Hulk Review *SPOILERS*
I’ve never really been a Hulk fan. Like many other people, the Hulk always seemed to be this comic book character that existed with not much thought given to him often. I mean for the actual character development of the Hulk, it seemed often quite a moot point since it all laid with Bruce Banner who’s “normalness” seemed boring. But with Hulk’s one track mind to “smash puny humans” with his great green might (and purple pants) that also seemed just as boring….after he fucked up a few cars that is.
The thing is with the Hulk, it’s often never about the “Hulk” per se. If anything what makes the Hulk interesting is very much like this foil to villains and characters; how things interact around with the Hulk. Granted the Hulk is a character upon himself, but his is so much more than that. He’s a product of a science project gone awry; an bundle of emotional nerves; a living traumatic experience and most of all a force of nature. I’ve been with the Hulk off and on, through his Mr. Fixit era, the “Hulkbuster” era, the “Maestro” era, the smart green era and now the very well done “Fugitive on the Run” era which pushes the envelope of story with like 99% Banner and 1% Hulk.
To outright start off, I didn’t like the actual movie. Almost nothing stirred me on an emotional level or a spiritual level except perhaps Gen. Ross’s exacting moustache. But the movie did stir me on an analytical level, experience level and a respect level. That is why I think this movie is very well the best “Comic Book” movie ever (The Matrix used to be, but now I categorize is as the best “Live Action Comic Book” Movie ever.)
Ok to start off right from the get go:
Comic paneling: A lot of people complained about this, but I thought it was perfect both as a time saving measure and as something else I’ll discuss later. I often see movies and comics as fairly similar mediums, especially in the way they present a visual story through extreme angles and shots. The thing is, I wondered what made ‘The Hulk” more of a comic than a film, and at first I thought it was because of the angles, how more “extreme” they were. But referring to the Matrix, that really isn’t the case since both mediums can use extreme angles. But what brought what made this movie more like a comic was memory and imagination.
Like films comics have different angles to tell the story and often share the same sense of “flow” when different scenes and angles are shot. However unlike movies, this “flow” isn’t in real-time, it’s merely implied; with our imagination filling in of what happened in between the panels. In most cases we have this residual memory of the last panel, sort of a starting point we use as a reference to go into transition to the next panel.
As these panels show up in the movie, I feel they instill that same type of residual memory, and effectively translating the comic book reading experience to celluloid.
What I also find interesting is that often on comic book pages is how sometimes a panel sticks to you, like a panel that sets the tone of the page. So when we see pictures that should have already pass time-wise, but instead stays constant while another panel goes on to other future actions, the movie sets the tone (without endless cutting back and forth) of the scene. This feature also maximizes the potential story telling and content while minimizing time and complexity. Brilliant.
Scenary: It was well used, especially the desert. I think that was especially well done because it really did emphasize the magnitude of how powerful and versatile the Hulk is. It also plays on the tagline of it being "freedom" and boucing around with the Hulk you realise that it is truly amazing on how "free" it could be. The "jokes" that were played out in the desert I think were great and subtle, just the comedy that I love and appreciate as opposed to comedy for comedy's sake.
The characters:
I would have to say that Gen. Ross is perhaps the best and complex character in the entire film. He’s not this rip-roaring person just shouting out orders to kill the Hulk, but really displays what Gen. Ross faces in the comics. It’s hard to say what character Sam Elliot is playing because in truth, it’s not about the fact that he’s “following” orders. As we can see, there is a deep rooted hate with the Banner line, which gives motivation for Ross to kill the Hulk as opposed to helping it. However I love how he rarely shows that anger, or any emotion for that matter.
The thing is Ross was being played as a person bound by duty but does not necessarily appreciate it. He seems mechanical in addressing problems but sincere at the same time. If anything I see Ross as this person who has his motivations, but more technical than militarily.
Betty Ross: I find a very interesting character because they explore with the idea that it’s not because banner turns into the Hulk that she cannot be with him, but what causes banner to turn into the hulk that she can’t be with him. Much like her dream was more of a premonition that in a time of emotional need, a time where she didn’t need to be alone that Banner might be caring, but in the end might cause more emotional damage and heartache than good which is oft the case in the Hulk Comics. I find it funny that it was the ultimate “bad relationship” when Betty said “Please give him a chance to calm down”.
Nick Nolte: My God it’s one of the best performances Nick Nolte has ever performed. Fuck man, the best thing is, he’s not even Nick Nolte in the film. His grey weathered old mad character was as spot on as Richard Harris with Dumbledore and Ian McKellan as Gandlaf. To tell the truth, this character was more dark and menancing as I ever say Nick Nolte. It’s very much like Keifer’s performance off of Dark city. Near the end it was amazing on how John Woo decided to tap into a bit of Shakespearean acting, with an almost monologue-esque performance by Nolte.
The machine that had both Banners was the stage and the darkness was perfect because it made it more “comic like” due to how the pure darkness and with only the light on the Banners made them appear on the black background clearly like many comics often do….even with a subtle outline.
Bruce banner: I think it was pretty dead on as this person who is pretty much devoid of emotion save for what he does. He truly does act as a person who has nothing of his past hidden by trauma and just has his work to deal. I swear that I saw a gleam of hope in his eyes at the end when everything came full circle and he learned of his past, like this certain amount of acceptance of not what he is, but relief of knowing what happened.
I don’t often hand out perfect scores, but in this case for being such a perfectly executed film (although it lacked in stirring me storywise) I gratefully award The Hulk
5/5 stars.
