Hulk, The
The Hulk doesn’t break any new grounds for cinematic super heroes,
in fact, he doesn’t put much of a dent into anything, cinematically or
effects wise. It took a full 50 minutes of character building before
the creature made an appearance. Proportionally for a movie, that would
have been acceptable, but this was a 2 and a half hour movie.
Incredibly too long. The beginning of the flic was heavily peppered
with metaphors, mostly father – son relationship crap that trys to make
you run home, call daddy and tell him you love him, despite EVERYTHING
he ever did to you or your mom.
Here’s the good: The creature
was believable. A metamorphosed version of the main character was
convincing. Hair, skin, musculature and the interaction with real life
objects were fairly impressive, seemingly blended without doubt. The
eyes of the green guy were especially expressive and kept the human
factor of this monster in the forefront at all times. The dramatic
morphs from Bruce to the Hulk and back again clearly demonstrated
Dennis Muren’s experience in the FX industry. Motion graphics,
especially for dream sequences and title screens were interesting, but
nowhere near as complicated or as deep as Spiderman’s. Sound effects
were on par and obvious, however, Matrix had more bass. For a movie
with a 3 ton green man in it, you’d think there would have been a
little more ground shakes. The Big Bad super villain had promise when
he first emerged, his powers relying heavily on special effects, both
sound and imagery. So, for the good, I would say it was colorful and
ambitious…. buuuut…
Then theres the bad: Clearly, Ang
Lee was NOT the director for this movie. In a fetid attempt at creating
Crounching Tiger Hidden Hulk, the lumbering comic book hero with
massive biceps and gigantic fists can apparently float on the winds
themselves and easily balance himself on tree branches without even a
slight bending of the wood. The hulk ridiculously bounded from one
place to another like a big green SuperBall with bumps and hair. Even
when it stood still, the Hulk gave very little sense of weight. Hollow
bones perhaps? Understandibly, there are creatures of this world that
have legs powerful enough to propel them great distances. The common
flea for example, can jump 150 times their own length. This is due to
the fact that they weigh so little but can store so much energy in
their legs. The Hulk, sometimes 12 feet tall, can apparently jump
several 10’s of miles at a time, like he’s flying. Isn’t that
Superman’s ability? And his landings from these amazing heights and
lengths, of a 3 ton creature mind you, were so light and graceful,
there was little more than a puff of dust when he landed. The audience
laughed everytime he hit ground, it was just pathetic
I had
a couple of consistancy gripes too. about mid-movie, we actually get to
see the full transformation from bruce to hulk and they focus attention
on several different body parts, one at a time. Attention to detail for
this scene is so heavy as to show his shirt fibers straining before
ripping, the elastic in his socks snapping and tearing. And yet, for
every transformation, bruce has enough foresight to wear his
stretchiest pair of spandex pants, so as not to embarass himslef with a
hulk size wang floppin all over the place. These things are literally
shrink to fit and are only the slightest bit wrinkled when he turns
back to human form. Given, I have no want of seeing green gibblets, but
come on! Why does everything below the knee tear off, but everything
else stays. Oh and, no matter what bruce was wearing previously, the
hulk always wears purple.
In an effort to create a comic book
feel, editors placed frames and panel borders around seperate scenes as
transitions, showing multiple angles of the same scene. This got old
the first time they did it. It was constant, annoying and just plain
confusing to the viewer. You weren’t sure of where to look at any given
time. The only way it could have been worse, was if they added in POW
or SMASH balloons amidst the action. Story…. Apparently the Hulks
source of anger and rage stem from his childhood and repressed
memmories of his father. A broken home, drug abuse (hi tech drugs, but
drugs, needles and all, nonetheless) and secret military dealings. This
movie plays out like your typical Jerry Springer. There wasn’t any
depth, it’s twists were more of a transparent bend. There was no
suspense, no anticipation. A movie with this much hype, expectation and
merchandise should have had more subsctance. Sadly like countless
summer blockbusters in the past, Hulk just doesn’t come close to what a
movie this calibur has the potential to do. Filmakers left it
blindingly open for a 2nd movie. Come on guys, if you MUST make a
sequel, let’s see another Empire Strikes Back, not Dumb and Dumberer.
