Hulk (2003)

This one is a mixed bag as I both loved it and hated it. It was very long, very drawn out, too stylistic, and very few action scenes. However at the same time they did a great job of telling the Hulk’s origin by going beyond it being a guy hit by gamma radiation. They delved deep into the psychological reasons for Bruce Banner’s (brilliantly played by Eric Banna) repressed rage, which is something that has become very important in the comics. However they also added in a somewhat silly idea of his father planting the seeds of the transformation by performing genetic experiments on himself before impregnating his wife.

The entire casting was perfect and they did a tremendous job of fleshing them out effortlessly. However the inclusion of Josh Lucas as the slimy, money loving military contractor made it impossible for them to portray General Ross properly. In the comics, Ross has nothing but hate for the Hulk right from the get go, and is thoroughly convinced that the only option is to kill the Hulk. Now in the movie he does come across as a no nonsense kind of guy, but he treats the Hulk like a human, wanting to save Banner if possible but ready to kill him if that’s the only option, of course with him being played by Sam Elliot you immediately want him to be likeable. But this does have a lot to do with the fact that General Ross’ daughter, Betty (played by the ridiculously beautiful Jennifer Connelly) is Bruce’s co-worker/ex-girlfriend. Here’s where things start getting tedious as Betty tries to help Bruce figure out what’s going on inside his mind and we’re walked, or rather dragged through what feels like hours of flashbacks where we already figured out what happened.

As mentioned before there are very few action scenes, but when there was one it was awesome. Though it was a little dark, I can watch the scene of the Hulk fighting those dogs over and over again and never grow tired of it. In a fight against the US military they addressed the fact that once he gets moving, the Hulk can run fast and jump far, something a lot of people don’t know about (I’m not sure about now, but in the beginning he could jump three miles with no running start). And then there’s the last fight scene against his father…

Another silly idea was to make David Banner transform himself into the Absorbing Man of sorts. But on the plus side this did lead to an amazing climax with David attempting to absorb the energy created by the Hulk’s rage only to discover that there was too much, causing David to explode. I immediately translated this as awesome because I know that the Hulk’s rage is infinite and uncontainable and this was a great way to show that.

Marvel Movie Score = 7

Why That?: I enjoy the movie, I really do, but it is really long, drawn out, and in no way as filled with action as a movie about the Hulk should be. However I do believe that spending so much time delving into the Hulk’s origin opened the ability to make a sequel pretty much all action. Marvel has instead decided to do what people are calling a “requel,” with The Incredible Hulk (now staring Ed Norton), starting the story with Banner on the run so that in ways it feels like a sequel, but at the same time it technically will have nothing to do with the original. Got that?