i could have as a kid on a friday night at 8 p.m because i know my mom was going to shoo me away so she could watch her nightime soap opera Dallas at 9 p.m.HAHAHA!!I still watch the old show at times when it pops up on cable,for a laugh and to remember.But like all legendary characters the story of the Hulk has been retold.It takes it time to get going and establish a story.Which wasnt as dreadful and painfully boring to sit through as some as said,but right before you begin to say ok im ready for some action,the HULK appears and i must say even with all of the CGI the green guy grew on me.
The action sequences were breathtaking.When he fought off the dogs his deranged,mad scientist father played by Nick Nolte sics on him and his beloved Betty i was in awe.And Nolte has deranged down to a t.A little over the top but i did enjoy watching him on screen.Eric Bana looking a bit like Corey Feldmans older brother did a good job as Bruce Banner,playing a man repressing his memories and keeping all his anger inside.Jennifer Connelly does a fine job as the woman in his life who wants to help with good intentions and love in her heart.I really felt like she loved Bruce/Hulk.Josh Lucas was great as the slimey Talbolt,but you just cant wait to see the Hulk to kick his butt across the screen.Sam Elliot as General Ross is competent in his role but it felt as if he was just replaying his character from THE Contender (2000) or We Were Soldiers (2002).Ang Lee does a good job here mixing drama with amazing action sequences.


THE BAD:Its a bit long.I think about 15 minutes could have been shaved off.I Didnt mind Ang's use of split screens and scenes blending in and out but some were just so obvious and in your face i felt as if i was going to walk out cross eyed.And one of the last action sequences in the movie was a good idea but it was so murky and dark you couldnt really tell what was going on.I guess it was done that way to show certain special effects but i felt kind of lost.



IN THE END :A good movie with some flaws,but i must admit the crowd i watched it with liked it too.Some boos at the end but hey some people hate everything.And a little side note dont take tiny tots to see this if they scare easily, some of the kids in the audience began to cry right after The Punisher trailer. Scale of 1-10 an 8

[Nachokoolaid]

I've had a few hours now to let this settle in, and I have to say I was quite impressed with Ang Lee's Hulk. I give it a 7/10.

That score would have been much lower if not for one thing. The direction. Great job directing and editing this film. I loved, LOVED the scene transitions, where it seemed like every time it was a new wipe, or something to visiually entice the audience. I loved the screen in screen stuff. It really helped this movie. It really gave it a comic book feel that no other comic book movie has acheived thus far. The only time this effect DID NOT work was when Josh Lucas died. That seemed a little weird for me.

I'm one of those folks who thought it ran a bit slow at times, and wouldn't have been hurt if 20 minutes would have been shaved off. But it works for me, because I'm a movie fan. The theater was packed when I saw it, but I actually had families get up and leave in the middle, (some before Hulk actually appeared) because they were bored with it. And the annoying guy behind me kept interacting with the movie. Example: When Bruce said, "You know what scares me the most?" This guys goes, "Yeah, this boring movie!" And I heard another family get out of their seats and go, "Come on, we're going to Wal-Mart." So the deep psychological stuff and character development turned off a lot of folks, at least those that were expecting a run of the mill/action filled/popcorn flick. I liked it, and I love character development, but how much is too much?

I saw no real problems with the CGI. I want to know why so much of the movie takes place at night or in the dark, because the CGI Hulk looked 10 times better in the daytime scenes. The daytime stuff was great, and you can really see some good detail there, look especially at his hair on the daytime close-ups. VERY IMPRESSIVE. The only part that looked TOO cartoony is when he is fighting Nolte underwater. It almost looks like he switches to an animated cartoon. And the Hulk dogs worked for the movie. And the CGI stuff with Nolte's character in the lab when he first hits himself with the radiation is really spectacular.

And I thought the acting was good, all around. Everyone served their purpose. Was Nolte overacting? What is overacting exactly? Who am I to judge that? I really liked his performance. I thought it was one of the better ones of the movie. The only "cheesy" part came when he was talking to Bruce in the final scene, and he throws his hands in the air. You know the scene, if you've seen it. Other than that, Nolte had me interested in every word he was saying. Totally beleivable. And Sam Elliot was good in this.

Overall, 7/10. Quite good. In the hands of a lesser director, I think it could've ended up quite bad. I enjoyed the scene in scene stuff and transitions the most, although it ran a little long. The final battle seemed too short. It should have taken the place of some of the early dialogue that seemed a bit repetitive.

A better made movie than X-men 1 or 2, and Spider-man, but less enjoyable than all of those, perhaps because he's not really a superhero. He's more a monster, a Frankenstein's creature, a Jekyll and Hyde thing. At least go see it to judge for yourself. You might like it like me, or you might feel compelled to go shopping at Wal-Mart instead half-way through the film.

[jeo4]

SUPERMAN 9/10
SUPERMAN II 8/10
SUPERMAN III 5/10
SUPERMAN IV 3/10
BATMAN 8/10
BATMAN RETURNS 9/10
BATMAN FOREVER 4/10
BATMAN & ROBIN 2/10
X-MEN 8/10
SPIDER-MAN 2/10

THE HULK
CGI - Not bad, not perfect, but not nearly as bad as any ctritic bitched about. The dogs were a nice touch, although they were a bit cartoonish. The Hulk was believable in many parts. In daylight scenes, his flaws came through.

Direction - Good ideas here. The frames and the page-turn wipes were great for me. Not everyone likes these though. I was used to the frames because the technique has been used in such TV shows as "24" for a couple of years. Also, I'm a reformed comic book junkie.

Script / Plot: Not bad. It seems to stick to the original comic ideas. I was pleased with it overall. The one thing I would have changed was the pacing. It felt slow in some places, jerky in others. The lead-in seemed especially slow, taking over 30 minutes for the action to begin. This was a long time to wait. The length of the story was a bit too much too. At 2 1/2 hours, this film is just too long.

Acting Performances: I was pleased with just about everyone in the film. Betty Ross was played perfectly by Jennifer Connelly, while Sam Elliott played her overprotective (if not downright controlling) father, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. Elliott slips into the military role easily, while maintaining a level of father-daughter conflict with Betty. His long history with David Banner (the mad scientist played by Nick Nolte) played right into his conflict with Bruce Banner (Eric Bana), and Elliott made a substantial contribution to the success of Ross's character. Eric Bana's portrayal of the emotionally detached Bruce Banner was fitting, since Bruce was repressing memories of his childhood. And he seemed genuinely out of control in some scenes and afraid in others. He was every bit as frightened of his actions as the Hulk was angry at the world. For a relative newcomer, this was a solid performance from Bana. Nick Nolte was my only question mark for this film. He does play the mad doctor part rather well. He is every bit the asshole, searching for ways to make himself more powerful. My gripe with this role is that we've seen this from Nick Nolte several times before. It's getting stale.

So does it measure up to the comic book? Yes and no. Does it outplay many superhero films in it's genre? Definitely. Is it worth seeing? I'd say so. When all members of my family and I are still talking about it the next day, it seems to have done its job.

THE HULK - 7/10

[MisterTwister]

Great Action, decent special Fx and good acting but everything else is dull and boring. I almost fell asleep during this one. Not that good. 5/10

[Zombie]

10/10

Warning: Spoilers may exist thru out this!

Reading the reviews in "The Hulk" thread in this part of the forum, I noticed most of it was mixed. Am I the only one who thought different?

1) People say The Hulk's writing /script was bad.
I thought it was incredibly good. It explored his past, present, and possibly the future. It was very, very deep, and you felt for the Hulk thru out the movie. It is a little sad too at times. When exploring his past, it shows a lot about Bruce and his terrible past as an infant. Jesus, did people want this movie to tie it to like a Star Wars film and how the Hulk is a Jedi?

