I saw it last night as well, and I have some questions.
After the fight with the Hulk Dogs we see Bruce eating his ass off at the table in the cabin. Granted, that was a pretty difficult fight but nothing compared to what he does in the rest of the movie. Wouldn’t a creature of that size and destructive power visit some cow pastures and snack on a few bulls? Why did he quit eating?
I know it was a setup for Hulk II, but are we supposed to believe that B.B. is still the Hulk in the jungle? The general was talking about “stories and fables” and B.B. says his famous line so does he still get big and green or do we have to have another “accident”
Why did some of Hulk’s jumps from the ground to a rock 20 ft high (helicopter fight in the desert) seem difficult but the 5 mile Neo jumps were effortless?
Why was Jennifer Connelly dressed so conservatively the entire movie?
Another disappointed viewer checking in. Yeah, OK, I can see what Lee was trying to do. I appreciate his attempt to make it more than just another brainless action movie, but it just didn’t work for me. This SHOULD have been just another brainless action movie, with lots and lots of 'splosions. Although, just to contradict myself, I liked that the general was a fairly complex character, and not just another brainless testosterone-laden “shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out” stereotype.
And maybe it’s just because I actually work in a genetics lab, but I am mightily sick of sitting through long crappy crappy scenes of people doing meaningless lab work in impeccably decorated labs. Between this and that laughable lab in Spiderman, I’m thinking of hiring on to Hollywood as a science advisor. OTOH, contradicting myself again, I was probably the only person in the lab to notice that David Banner was running Sanger dideoxy nucleotide sequencing reactions in both the modern day and the flashback, and that he was using appropriate technology both times.
Another disappointed viewer checking in. Yeah, OK, I can see what Lee was trying to do. I appreciate his attempt to make it more than just another brainless action movie, but it just didn’t work for me. This SHOULD have been just another brainless action movie, with lots and lots of 'splosions. Although, just to contradict myself, I liked that the general was a fairly complex character, and not just another brainless testosterone-laden “shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out” stereotype.
And maybe it’s just because I actually work in a genetics lab, but I am mightily sick of sitting through long crappy crappy scenes of people doing meaningless lab work in impeccably decorated labs. Between this and that laughable lab in Spiderman, I’m thinking of hiring on to Hollywood as a science advisor. OTOH, contradicting myself again, I was probably the only person in the lab to notice that David Banner was running Sanger dideoxy nucleotide sequencing reactions in both the modern day and the flashback, and that he was using appropriate technology both times.
DOH! That probably went through already, but I meant to say “in the theatre” instead of “in the lab.” Apologies in advance if this is a double post.
I liked it a lot. The goofy overwrought psychodrama and bludgeoning foreshadowing felt like a comic book, as did the quasi-silly appearance of the hulkdog fight and the inconsistent psycho choices of Banner’s dad, and the disbelief-snapping of everyone surviving the property-damage swath. For a comic-book film, all that was perfect. Box-office suicide now that the opening weekend’s past (and judging by what the theater tonight’s state was), probably, but still perfect.
I get the feeling that a lot of scenes were cut, though.
I loved it. Just about everything worked for me, except for the General bringing in Banner’s dad to yell at him. That could have been done much cooler: Banner Sr. should have used his powers to kick the army’s ass and got to Bruce just as the general trips the kill switch. The actual ending itself was… interesting. I think I liked it, but I need to think about it a little more.
I really liked the CGI. Sure, you could tell it was CGI. You could tell that Harryhausen’s monsters were stop-motion, too, but that didn’t make them any less cool.
It was one of those movies that, as I walked out of the theater, I thought it was OK, but as I thought about it more, I liked it less and less.
The fiddling with the origin story. I’m not a comic book purist - hell, I don’t even read them - but adding Dad and his wacky self-experiments to the mix was a huge mistake. On a practical level, it added at least 25 additional boring minutes to the exposition.
On a storyline level, does everything have to be about Oedipus and repressed memories? Can’t you make a very interesting (even artsy, to satisfy Ang Lee’s pedelictions) story about a normal guy who, through an accident, suddenly has to deal with his id taking (enormous) physical form?!
Hell, the TV series managed to get several years’ worth of stories out of the premise. Ya think Ang Lee could have come up with 2 hours worth of one. But noooo, conflict with Daddy is so much more angst-ridden, right? :rolleyes:
Eric Bana. He was probably told to play Bruce Banner as a boring, restrained guy. He did his job entirely too well. I didn’t give a crap about him, and had trouble paying attention when he was on screen.
Daddy. First, even mad scientists (perhaps especially mad scientists) act logically, if not rationally. The attack on Betty was absurd.
Second, he has a genetic mutation - the same one as his son. Remember, Ang Lee? The why the hell did Nick Nolte get different powers when he blasted himself with gamma radiation?
That may sound like a geek quibble, but stories are good only if they have an internal logic. This movie didn’t.
In all, Ang Lee did succeed in making a movie I would think about after I left the theater. Unfortunately, what I thought was how stupid it was.
Ross is referring to Bruce/“Angry Man” here, not David/Daddy. As far as Ross knows at the start of the scene, David Banner is just a geriatric nutball, and if he jumps around and rants and raves, there’s no threat.