I’ve never really been a Hulk fan. Like many other people, the Hulk always seemed to be this comic book character that existed with not much thought given to him often. I mean for the actual character development of the Hulk, it seemed often quite a moot point since it all laid with Bruce Banner who’s “normalness” seemed boring. But with Hulk’s one track mind to “smash puny humans” with his great green might (and purple pants) that also seemed just as boring….after he fucked up a few cars that is.
The thing is with the Hulk, it’s often never about the “Hulk” per se. If anything what makes the Hulk interesting is very much like this foil to villains and characters; how things interact around with the Hulk. Granted the Hulk is a character upon himself, but his is so much more than that. He’s a product of a science project gone awry; an bundle of emotional nerves; a living traumatic experience and most of all a force of nature. I’ve been with the Hulk off and on, through his Mr. Fixit era, the “Hulkbuster” era, the “Maestro” era, the smart green era and now the very well done “Fugitive on the Run” era which pushes the envelope of story with like 99% Banner and 1% Hulk.
To outright start off, I didn’t like the actual movie. Almost nothing stirred me on an emotional level or a spiritual level except perhaps Gen. Ross’s exacting moustache. But the movie did stir me on an analytical level, experience level and a respect level. That is why I think this movie is very well the best “Comic Book” movie ever (The Matrix used to be, but now I categorize is as the best “Live Action Comic Book” Movie ever.)
Ok to start off right from the get go:
Comic paneling: A lot of people complained about this, but I thought it was perfect both as a time saving measure and as something else I’ll discuss later. I often see movies and comics as fairly similar mediums, especially in the way they present a visual story through extreme angles and shots. The thing is, I wondered what made ‘The Hulk” more of a comic than a film, and at first I thought it was because of the angles, how more “extreme” they were. But referring to the Matrix, that really isn’t the case since both mediums can use extreme angles. But what brought what made this movie more like a comic was memory and imagination.
Like films comics have different angles to tell the story and often share the same sense of “flow” when different scenes and angles are shot. However unlike movies, this “flow” isn’t in real-time, it’s merely implied; with our imagination filling in of what happened in between the panels. In most cases we have this residual memory of the last panel, sort of a starting point we use as a reference to go into transition to the next panel.
As these panels show up in the movie, I feel they instill that same type of residual memory, and effectively translating the comic book reading experience to celluloid.
What I also find interesting is that often on comic book pages is how sometimes a panel sticks to you, like a panel that sets the tone of the page. So when we see pictures that should have already pass time-wise, but instead stays constant while another panel goes on to other future actions, the movie sets the tone (without endless cutting back and forth) of the scene. This feature also maximizes the potential story telling and content while minimizing time and complexity. Brilliant.
Scenary: It was well used, especially the desert. I think that was especially well done because it really did emphasize the magnitude of how powerful and versatile the Hulk is. It also plays on the tagline of it being "freedom" and boucing around with the Hulk you realise that it is truly amazing on how "free" it could be. The "jokes" that were played out in the desert I think were great and subtle, just the comedy that I love and appreciate as opposed to comedy for comedy's sake.
The characters:
I would have to say that Gen. Ross is perhaps the best and complex character in the entire film. He’s not this rip-roaring person just shouting out orders to kill the Hulk, but really displays what Gen. Ross faces in the comics. It’s hard to say what character Sam Elliot is playing because in truth, it’s not about the fact that he’s “following” orders. As we can see, there is a deep rooted hate with the Banner line, which gives motivation for Ross to kill the Hulk as opposed to helping it. However I love how he rarely shows that anger, or any emotion for that matter.
The thing is Ross was being played as a person bound by duty but does not necessarily appreciate it. He seems mechanical in addressing problems but sincere at the same time. If anything I see Ross as this person who has his motivations, but more technical than militarily.
Betty Ross: I find a very interesting character because they explore with the idea that it’s not because banner turns into the Hulk that she cannot be with him, but what causes banner to turn into the hulk that she can’t be with him. Much like her dream was more of a premonition that in a time of emotional need, a time where she didn’t need to be alone that Banner might be caring, but in the end might cause more emotional damage and heartache than good which is oft the case in the Hulk Comics. I find it funny that it was the ultimate “bad relationship” when Betty said “Please give him a chance to calm down”.
Nick Nolte: My God it’s one of the best performances Nick Nolte has ever performed. Fuck man, the best thing is, he’s not even Nick Nolte in the film. His grey weathered old mad character was as spot on as Richard Harris with Dumbledore and Ian McKellan as Gandlaf. To tell the truth, this character was more dark and menancing as I ever say Nick Nolte. It’s very much like Keifer’s performance off of Dark city. Near the end it was amazing on how John Woo decided to tap into a bit of Shakespearean acting, with an almost monologue-esque performance by Nolte.
The machine that had both Banners was the stage and the darkness was perfect because it made it more “comic like” due to how the pure darkness and with only the light on the Banners made them appear on the black background clearly like many comics often do….even with a subtle outline.
Bruce banner: I think it was pretty dead on as this person who is pretty much devoid of emotion save for what he does. He truly does act as a person who has nothing of his past hidden by trauma and just has his work to deal. I swear that I saw a gleam of hope in his eyes at the end when everything came full circle and he learned of his past, like this certain amount of acceptance of not what he is, but relief of knowing what happened.
I don’t often hand out perfect scores, but in this case for being such a perfectly executed film (although it lacked in stirring me storywise) I gratefully award The Hulk
5/5 stars.
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