2) Not enough explosions.
People, yeah the Hulk is supposed to go nuts, but I don't know if you noticed that when Betty Ross wasn't around, he went freaking insane. I don't know if you were watching, but did anyone see the whole scene in the desert? When she was around , his love for her was able to control what he did, thus, going back to Bruce.

3) The acting was okay/bad.
What? Were you watching something else? I dont' know if you noticed, but the one scene where Bruce Banner and his father, Dr. David Banner, were sitting together in the chairs in that army base had possibly the most incredible acting I have ever seen, it was so freaking real and I actually thought the scene truely existed.

4) The Ending
[i]A little confusing, yes, but it leaves a world of possiblities to the definite Hulk 2 ( notice the ending in the Jungle ). The last scene, in the jungle, follows the comic book and its story line. The first few comics showed how Bruce was turned into the Hulk via unleashing his inner anger by the gamma ray. Soon after, his anger and rage were ment initially to cause damage, and even he says it in the movie ( "And you know whats scary? I like it..." ). However, later on, the Hulk is able to control it and able to fight "bad guys", if you will, thus, helping the world. That is why, at the end, he is going to fight those guys stealing the medicine ( to help that village ). How, I thought his rage is still inside? Nope. When the scene where Bruce and his father are in their Hulk stages, Bruce ( Hulk ) says "You want it? Take it all!". He is releasing all his anger. I thought the ending was brilliant.

I thought the Hulk ( 10/10 ) was better than Spider-Man, X,X2, DareDevil, etc. Probably top 3 movies of this year, in my opinion ( 1) Matrix: Reloaded, 2) HO10K, 3) The Hulk ). All the other movies seemed boring to me, and regarding Spider-Man, I thought Tobey is the worst actor for that role. The only three actors I thought were great in those movies were in X/X2, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, and Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier. Other than that, the rest sucked.

If you don't mind, I just have a few questions about The Hulk.

1) When Bruce and Betty are in Bruce's old house where that whole incident took place, when Betty wants to open the door and Bruce says not to, but she opens it anyway and nothing is inside, Bruce was expecting that. Was that supposed to mean that his parents are infact alive and not dead, since their bodies would have been their if they were dead?

2) That last missile that hit both Hulk's, can someone explain it to me?

Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed my topic on The Hulk, and questions/comments/answers are highly appreciated

Thanks.



I wrote that in another topic.

[bigred760]

Not a great movie, but definitely one worth seeing in the theatres. This comic book adaptation doesn't follow in the footsteps of the smart, funny, action adventure that was Spider-man and the two X-men movies. Instead it takes a little darker and serious tone and mixes in a lot of family dysfunctionality and emotional deprivity dialogue. The Hulk itself was very cool; the fact that it was all CGI didn't bother me a bit - it didn't look fake in other words. I even think they didn't show enough of it.

The story itself isn't half bad; my only problem with it was that it took a little too long to get it going. There are too many scenes that drag on and on. Get to the damn green monster already!!!

I did like the split screens and the more than one shot onscreen though; don't know if that was meant to make it more "comic-book"-like or what, but it was very cool and made the movie a little more interesting. Guess we have Ang Lee to thank for that bit.

But the most impressive scenes are, obviously, where the Hulk goes apeshit (love that phrase) on whoever gets in his way. Luckily we didn't have to wait until the sequel to see our hero do so (like X2, but X-Men was still cool). Everybody's bugging me saying that the trailer scene where the Hulk whips the tank around is probably the only cool thing - it is not. Definitely had the most fun watching those scenes.

Overall, the story, acting, directing were all good. The only things that bugged me overall was the pace of the movie and as a result of that - the length of the movie.

7/10

[Perseverance]

Overall........it didn't do it for me.

I loved the scenes with the Hulk, it was fasinating to watch......he looked better than in the commercials.

I thought the story moved way to "slow".

Didn't like Nick Nolte at all.

I did like Jennifer Connelly (beautiful eyes).

Didn't like Sam Elliot that much.

Eric Bana did a decent job as Bruce Banner.

The story was bad, bad, bad.

I didn't get a good feeling from watching the movie........it felt like I was waiting in a very long line........waiting for the Hulk to reappear.

Recommend it only for the scenes with the Hulk........excellent special effects.

[Golden Badtz]

THE HULK - 2003
Eric Bana - Jennifer Connelly - Nick Nolte - Josh Lucas - Sam Elliot

Here is another comic-book-based movie. At first I wasn't expecting much because I would have never imagined that a big green monster named "Hulk" could ever make it to the big screen, but then I realized that the movie didn't focus on the Hulk itself but more on Bruce Banner, the Hulk's "living space".

I read the comic book (I love most of Marvel's comic books) and though that between all comic-book-based movies, the Hulk is the best one, it's the one that is the most looking like the comic book. The cast is unbelievable, it's THE comic book cast, Eric Bana looks just like Banner, not muscled, not strong, but more or less like a geek. Connelly was perfect for Betty Ross' role (crying all the time and very emotional) but however I didn't imagine Betty's father this way. I also think that Nick Nolte is way to old to play in movies, he could barely speak in the Hulk and played terribly at the end (plus I didn't understand a thing of what happens, because of the darkness and all the cgi everywhere)

From the opening scenes you know it will be some kind of "unloved" hero story (like was Daredevil and Spider-Man).
This monster mad me think of King Kong, especially the scene when he hold Betty in his hand and puts her on her car before the fight with the dogs. And why does David Banner wants to kill Betty that much? :confused:

I loved Ang Lee's fast forwards in the first 15 minutes, how he manages to explain the whole "inner monster" thing. The little comic book boxes, that Lee mostly uses during the "exploding frog" experiment and the Hulk's transportation to the US underground military base were also a good way to show us the same scene from different perspectives. ;)

As a result, here are the positive and negative sides of the film:

Positive aspects:
-not a lot of action
-great character development
-awesome details and cgi effects on the Hulk
-good story and plot

Negative aspects:
-incomprehensible ending
and that’s all

Finally, my grades for some of the past comic-book-based movies (Marvel only) including the Hulk:

X-Men - 7.5/10 :)
X2: X-Men United - 8/10 :D
Daredevil - 3/10 :mad:
Spider-Man - 6/10 :(
Hulk - 9/10 :D

PS: For all video game freaks out there, be sure to pick op the Hulk video game, it's incredibly fun and has a lot of extras concerning the movie.

[syxxpac]

Following in the footsteps of Marvel's wall crawling success at the box office, Ang Lee's adaptation of the anything-but-jolly green comic book giant was given the go ahead to Hulk-jump onto silver screens everywhere. The result? Quite a mixed bag, yet the positives mostly offset the negatives in my opinion. Let's count the ways to make this lab rat angry...

First, the performances. With stellar thespians at the wheel like Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott and Nick Nolte, the formula for success was there. And all in all, they don't disappoint. Eric Bana (Bruce Banner) is perfectly cast in the role of the emotionally repressed science nerd Bruce Banner, and conveys Banner's uncertainty and meek qualities perfectly. He ends up delivering a finely layered performance, and in my opinion stole the show from his more commercially successful co-stars. He downplays it as the quiet Bruce, but he can reel you into his outbursts of rage when the script calls for the occasional "Hulk SMASH!" Jennifer Connelly (Betty Ross) basically plays the same character she did in A Beautiful Mind - a strong willed, smart, sexy beauty who seems to end up in the arms of socially retarded men. Despite the sense of familiarity I had with her character, her acting chops pulled me into her plight and made her an interesting character to sympathize with. I think she's one of the best actresses working today, and it shows yet again. I especially dug the scenes between Betty and her father (General Ross) played by a brash and iron-fisted Sam Elliott in full comic book movie mode. He delivers a cartoonish yet endearing performance as the troubled father/"let's-kick-some-ass" General. Good stuff from Elliott, and it's always appreciated. Nick Nolte (who seems to have started work on this movie immediately after being released from his DUI arrest) gives a subtle, yet increasingly psychotic performance as Bruce's father (David Banner), a determined and maniacal genetic engineer whose disregard for human life inevitably causes Bruce's future crisis. Josh Lucas (Glenn Talbot) seems to be nothing more than an afterthought, as one-dimensional a villain as they get. It's hard to believe anybody could be that evil...

