Released: 2003. Story by: James Schamus. Screenplay by: John Turman & Michael France & James Schamus. Directed by: Ang Lee. My Rating: ***1/2.
Plot
The opening shows a young Dr. Banner, working for the government at Desert Base. He is working on a way to augment the immunse systems of soldiers. After being denied by his superior for further testing, he injects himself with his formula. After his wife gets pregnant, he starts to see things in his son. His superiors find out, and in desperation, he decides to kill his son. The base explodes before it can happen, and the boy, Bruce is put into adoption.
As an adult, Bruce is working on something that will facilitate the rapid healing of tissues. It involves small organisms and Gamma radiation. During this, he and his co-worker, who he has been dating, break up. He is 'emotionally distant', a byproduct of the genetic tampering, as we will learn. They continue to work, but soon, the military is interested in their work.
An old flame of Betty's comes around, snooping, and she talks to her father, a General, to stop him. As this is going on, Bruce saves a colleague, but is dosed with a batch of Gamma radiation. It starts a change inside of him, and activates the tampering his father had initiated.
Add to that the re-surfacing of Bruce's father. He tells Bruce what's going on, but Bruce doesn't listen. He finally gets angry enough, and unleashes his inner Hulk. He destroys the lab, and ends up back at his place, dazed and confused.
This makes Betty's father and old flame act. They nearly capture Bruce, but he Hulks up again. Bruce's father sends some suped-up dogs to kill a snoopy Betty, and Hulk deals with them. Betty thinks she's helping them by giving Bruce up, and that leads to more carnage and a spectactular chase.
Bruce's father, meanwhile, gives himself a blast of Gamma radiation. This causes his altered genes to activate. He gains the ability to absorb what he touches. He decides to take on Bruce, so he can be more powerful. This ends in a final confrontation, and Bruce wins.
My Thoughts
It was actually a pretty good movie. It had a lot of plot, and just enough action. Having Ang Lee was one of those definatly interesting choices. It ranks up there with having small-film director Bryan Singer make the character driven, big-action X-Men. That's what comic book movies need, good characters and action as a side-order.
Now, this was not the standard action/comic book movie that fans of Blade and Spider-Man were expecting. Yes, there was action, and a decidedly real-looking (in my opinion) Hulk running around, smashing. However, there was a lot of psycho-babble and character development. That is what slightly detracts from the movie. Eric Bana, who plays Bruce Banner, was excellent. Jennifer Connelly was the bomb. She is one of my favorite actresses of all time. And Nick Nolte sent shivers up and down my spine.
I enjoyed this movie, but only as a spectator. The babble was a little too much for me, and I never really was a Hulk fan. I'd recommend it, but only if you don't mind a very verbose action movie.