David and Bruce’s genetic makeup (and mutation) aren’t the same. Bruce got half of his genes from his mom, remember?
(I thought the movie was okay, but could have benefitted from a better script. I wanted more psychodrama, and the final climactic scene was too muddled to follow along.)
One thing that bothered me was Bruce’s memory of his mom: he remembers her having brown hair, when she actually had black hair and looked more than a little like his girlfriend. Which I thought was a nice touch, actually, but made the error in Bruce describing her a little more annoying.
It seems like genetics in today’s scifi and comic books are the radioactivity of the 60’s and 70’s.
I thought most of the characters, especially Eric Bana, had too plain or stereotypical looks. As many people have pointed out, the multiple screenshots in one was too busy. Some of the screenswipes towards the beginning reminded me of the episode of the Simpson’s where Homer is playing with Lisa’s junior video editor. I went to see it solely because it showed him throwing a tank in the trailer (and the fact that I got too see it for free). The part where Dr. One-dimensional-Bruce-pisser-offer guy got blown up was INCREDIBLY cheesy, what with the white outlining him.
What I look for in a comic book-turned movie (and this is just what I like) is for them to remove it from it’s two-dimensional story board element and make the characters come to life. They had the facilities for this (I thought the CG was as good as it should be), but they failed (or perhaps refused) to do it. Instead they stuck to the comic book feel.
I saw it last night and I liked it but I agree that the last 20-30 minutes were pointless and confusing. And why the hell did David Banner have to be the Absorbing Man? What genius thought that up? When he was irradiated I expected him to become the Abomination which at least is a gamma irradiated monster in the comics.
My big question is why no Rick Jones? In the comics he’s the reason Bruce gets exposed to the gamma rays. They even have a similar scene in the movie where Bruce rescues a lab assistant but they called him (I think) Harper. Why not just call him Rick? Anyway, despite it’s faults I enjoyed the movie.
What I noticed (and wondered about) is how David Banner, fresh out of prison, managed to equip his trailer-home with all these cool science gizmos. He must have stamped a lot of license plates to afford them.
(1) I think the Hulk is an excellent movie.
(2) I think the Hulk suffers from the expectations people have walking in to a “Superhero” movie.
Managing expectations is such an important factor in seeing a movie. I can alternately hate or love a film based on whether I’m in the mood for that TYPE of movie.
I do not fault most movie-goers when I hear them say that they didn’t really like it, because when you are going to see a movie about a superpowered CGI character from the comic books, you are expecting a lot of action and adventure.
But I think if you’re going into the movie with the expectation to see a contemporary Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyl treatment, you’ll find it to be a well-donoe film. Personally, I’m in awe of Ang Lee for daring to look past so many “super-hero” conventions.
I really enjoyed the movie. Mind you, I’ve never read the comics or seen the TV show, and I went in with really low expectations. But the story was much more engaging than I expected. I thought Eric Bana did a great job of portraying someone with a white-knuckle rein on his emotions–when the Hulk broke through, it was almost a relief. Definitely more of a Jekyll and Hyde story than a mindless, “Hulk Smash” flick.
And I really dug Betty Ross. She was a smart, sexy, competent heroine who kept her clothes on for the whole movie. No simpering, no spandex, no T&A shots. Thank you, Ang Lee.
IANA comic geek, so I was completely prepared to accept whatever plotline the writers threw at me. I did expect it to make sense, apparently that’s where I went wrong.
Ok, what is up with the Army, ya know the US fricking ARMY not being in charge? Bad Guy Scientists Inc. want to grab some DNA because they think they’ll be able to duplicate some/all of the effects and then sell it back to the Army, who by the way has the DNA in custody but decide to let BGS Inc. in the game?! Why would they be so interested in immediately drilling the Hulk before containing the situation? They had the scientist(s) who’d be most likely to figure it out, Bruce and Betty, but no let’s bring in BGS before anything’s calmed down. WTF was that?
Same with bringing in Dad for that whole other weirdness. Why? Why would Ross send in scary nutjob Banner Sr. at all? Heavily restricted access, but crazy ex-dad guy wants to see him? Oh, by all means!
I’m with the others confused by David’s wanting to kill Betty, thanks for not bothering to explain that to us either. Gee, Betty’s attracted to distant males because she’s working out her father issues? Gag! I wanted a comic book movie, dammit, not this heavy drama of the sins of the father revisited BS.
I suscribe to Premiere magazine, and purposefully waited to read the big Hulk interviews until after I’d seen the movie. Ang Lee explained the frame thing as something to do with today’s audience being so used to multiple inputs due to video games, computer windows, even Mtv and CNN with the scrolling text, so that’s why he decided to use that technology. The next column, he says the frames are paying homage to the comic roots, which is it? I’ll forgive him the hubris of ‘trying to change the way movies are made’ and all that, but every time a box popped up, it slammed me right out of the emotional investment with the action.
I bought the CGI, it’s obviously been improved since those first trailers where he looked like Shrek on 'roids, but the movie just stunk.
For what it’s worth, the novelization says that Bad Guy Scientists Inc.™® was a front for a Sooper-Secret Evil Government Intelligence Agency™®, hence the priority they had over the Army. Guess that bit of exposition got left on the cutting-room floor.