As for the story, this is pure comic book fantasy, and those of you looking for logic or realism are going to be extremely disappointed. *sarcasm alert* I must say I was displeased with the unrealistic portrayal of a big green monster. Scoff! He can't jump that high! I saw one downtown and he couldn't have jumped more than ten feet. Stupid uneducated filmmakers! *end sarcasm* I thought the film was an interesting psychological drama, which this film ultimately boils down to. A traditional summer action-fest this definitely is not, and I can understand if people were disappointed. Trailers can be deceiving, but I don't think in this case that that's entirely a bad thing. I found the drama to be more engaging than the action bits some of the time. But I can't say I was let down by the action sequences, though, which were all quite spectacular. There's nothing quite like the rampage of the Hulk, and his violent temper had me munching my popcorn and cheering the big green fella on. The Hulk's CGI, which admittedly wasn't as sophisticated as Gollum in LOTR (which is understandable, since Hulk only has one emotion - ANGER), was not distracting or phony in the least bit. The trailers had me fearing the worst, but it was much better than I thought it would be. You haven't lived if you haven't seen the Hulk grab a tank by its turret and throw it aside like an unwanted toy. Whoa!

As for negatives, I had a few. First and foremost I admire Ang Lee's decision to use the "comic book panel" technique. It gave the film the unique feel of a "moving" comic book, and for the first half hour I found it pretty neat. But as the running time progressed, it started taking me out of the story a bit. It was fine at the beginning, when it effectively covered the background story in an interesting and fast-paced way, but during the actual meat of the movie I found it unnecessarily distracting. It may not bother other people, but it did for me. Second, I thought the "thing" at the end to be somewhat hokey, and seemed tacked on at the very end. It made semi-sense, but it ultimately didn't gel with me. It could've been cut completely from the finished product and I still would've been as happy as a Canadian in a brewery.

Anyway, in conclusion: see it if you're a fan of the Hulk comics, can suspend your disbelief and just sit back and have a fun time, and if you want a bit of depth with your mindless action set-pieces. But stay far, far away if you thought that this was going to be an all-out actioner. Be warned: You'll be disappointed, and might very well be bored out of your skull during the first forty minutes or so.

I liked it and thought it was good summer fun. Decent enough to tide me over till T3 hits - 8/10

[Lou Sytsma]

6/10

The Good:

In all technical areas the movie was well done - except for the dogfight which looked too much like the evil ScrappyDoo.

The Bad:

Story - too many elements

Characters - uninvolving. Nolte's a loon, Bana's a cypher, and Connelly's character had no reason to care for Banner. BTW neither did I.

Big Flaws in Internal Story Logic - ex. - why release the Hulk when he is inside an army base. So they can fight him out in the open? OK.

Muddied climax - WTH happened at the end with Banner Sr. and the bomb?

Ang Lee should be given kudos for stretching the comic book genre but the results were not there at the end.

[Tommy Doyle]

Managed to get my butt in gear for this one tonight. I must say, that this was MY most anticipated movie for the summer. THE movie I was looking forward to... did it hold up? Yup, to an extent.

First off, I've gotta say, Ang Lee deserves props for not only bringing the Hulk to life, but bringing him to life as a comic book character mixed with a deep dark and dramatic movie. It blended so well, that you can't really call this movie either.

Watching this movie felt completely effortless to me, and that is what it was all about. You sit, and you follow the story line, and it amazes, saddens, brings happiness, shocks and thrills.

I've heard some people say that time could have been trimmed from this movie, and although I completely agree that 20 minutes could have been taken out without much of a difference, I didn't notice a thing. When the movie ended and I looked at my watch, I went "what the f**k? Really, is it that late?" I was totally engrossed in the development of the characters. The backstory was amazing and was enough to keep any casual fan of the Hulk interested. And then the scenes where the Hulk appears hit...

Frikkin' amazing. I was one of the nay-sayers about the CGI. Yup, I was the one bitching that it looked like Shrek running across the desert. After watching the final product, I must say, I was absolutely amazed. Yeah, you know it's a big computer effect on screen, but do you care? No. There were more unbelievable shots in Spider-Man, and that's dealing with a dude that looks like a human, just dressed up. This one was dealing with a huge green monster, and it appeared more believable in almost every scene.

The downfalls for the movie were basically some of the things Joblo pointed out. Nick Nolte's character was waaaaaay too overdramatic. It took away from the dark gritty seriousness the film (and the actors) had worked so hard at, and acheived. It took it back to a cartoony like atmosphere, but luckily, those scenes didn't last too long. Also, the multiple view "comic book boxes" look. At times, it annoyed me, at times, it was amazing. I think Lee could have scaled it back and used it only at appropriate times, but hey, for a movie I was so excited about I was dreading, these are my only real complaints.

Amazing movie. Very well done, and another great comic book adaptation from Marvel. (I also saw a small trailer for The Punisher... with that movie, it's going to be impossible to disappoint me. If it's anything better than the 80's version, it'll be like Schindler's freakin' list...)

I do have a few piss offs at parents who bring their children to the theatre only to have them scream and cry when the Hulk appears and NOT TAKE THEM OUT... but that's best saved for the Rant Rant Rant section...

Overal... 8/10. VERY enjoyable flick. Definitely a multiple viewings movie for me.

(and since everyone else did it... I'll rate the recently released comic book movies)

X-Men 2/10
X2 - 8/10
Spider-Man - 8/10
The Hulk - 8/10
(hmmm... seeing a pattern)
Daredevil - NA (still pissed off at myself for not catching it in theatres...)


P.S. - I also posted this at another forum that I visit, so if anybody sees this exact review under the user name of Merrik, don't worry, I didn't rip it off from there, that's me...

(I did take out Joblo's name and the name of the Rant Rant Rant section though for the other forum...)

[Puck Bond]

