Today was the premier of "Hulk", a superhero movie based on the comic book that made Marvel hundreds of millions of dollars throughout the years, and will make them at least twice that amount with the release of this film. People had waited years for this movie to premier, and although the release didn't get the publicity of other movies such as "Spider-Man" or "The Matix: Reloaded", it was still a fairly large opening day. The figures haven't been revealed, yet I believe this film already broke many, many box office records and will continue to raise much money throughout the weekend, perhaps breaking the records set by "The Matrix: Reloaded", which was released a couple of weeks earlier. Now allow me to discuss the film itself. I must admit that I did not expect much out of this film. In fact I proclaimed that it would be the worst superhero movie ever. I was extremely wrong. Before I begin the review I should provide some background information on the two main characters in the film as well as its premise.
The main character in this film, Bruce "Kenzler", is a scientist that had a severe traumatic experience during childhood (leading to his separation from his biological parents) and repressed this memory, which constantly haunts him in his dreams. Betty Ross, Bruce's love interest in the film, is a lab partner of his that he recently broke up with. The two are working on a "medicine" of sorts that will allow a person's wounds and diseases to heal or disappear. Their initial test run fails horribly (with quite gruesome results), so they are forced to make some changes in their formula. On their second test run however, a third team member working on the formula receives an electric shock from one of the computers hooked up to release the gamma radiation involved in the experiment. In an effort to save the man, Bruce receives a high dosage of the gamma radiation (the other man was not exposed to the radiation because he wore a gas mask). The exposure to the radiation worries Betty (primarily because everything else it has been exposed to has been destroyed), yet it seems Bruce "Kenzler" was not harmed at all by the exposure (Quite the contrary. He becomes healthier than he ever was). Yet later in the film it is revealed that the exposure to the gamma radiation did come with a side effect, and that was that when Bruce becomes very angry he becomes a destrutive, mindless green monster that only expresses compassion towards Betty Ross.
"Hulk" was a spectacular film for many reasons. The superb acting was apparent throughout the film. Jennifer Connelly (Betty Ross) delivered the greatest peformance in the film. Her role as Bruce's lover and bodyguard was pulled off perfectly. There is no one that I think could have played this character any better. Eric Bana's (Bruce Banner) performane was't nearly as good, unfortunately. He has the look as well as the voice, but a few names come to mind that could have acted the part better. Nick Nolte (David Banner) delivered an incredibly realistic performance. This movie would have been devoid of any emotion whatsoever were it not for Nick. However, I cannot decide whether his character's look was good or bad. He looked less like a scientist and more like the Unabomber.
Most people (including myself) imagined "Hulk" to be a mindless action film with B movie acting. Amazingly, "Hulk" probably had the best acting of any superhero movie ever made. Perhaps something even more astonishing was that most of the movie's action sequences were horrible (the only saving grace was the wonderful helicopter scene). I blame this on poor lighting. Lighting is an extremely important factor in any movie. It should have been taken more into account in this film. The two fighting sequences in the film were ruined by the lighting. The first fight featuring the Hulk Dogs didn't suffer too badly, except the Hulk's killing methods were not seen at all (all that could be seen was a small splash of green blood), yet the final battle suffered immensely from lighting issues (the Hulk and David Banner were literally unrecognizable). Fortunately, the problem with lighting was tolerable, and would most likely be taken care of for the DVD release. Another problem was the new camera technique that had been applied. In rare cases many different angles of a the scene would be shown on the screen, as if you were looking at different panels of a comic book. At first this seemed like a nice idea, but gradually this technique got more complicated. In one scene we are shown the Hulk being transported by helicopter to a military installment in the desert. In this scene you are treated to six different angles of the helicopters. It sounds good in paper, but it doesn't go very well on the screen. Each panel is sized differently, and there are just too many to focus on at the same time. Also, some panels change size and shape, move around, and even merge with other panels to add to the on-screen chaos. I did no enjoy this camera technique, yet once again it is tolerable.
Of course, what could a movie based on The Incredible Hulk be without The Incredible Hulk? Kudos to the massive team of animators that designed the Hulk. Let's face the facts. The Hulk is nothing more than a green, mindless behemoth with no real knowledge of the English language. This character could only speak through his facial expressions. I have much respect for the team of animators that drew every last detail of him not just because of their effort but also because of the result. The Hulk can only speak through his facial expressions, and he does this well thanks to the graphic artists that worked on this project. He can show compassion, rage (obviously), confusion, and often times knowledge. That is some good work. Unfortunately, his face came out too childish in this film (because of his small, beady eyes). Also, the physics in this movie were pretty bad, as I predicted. You would expect a creature as massive as the Hulk to create a large crater when he lands on solid ground, yet instead he raises a small cloud of dust. Nothing can be that graceful.
I only have a two other criticisms remaining. This movie doesn't possess the humor of all other superhero movies, which is also unexpected. Instead it takes the tone of a tragedy such as "King Kong". Also, long-time fans of "The Incredible Hulk" comic book may be slightly dissappointed because of the film's story. It's almost completely different to the comic book's story. Actually, just about the only thing that stays faithful to the comic book is the main character's skills. Nonetheless I favor the story change, as it gives new life to the The Incredible Hulk. The complete film is worth the outstanding ending. This marvelous (pun intended) film deserves a score of 8/10 (a few minor inconveniences and Eric Bana's mediocre performance set the score down). I wish it luck in the box office.