The Hulk is a pretty good comic book film, that is inventive, has some decent action, a decent cast and overall is an enjoyable experience at the movies. The film is far from great and certain things just didn't work for me, however it was still pretty good. The early buzz on this movie was not very good...with previews showing a plastic and very fake looking CGI Hulk. The end result of the Hulk really didn't bother me at all...in close-ups he looks decent and the action is often shot from afar which is also a plus. Going into this film I really didn't know what to expect. I'm not a comic book fan and have never read any of The Hulk comics and I barely remember the old TV show with Lou Ferrigno(who has a cameo with comic creator Stan Lee early on in the movie)...all I expected to see was the big green guy, getting angry and smashing up stuff. I definately had good hopes with accomplished director Ang Lee behind the camera and a solid cast that included Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte and relative unknown Aussie actor Eric Bana(black Hawk Down). Eric Bana stars as Bruce Banner...a young, closed off and reserved geneticist at CAL Berkeley...working on gama radiation and regeneration research. His partner and apparently a former girlfriend is Betty Ross played by Jennifer Connelly. They also share a distant past together as kids...who grew up on an desert military base. Banner's father, played by Nick Nolte was also a genetics scientist and he experimented on himself etc. and passed on weird and amazing capabilities to his son. There is some sort of accident involving Bruce's parents and Nolte is sent to prison for many years by the base commander who also happens to be Betty's father and is played by Sam Elliott. This childhood of Bruce's is all a mystery and just a faded memory. Now he goes under the name of Krensler, and not knowing his true past and destiny. Basically there is an accident in the lab and Bruce is exposed to gamma radiation, which apparently accelerates or jump-starts his Hulk transformation. Also his father returns from prison and disguises himself as a janitor to find and reach his son to help him and also has other motives. Sounds pretty complicated? Well it gets worse...Josh Lucas plays Talbot, a government/military agent, who also complicates things by becoming interested and involved with the lab and what Bruce Banner is becoming. The rest of the film is basically Bruce trying to figure why this is happened...all the while the military lead by Ross and Talbot try to capture him, kill him, use him for military gain etc.(He is much like a King Kong figure really) Nick Nolte trying to harness The Hulk incredible power to make himself some sort of super-being. What he turns into by the end is insane! One of the problems with the movie is that it is too long...nearly 21/2 hours...and it is 45 minutes into it before we see the incarnation of the Hulk...I got the sense the audience was like "Show us the Hulk already!" The film also drags on at the end....a better editing job and shorter running time was much needed. Another problem is the story...it seems there are just too many different plot threads, and character motivations going on...it burys itself under its own weight. As for the acting...Eric Bana just didn't light any fire for me...he is unknown so this is a big role for him and who knows what his future holds but so far I'm not impressed. Sure he is cool as The Hulk but as the character of Banner there just wasn't much there. Jennifer Connelly I thought was great as Betty...and to me the standout of the film. Sam Elliott was an in your face, over the top, task masker type...it may have been fit for the role but grated me the wrong way. Nick Nolte although an interesting character and has very complicated feelings and motivations was just whacked out...the guy is mental! The direction by Ang Lee is solid and the different and interesting cuts,and split screens and so on were all good...it just fit the comic book style of storytelling I thought. The action is good, but sparse...the best scene was his escape from the base and the chase through the desert, whith him smashing tanks and helicopters...I love the shot of him pounding the gun barrell like it's a club as he walks around a destroyed tank. The chase culminates with a cool finish in San Francisco on the Golden Gate Bridge(when in doubt put noteable landmark as setting for action scene)...and a high flying ride on board a fighter jet. One scene that I didn't care for was the battle with the massive rabid dogs early on. The Hulk may look fake...but those dogs looked worse. Overall, The Hulk is a mess...but an enjoyable mess for the most part. The one thing that I credit Marvel for doing with all these recent comic book films...is treating the human element and story of these comic book heroes seriously...there is some heart behind them and at least it shows they are trying, its not just about non-stop action and special effects. This movie has its moments but has its problems too...overall I did enjoy it, but we can do better people! "You won't like me when I'm angry!"

[yakobusan]

...it has a good, tight story, a animated main actor and a stupid ending.

What it has more than other recent comic movies is heart! You become Bruce banner in the first five minutes, and you explore this beast inside his corpse together with him. That's the best thing about it! It is psychologically so dense and belivable, you can really enjoy that. Eric Bana is a good choice for Bruce Banner, when he does that "I am getting angry thing" you really are scared! Jennifer Connelly is beautiful as always, but her role is not that perfect... But well, what is? Nick Nolte as the father is really good, too. He is a bit of an a--hole, but on the other hand he is a scientist and his son is his project.

What makes the story very good too is the editing! It is so awesome! They transfered the Marvel comic style directly onto the movie! It's unbelivable, you have to see it for yourself. Those quick cuts and moving bars are really impressing and add a lot of speed to the movie. It really becomes a comic with the time, it gets faster, later lots of action, and it goes deeper and deeper...

What you all want to hear is the animation quality. Well, like I said, it is like Spiderman, you know it is digital, and you see it. But then it is like with Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings: After 5 minutes you stop thinking about how well he is done and you accept him as a character. Same here. What I didn't like were those strange dogs... I think Ang Lee had to put them in for Marvel's sake. Because without these other comic figures The Hulk could be like a horror movie or something... The rest of the movie is like a action movie, not a comic. Well, actually, I can't really say that, cause I didn't read the comics. But for me, it seemed a little bit like Godzilla or something...

Anyway, the movie is touching, and it makes you want to see a second part. It has the energy and power of Spiderman plus the good Story from X-Men 2. The score is good, you don't really notice it, the camera too, everything is okay, normal for a big budget Hollywood movie I would say.

So: Definitly watchable! I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Just one thing: Dear editors, be more creative on the endings. Please.

[bondish]

http://www.darkhorizons.com/2003/hulk/hulk1t.jpg http://www.darkhorizons.com/2003/hulk/hulk3t.jpg http://www.darkhorizons.com/2003/hulk/hulk6t.jpg

The Hulk

At first, I thought the idea of a Hulk movie was awful. Then I saw a few trailers and slightly liked the look of it. Then I went off it again. I thought it looked stupid. Somehow I eventually got around to seeing it, and to be honest, i thought it was alright - an above average film. I liked the whole atmosphere of the film - the acting was decent from my point of view. I also enjoyed seeing the Hulk leaping around (although it was "incredibly" pointless and unrealistic), the Hulk dogs (actually provided some suspense) and watching the Hulk flip those cars in San Francisco (and the old lady crashing her car). Those were the points that uplifted the movie for me. The aspects I didn't quite like were the entire ending really - with the Hulk and his father. I found that pointless. The real ending was good though. generally the movie was a bit long and had me a slight bit restless. overall, i enjoyed the movie, it was much better than Daredevil (3/10), but not as good as Spiderman (7/10) or X-Men 2 (8/10). The Hulk = 6/10 - worth watching.

[randythetool]

It's easy to pre-judge a movie like "The Hulk." We've all seen comic book movies before, and they're all essentially the same. Take a couple of big Hollywood names, some familiar faces from the pages of Marvel, throw in some CGI action sequences, one-liner based dialog, and as basic a plot as the action can sustain. This is the formula for box-office success, shamelessly peddling nostalgia, and blinding us with pretty colors and explosions. It's easy to think, having seen comic book movies that fit into the stereotype, that "The Hulk" is the same thing. It has Ang Lee, director of such masterpieces as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and "The Ice Storm," The Hulk, a normal guy who turns into a big green powerhouse just as the bad guys are approaching, and yes, lots of explosions.

It's easy to be wrong.

If nothing else, "The Hulk" is a masterpiece of editing and visual style. Ang Lee uses split-screen techniques which must be seen to be understood to create a movie that looks more like a comic book than any other. Like comic books (or as they are more casually known by their fans, "comics"), the camera jumps between close-ups at opposing angles, which is both uneccesary and brilliant. Lee has created a film that is delightfully artificial, and at the same time strikingly real. We get the sense that we are required to turn the page to see what happens next.

The story is one that everyone knows, mutated slightly for the script. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) is bombarded by gamma rays, which react with something technical-sounding in his bloodstream, making him conventionally invincible. Side effects include transformation into a large green computer animated monster when his emotions become too much to handle. It's not hard to see the parallel between fiction and reality here, but if you like to watch movies, check out "Mallrats," for a quick explanation from Stan Lee himself. Ang Lee does a wonderful job of turning Bruce into a sort of antihero that we can identify with as he fights the US Army, an establishment usually reserved for the "good guy" role in film. Here, the Army wants to find out the secret to Bruce's regenerative capabilities, but must handle the Hulk delicately, because after all, he's a little dangerous.

Meanwhile, Bruce is fighting his own demons, including the secret of his origin. He'd been doing the same tests that mutated him so on lab animals, so naturally he's curious. Confusing the matter are Betty Ross (Jennifer Connolly), Bruce's long-time colleague and recent ex-girlfriend, and Bruce's father, played by Nick Nolte, who is just a set of taped glasses away from a comic book mad scientist. Betty's father, played by Sam Elliott, is the Army general heading the pursuit of Bruce. All of these characters exist in the movie's world, but we get the sense that they could be real people. Under Lee's direction, these talents come together in an ensemble some of the pretentious "film" movies only dream of. The relationships between all of the characters are not only fascinating, but surprisingly authentic. The psychological showdown between Bruce and his father is nothing short of brilliance.

It's a great feeling, knowing that movies can still surprise you. I don't know how familiar Ang Lee is with Marvel comics, but he seems to take them more seriously than any of the recent previous comic book films. The earlier movies seemed to condescend comics, not trying to imitate the medium in film, but simply throwing in a few oblique close-ups. "The Hulk" sees comics as art, and this film is what the books deserve.

9/10

[flikchik]

I can't believe I watched the whole thing!

I'm not a Hulk fan. Nor am I an Ang Lee Fan. But wanted to see this movie. Sometimes things that don't seem like they will fit, do nicely (see Brett Ratner & Red Dragon).

This film was completely misguided.

How suspenseful is it to give this condition of metamorphic rage to a person who - since he was a child - doesn't get angry? That, I feel, was the first missed opportunity. If he is a hot head to begin with, the stakes rise a little don't they? Suddenly, Banner has to fight against his true nature. Isn't that the heart of all drama, man fighting against his true nature?

The constant infusion of cell and plants and evolving animals - painfully distracting.

If you wanna do a character study, go Gothic like Batman. Don't ask me to buy into a straight drama and stay emotional involved when you drop a video game character in the middle of. (though the Hulk did look great)

Which brings me to my last point. I didn't feel the love. I'm sorry, but if I ever found myself turning green due to an uncontrollable rage, I want Johnny Cusack from Con Air screaming on my behalf "Don't shoot he's on our side!" or even Alec Baldwin from Red October "I'm telling you, he's trying to defect!" Jennifer Connelly's character went too quietly into the night. Girlfriend needs to be in the control tower, in her father's face. "Stop Beeping shooting at him." THAT'S LOVE.

There were some good things about this movie. However for me, they were cool individual elements, side by side, that never meshed into the smart dramatic fantasy that it could have.

[Ghostface 2000]

Well, when i was about to see this movie i didn't expect much from it because out of all the marvel comics/programmes The Hulk is my least favourite one, this is probably why i didn't like it so much. For me the movie tried to hard, by trying to make it as though your reading through a comic with the numerous screens split across the tv at points in the movie, which was very annoying and it made the shots more confusing.
The movie was called The Hulk which means big giant angry monster going around breaking things but out of the movie i think The Hulk has only about half an hours screen time most of the story was revolved around Bruce and his dad and what happened when he was little, which wasn't very interesting. On the good side the action scenes were good although since when has The Hulk been able to jump about a mile in one go? The CGI was abit crappy in places, but overall it was ok. The ending was a let down because it just confused me even more, maybe because i kept on day dreaming through some of the movie because bits just bored me.

Overall the movie didn't do much for me, i will just stick with Spiderman.

**/*****

[SAI]

I'll keep this one brief.

The Good:
The Performances: Jennifer Connely, Eric Bana and Sam Elliot are all perfect for their roles here and give the movie a lot more emotional depth than most comic book films

The Visuals: LOVE the comic book stylings here, the frames in frames, the transitions and the one shot from two angles tricks make this a uniuque looking film

Jennifer Connely: I just have to say; GOD she's lovely. Really one of the most beautiful faces in Hollywood right now.

Hulk: So you can tell he's CGI. HE'S 9FT TALL AND GREEN, OF COURSE HE'S GOING TO LOOK FAKE. They manage to make the character act and hold up beautifully in close up. Not as good as Gollum but a million steps up from Jar Jar.

The Bad
Nolte: I smell a Golden Raspberry

The opening (after the credits): Lee could have shorn much of this preamble and been left with a leaner, better, film.

The Ending: Did we REALLY need the jungle bit? Stupid, really fucking stupid.

The Ugly
Nolte: Nuff said


3/5

[SilentBobFan]

OH MY GOD!
I walked into this film expecting X-Men, but with Hulk.
Instead I got a boring, soppy film with about 40 minutes of action. The rest was talk, talk, talk. It was so boring! I considered walking out just before the battle in the desert! But i gave it a second chance.... And....Wow. The action really did astound me. I was amazed. It was excellent. The realism of it all...wow.
But it was still ruined by the talk talk talk. In an early interview, Lee said he wanted the Hulk to be a kind of Jackie Chan-meets-Frankenstein. I didn't get that at all. I just got this wicked bad jumping and a hell of a lot of things getting smashed up.
The actors: BRILLIANT! Even if it was boring....Connelly is the best looking actress i have ever seen...beatiful....Bana and Nolte, their chemistry was spot on. Lucas couldn't have been more evil. He was a pleasure to watch. The guy who played General Ross was excellent. It seemed he kind of cared for Betty's love for Bruce.
*Spoilers ahead*
The battle at the end, underwater, confused me. I COULDN'T SEE A DAMN THING!
Overall: 4/10 (For the action and acting)

[flan]

this is a realy good flick . i dont get it when hulk comic fans say its boring cuz in the comics (or at least the new ones) he is the hulk 37 % of the time . I loved the the comic book shots were creative. i thought the CGI was good it wasnt great but good. The acting for Eric Banna i thought was pretty good. Nick Nolte's acting wasnt that great cuz some times you dont now what he is saying. Sam Eliot acting was good. I forget Betsy's name its on the tip of my tongue. Her acting was good but she played the same part as in A Beautiful Mind . All in all i thought it was great. 7/10

[James Logan]

THE HULK
an Ang Lee comic book flick

http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/pichulk.jpg

So. THE HULK. The comic book movie that follows such successes as SPIDER-MAN and X2. The big foray of Ang Lee into blockbuster land. So how is it, huh?

Well, that's what I'm here to answer. :) And frankly, it's not bad. I didn't find it as good as the two aforementioned movies, I didn't find it as good as the oldest comic book flicks (the two first SUPERMAN movies, and the two first BATMAN movies). Still, THE HULK is a very fun time at the movies, extremely entertaining, with some good and some bad -- kind of like DAREDEVIL, another recent comic book joint.

Now, as I'm done with my little "paragraph of comparisons", I'll just move on to my actual review. :)

What I Liked:

-- The leading couple. Can't discuss it -- Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly are good actors, and they got good chemistry. They made me buy their little love angle (which is always very important in a blockbuster to me, I don't want to feel it's just there so it can be there, y'know?). Both of them also made me feel the pain of these two characters caught up in something they don't understand, which is, again, good -- always helps if you can relate to the good guys, heh?

-- Josh Lucas. This man was over-the-top and mean, and kick me in the nuts but I loved it. Might not be everyone's cup of tea but I enjoy these kinds of performances, it's good over-the-top. Sam Elliott also delivered a solid performance, although more soberly.

-- Damn Jennifer Connelly is lovely. I think I'm in love.

-- The CGI. Now don't tell me that CGI Hulk isn't credible, that's bullshit. Sure you see he's CGI at first, but you forget about it just as fast as you realized it. He moves fine, he looks fine, and he's as realistic as a big green monster is ever gonna be. Good job ILM.

-- The action scenes, and the transformation scenes. These scenes had real blockbuster power...just watch our friend the Hulk grow and grow and then kick all kinds of U.S. Army butt...it feels so good. :) And that scene with the dogs...it rocked. It just plain rocked.

-- And finally, last but not least...the VISUALS! Now I say kudos to Ang Lee and the editor. Those little comic book effects and the already famous comic book panels...as some said before me, they gave this movie a UNIQUE feel and look, and it was oh-so refreshing. I loved every bit of it and didn't find it distracting at all. Sweet.

What I Didn't Like:

-- Nick fuckin' Nolte. I mean, this is bad, bad, BAD over the top acting. I think JoBlo describes it best in his own review, so let me quote him: "I also didn't buy [...] his overacting in several scenes, which took away from the film's more realistic environment established by everyone else.One scene on a stage of sorts was particularly embarrassing as Nolte seemed to be channeling the Shakespearean God of ham. " 'Nuff said. The poor dude was just ridiculous.

-- Some parts of the script were pretty weak. It's not a general tendancies, but there're some moments where you'll go "hey, that was predictable" or "damn, that dialogue was cheesy". The film is also pretty long and redundant at points: the post-main credits opening takes way too much time, for instance.

-- The Hulk leaps. Now don't get me wrong, they were very well-done and all, but...they just didn't seem to fit with the character. This is the Hulk, not Superman. This big guy is supposed to represent brute force and anger and here is jumping around like a big green fuckin' bouncing ball. Just felt outta place to me.

-- The ending. And I'm not saying that for the jungle bit (which I actually kind of liked, although I don't know why I had a slight feeling of déjà vu watching it...Bana's facial hair isn't great, but his last lines are, and as they say: "hello sequel!"), but rather for the final fight. Some people say the final fight in SPIDER-MAN is overdone, now I say this one is just out there. Too much, too quick, too lame comic-book-ish to end a good comic book movie. It just felt so Hulk...but so Lou Ferrigno Hulk. :)

And there it is. Overall, a very entertaining flick, see it if you don't have anything against stylish, slightly-deep blockbusters...and if seeing Jennifer Connelly in a KING KONG movie is one of your secret fantasies. :)

7/10

[Ren Hoek]

THE HULK has all the right ingredients. An experienced and skillful director, a great cast, a good screenplay, and the guys at ILM responsible for the special FX.

But...

*takes a deep breath*


What a letdown! Nolte overacts, chews the scenery to death, and is plain annoying; Connelly's talent is wasted in an underwritten part as the scientist's love interest, making big scared eyes or big sad eyes for most of the flick's running time. And Sam Elliott's performance as the "bad guy" is downright embarassing. Hell, even a Scooby-Doo villain is more menacing than you are, matey! Bana is the only outstanding player here and delivers a perfect mix of geekyness and superhero fury. The script is pitch-perfect and carefully avoids corny one-liners or overly pretentious scenes; but why does Lee waste so much time on showing us people sitting in front of computers, people waking up from nightmares, computers, nightmares, flashbacks, computers, and so on and so on?! And yeah, I hated the FX! Well, not all of them... some were actually pretty cool (I loved the fight with the Hulk dogs), but most of them downright mediocre (especially Banner's first transformation was incredibly underwhelming) or bad (e.g. the final fight with you-know-who... What the f**k was going on there???). Hey, this is ILM, the former spearhead in the FX business! I simply expected a little bit more than this blurry, murky crap. I liked the much-maligned editing style, though, and the comic bookish camera angles were a nice touch. Surprisingly, I found the human drama in this movie more interesting than the action sequences, and with better FX and 20-25 minutes less people-staring-at-computer-screens-and-having-flashbacks, this could have easily been an 8/10. I'll give it a 6/10, leaning towards a 7/10.

P.S.: I love Jennifer Connelly's eyebrows.

P.P.S.: Exploding frogs are cool.


Where is that filthy bastard Ren coming from?
SPIDER-MAN (6/10) / X-MEN (7/10) / X2 (8/10) / DAREDEVIL (7/10)

[Annie Hall]

The Hulk looked like an interesting enough adventure, although the much-hyped trailer looked very bland to my wee eyes, I figured I was judging too harshly. I was being unfair. Damned studios. So, in I marched, popcorn and M&Ms in my left hand, Small Sprite in my right. Had that Sprite been a knife, I doubt I would be here today.

I had read the movie had been a bit...slow at first. Dark and tormented before getting 'exciting', so, as the first half hour wore on, I promised myself that it would get better. The action hadn't started yet, I reasoned. "The dialogue isn't great, but, it IS a comic book movie...the brilliant CGI will most certainly make up for it. Plot development? It will show itself in good time. Of COURSE Eric Bana will be perfect, just give him TIME"...all of these things seemed logical. After all, I saw Gosford Park (8/10) 3 times. I can wait a bit for things to heat up, and when they do, undoubtedly the payoff will be worth it.

That was a good 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting. I sat through half of the closing credits, partly out of horror, partly out of an ever-diminishing hope that there would be a plot dammit. There HAD to be one. Big green man-monster! Beautiful girlfriend! Nick Nolte as a psychopath! What could go wrong?!

Let's work through this point by point.

~Eric Bana was just. plain. bad. I can't recall a drier, less involved performance since I did my impression of an asparagus. Truly, my impersonation of a vegetable was more lively.

~The dialogue was terrible. Seriously. This is where my knife would have come in handy. Either to do myself, or the screen, in. Jennifer Connelly did all she could. She is a fine actress with a superb level of range, and yet, she squeaked by with an "ok" performance.

~Plot. What plot? There was a PLOT to this ordeal? It never felt as though it had a beginning or a middle...and the sweet, sweet finale fell flat.

~Note to Ang Lee: This is a COMIC BOOK MOVIE. Where Spider-Man (7/10) rather succeeded, and where X-Men (8/10) and X2 (8/10) *certainly* succeeded was the knowledge that this is meant for fun. This isn't a costume drama, a kung fu movie, or for that matter, an opportunity to test your funky new camera styles. This is a movie that is meant to keep the viewer entertained...not congratulating the director on his amazing "comic book-like effects" that really appear to just be pretentious.

~CGI. Erg. Ugh. Argh. Ouch. Every time this big, green buffoon appeared, I felt a throbbing pain in my temples. I stayed awake at a late-night showing of House of Mirth when I was 11 years old, and this so-called "fun summer flick" had me dozing into my memory bank trying to recall better movies. Sans Jolly Green Giant and mutant poodles.

Undoubtedly the worst movie of the year so far (YES, including Anger Management (4/10), Dumb and Dumberer (3/10) and Bruce Almighty (5/10)).

3/10...on a kind day.

[echno]

Honestly can't understand how anyone could even give this movie an "okay" rating. It was terrible. I actually caught myself rolling my eyes. THIS WAS THE WORST MOVIE THIS SUMMER FOR ME. And sadly, I had HUGE expectations. An awesome director, Nick Nolte, and Jennifer Connelly. Where could you go wrong? Unfortunately, everywhere.

1. The annoying cuts on the screen. You couldn't even watch all the action and I felt like I was viewing an episode of Pokemon.
2. The CGI. Man, they should have just made Hulk a puppet, I would've been more impressed.
3. The Hulk. Did anyone stop and think what the Hulk was? He was simply Bruce Banner's anger gone crazy. Hulk is suppose to be uncontrollable. But he was kind as he waited in the trees of the cabin for Betty and gently lifted her to the car. Is that the represenation of an angry beast? No, but flinging Betty around by her hair would've been the correct version of Hulk.
4. Bruce Banner. I'm not much for the unknown actors and I can't understand why so many are. Christopher Reeve did a great job for a first-timer, but he was one in a million. Eric Bana not only over-acted but was not the right look for a puny scientist with a hidden power.
5. The past. What was with the gamma explosion? Did anyone get that? Or why Betty was in the same town as Bruce?
6. The villains. Nick Nolte would've been perfect if it wasn't for the ridiculous "absorbing of powers". Sam Elliot was too damn old and typical harsh military dad. Josh Lucas was okay, but the what-the-hell-happened-to-him was so cheesy.
7. The love. Jennifer Connelly, stop crying...this isn't your next Oscar nomination.

Overall, this movie sucked ass. It's another Lost World again, no one wants to face the fact they wasted 9 bucks on bad CGI and a terrible story.

[Baller92287]

Honestly the only thing interesting about this movie was the science at the beginning. And if i want to learn about science I can get that when the summer is over and I go back to school. The animations were dumb, the "comic book" film editing and camera angles, were terribly annoying and distracting, the plot was boring in general. The only other thing mildly entertaining is one jump scene involving an enraged dog. And the HOT Jennifer Connelly doesn't hurt. DO NOT see this movie! 3/10

[REAL_XYZ]

Yikes! The Hulk is a steaming lump of crap! I had low expectations for this movie, but I was still disappointed. Let me count the ways:

Horrible acting: Nick Nolte and Sam Elliot were over-the-top cheeseball actors. Jennifer Connely’s acting also didn’t impress me. Eric Bana's acting was so-so. I did not care what happened to ANY of the characters in this movie (real or otherwise).

Film Length: This flick needed to be shortened by 30 - 40 minutes. It was too long and boring for my taste.

Stupid Plot: There were too many parts to this movie that made me say, "HUH???" The ending is the best example.

Bad CGI: Sometimes the Hulk looked OK, but most of the time the CGI looked bad. I couldn't tell if the Hulk was 7 foot tall or 17 foot tall in some scenes. It seemed that the scaling of the character changed depending on the location. Also, I thought the way the Hulk jumped from place to place looked really bad.

Horrible Scene Transitions: Mr. Lee, please remember that less is often more. I think the transitions would have been more effective if they were only used two or three time throughout the ENTIRE movie.....NOT two or three times a second. They became distracting, and annoying after a short amount of time. A transition should be unnoticeable to the audience. This was definitely NOT the case here.

Lack of Chemistry: I didn't like the chemistry between Bruce and Betty, or Bruce and his dad, or Betty and her dad, etc. The love (or hate) wasn't expressed well enough to cause me to care.

Misuse of Animals: I'm not an animal rights activist, but some of the use of animals in this movie made me cringe.

I could go on, and on, but I think you get my point. I'm thankful that I only paid $2 to see this mess. (I wish I had skipped the movie altogether).

I did like the scene when Nick Nolte was in the lab and started to "change" and he was affected by the things around him. The effects in that scene were pretty good. Too bad that was the only part I liked out of this movie.

Overall, I say………2/10.

[movieguy1021]

The Hulk: 8.5/10

http://www.geocities.com/samsmoviereviews/smallhulk.art

If you go into The Hulk expecting Spider-Man, you’ll be surprised. With only a few action scenes, and more drama than you can shake a stick at, it’s clearly the best comic book movie to date, and, so far, the best summer movie. I’m actually surprised that Ang Lee would risk losing the teen demographic for this, but the movie turns out better for it. The Hulk has a perfect mix of action and drama, and, although I don’t read comic books, has the feel of a comic book.

Kudos goes out to Lee for turning in an excellent directing job. With more split-screens than The Thomas Crowne Affair, it may get annoying for some people, but to me, I really liked it. Also, Lee didn’t always have the whole screen covered up by the movie. Although the split-screen wasn’t always necessary, it added to the unique look of the movie. Lee wasn’t a Hulk fan before he signed on to direct this movie, but the whole thing looks like a giant comic book…you’ll have to see it to understand what I mean.

The plot is actually THERE; it’s involving and has depth. Scientist Bruce Krenzler (Eric Bana) is working on the same project his father David Banner (Nick Nolte) worked on years earlier, a human regeneration project. David tested it on himself, and passed it on to Bruce. However, they become separated, and Bruce moves into the Krenzler’s house. However, he is reunited with David, but an explosion in the lab causes Bruce to become a giant, green, CGI Hulk every time he becomes angry.

If a movie this far-fetched can seem so real and plausible, then that can only mean one thing: everyone involved with this movie deserves a raise. Usually Universal movies have cheesy special effects (U-571 for instance), and the Hulk in no way looked real, but for a CGI dude in a live action world, it worked well. When the Hulk interacted with humans, I was in awe. However, at the end, when the Hulk was fighting another CGI monster, that looked like it was a sigh of relief for the crew.

Bana proves that not every superhero has to have a bad actor play him (i.e. George Clooney in Batman and Robin), in fact, he’s a great actor, and now that he’s sort of well known here in the States, he’ll probably get better roles (the same is happening to Tobey Maguire after his role in Spider-Man). Jennifer Connelly, for the first half, shows that yes, she is a good supporting actress, but in the third act, makes the Academy wonder what they were thinking when they gave out her best supporting actress for A Beautiful Mind. “Let me talk to him, Dad.” “Dad, let me talk to him.” Sam Elliott, who plays Betty’s (Connelly) over-bearing, military father who has something against the Banners, does what he’s supposed to do. The real standout, however, is Nolte, yet again. After his somewhat lackluster work in The Good Thief, he’s back again, stronger than ever.

Many people won’t like The Hulk because they want it to be what it isn’t: another mindless action movie for the summer. It’s actually one of the most intelligent movies of the summer, and, dare I say, the year, so far, and expect it to be on my top ten list for the year.

[The1TrueFrog]

The Hulk - 5/10

http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/universal_pictures/the_hulk/hulk8.jpg

Waited for the dollar cinema again -- I have very mixed feelings about this movie. First point I would like to make is that the Hulk was one mean, green, stomping machine!! There are numerous CGI complaints, but I personally thought that it was nicely done. The actions sequences that were in the movie (and they are spread far apart) were badass!! They truly captured the rage of this manbeast to the fullest.

However, I also have numerous problems with this film. Most of them revolve around one central problem -- it's a summer popcorn flick, and summer popcorn flicks are supposed to be fun -- instead, the bulk of the movie is this overblown story about Bruce's childhood and the drama surrounding it. I've said it before and I'll say it again ACTION AND DRAMA DO NOT MIX!. I was afraid that if I heard one more word about this guy's parents I would turn into a hulk myself and terrorize the theater. It really stressed me out when a badass Hulk sequence would come to a screeching halt and I was stuck listening to more father-son talks.....

Other faults would be the runtime (nearly 2 1/2 hours?? i saw a few people give up on keeping their kids' attention and leave the theater). I also think that as large a budget as this movie had there could be more of a musical score in the background -- one particular scene shows the Hulk flying in midair through the desert and the screen was so quiet the Hulk's landing was about as riveting as a paperwad landing in a trashcan. Thirdly, I got to really hate those cut-screens showing all the angles, especially during the action scenes -- it's not really considered eye-candy if I can't see it all! The ending was a little lame as well.

Overall, I think the film wasn't necessarily bad, but doesn't come close to Spider-Man and other high-energy films. It's one that makes me look forward to a sequal more than I appreciate the film itself (maybe the action will pick up now that all the introductions are out of the way).

Best as a video rental -- since you can skip all the lifeless scenes and go straight to the smashing, which comprises about 30 minutes I believe.

GRRRRRR

[Country1969]

I liked The Hulk.

I thought it could have been better. The CGI was not that great.
I think if they would have given him the look of the past plus enhanced it with (a touch of CGI,I mean not this giant thing) maybe that would have worked better.

The story line was simple. But we all knew it would be.


But overall it was entertaining for the whole family.

[Backstabba]

Some people thought this movie was slow, boring, and very suspecting.....but i thought thos was exciting, fast, and .....kind of suspecting...its 6.00 eye candy, and I enjoyed every bite.....though there were some slow moments actually......vut i give this movie...like all the other movies...a 8/10.

[movieman1969]

I don't need to go over the plot points, or what happened in the movie. By now , people have either seen this movie, or know alot about the movie.
I enjoyed THE HULK alot. It's A BEAUTIFUL MIND with The HULK instead of Russell Crowe.
I did'nt see the movie until a month ago and heard all the mixed reviews.
Like I said above, I enjoyed THE HULK alot. The last hour was when the HULK finally shows up was great. The buildup payed off wonderfully. I thought the CGI was great. THe HULK did not look like the Jolly Green Giant-he looked like THE HULK.
Jennifer Connally was just as good as she was in A BEAUTIFUL MIND. Same role, basically.
Ang Lee did not drop the ball as a lot of people have accused him of doing. He simply made a film that I feel rises above the "typical" comic book movie. Great job. 8 out of 10.

[JollyG87]

I was rather impressed with The Hulk in many areas. I liked how the characters seemed real and that's really hard to do considering they're comic book characters and comic books aren't considered for their realness. The special effects were astonishing, The Hulk almost seemed real, it was that good! Despite it's very few action scenes The Hulk drew me in, the story intrigued me. The thing that really hurt it was the whole Absorbing Man thing. He seemed to come right at the end and it seemed like they just added him in there so the Hulk would have an actual villian to fight. If they would have set that up a little better I would have loved it, but that flaw brings it down to just a good movie.

The Hulk- 8/10 :)

[willem84]

I was expecting this movie to be really lame and what I got was an average flick.

This movie had so much potential to be good, and I actually liked the fact that the movie started at a slow pace and that it contained some very heart-felt moments, but the fact that the last 45 minutes were very over-the-top and the storyline just seemed to sink really got to me.

I liked the first few scenes where Eric Bana turned into the Hulk but....after the military got a hold of him, it started going down hill. I liked Nick Nolte's character that could take the form of things, but i wished they'd expanded upon that a bit more.

The acting was good from Jennifer Connely. Eric Bana was a bit bland at times and with Nick Nolte I felt like I was watching a stage production. This would have been a great performance on-stage, but on-camera it seemed a bit out of place. I liked the direction and I admit I'm no fan of comic books, but Hell this beats out Daredevil anyday.

6/10

[dillhead005]

Hulk isn't just bad, or very bad, its up their as one of the worst flicks ive ever seen. Eric Bana had a chance to up his career and make it to the A-list. Jennifer Connely had a chance to set her career in stone finally as an awsome dramatic actress, Nick Nolte had a chance to prove that his DUI days were over.

ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE FAILED!!!

First off, I can handle CGI to an extent. But this shit is ridiculous. I mean HULK might as well be fukin Bugs Bunny and it would look more realistic. Any action sequence and or exciting scene was drained away from the films horrible look and lack of real looking HULK.

Don't even start with the acting. Bana was just horrible and underplayed a role that was definatly a deep one. Connely does the oposite and has many melodramatic scenes. It might fit in A Beautiful Mind or Requim for a Dream sweety, but this aint the movie. AND Nick Nolte just mumbled through the entire thing. Might as well just put the Jack back up to you chops Nick.... your image is set in stone.

Plot is what makes this movie its worst. I have never fallen asleep in a movie theatre. I conciter it a disgrace to a movie... UNTILL NOW!!! Yes folks, I fell asleep in HULK!!! In order for a movie to do that, it must be so unrealistic, so slowmoving, and so utterly ridiculous that I loose all interest and hope in all that the movie is. HULK DID ALL OF THIS!!!

Now Ive never read the comic books. And maybe im a schmuck because HULK was being "loyal to the comic". But this is a movie, and you need to adapt it to a movie, and it needs to be good. IT WAS NOT.

YES FOLKS, HULK IS ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES IVE EVER SEEN. UNLESS YOUR A DIE HARD MARVEL FAN, DON'T TOUCH THIS ONE WITH A TEN FOOT POLE!!!

2/10

[Joshmo]

Though I dont think Ang Lee was the right choice for this movie, it is FAR from bad BECAUSE, quite simply, ANG LEE directed it.

The film suffered from too much exposition at the end, and should have been cut by about 15 minutes... aside from that, The story, direction and editing was very competent. The CGI for Hulk was simply INCREDIBLE. The film gets a 7/10 from me.

[Cronos]

i really liked the Hulk, i dont see why people hated it so much

it concentrated on the characters (something rare in recent superhero flicks) and i ended up giving a shit about the characters (also something rare)

one of the main things i hear people moaning about was the CGI, i didnt think it was that bad, ive definitely seen worse, and it would be hard to do a proper film of the Hulk without using CGI (unless you want to use a big guy who is painted green)

the soundtrack was very good, as was the script. Ang Lee's direction was also very good and he knows how to make a great film

Hulk is one of the best super hero flicks ive seen and well worth watchin IMO

10/10

[A.J. Hakari]

I admit, I had reservations about THE HULK in its early stages. Once the project, an adaptation of the Marvel Comics character, was announced, I started thinking of how it could be pulled off, not just in establishing a potential franchise but in how the filmmakers would present the big green guy the first time around. This isn't a property like SPIDER-MAN, with a rogue's gallery of villains that could last five movies. The Hulk is a personality that has to be nailed down just right the first time, a character to be explored before moving onto merchandising and sequels. But once The Hulk started coming together, forming an interesting cast and bringing CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON's Ang Lee on as director, my confidence in the picture rose. As the talent grew, so did my hopes, both pointing to the conclusion that this would not be your average comic book flick. This is exactly what THE HULK is, not a fast-paced ride like SPIDER-MAN or X2 but rather a serious-minded superhero film, a character study and a tragedy of sorts with some special effects included to remind the viewers where its roots come from. THE HULK comes off as a pretty good mixture of deep-reaching themes, ideas, and plenty of the title character smashing the crap out of stuff.

Sure, the CGI-created Hulk himself has the occasional flaw (the close-up shots are great, but he looks like a pissed-off Shrek in distant shots), but come on...can you realistically create a 15-foot not-so-jolly greet giant? Despite this minor flaw, the action sequences still look furgin' great. Up-and-comer Eric Bana, coming off from two solid turns in BLACK HAWK DOWN and the great Australian thriller CHOPPER, inhabits the character of Bruce and brings his mental anguish to the surface in a finely-tuned and sympathetic performance. Jennifer Connelly does an exceptional job as Betty, the one person whose mere presence can turn the Hulk back into Bruce and whose only goal is to help her former beau through these new problems. Nick Nolte's performance is one of the actor's best, convincing as a weary scientist whose sins are catching up to him in the form of the Hulk and its rampages (no comment on the familiar-looking beard...). Sam Elliott delivers a classic comic book movie performance as Betty's father, a military man who wants to throw every weapon in the world as the Hulk while realizing he hasn't exactly been Superdad either. My only real complaint among the cast is Josh Lucas, whose performance isn't necessarily bad but whose character is the poorest excuse for a villain since BATMAN & ROBIN threw in Bane for the hell of it.

A week before I caught a screening of THE HULK, I went throught a couple of the old TV movies based upon the '70s program "The Incredible Hulk," starring Lou Ferrigno as the title monster and the late Bill Bixby as the hopelessly tortured Banner. Those flicks embraced the cheesier side of the comics than Ang Lee's vision does, but rest assured knowing that the man retains both artistic and just plain fun elements from the comics. THE HULK may not be your average summer blockbuster, but it succeeds admirably in making the average moviegoers think while entertaining the hell out of them.

MY RATING: 9/10