SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

HULK (2003)

For my first Throwback Thursday review, I will be taking a look at Ang Lee’s Hulk. Yeah, I can just hear all the comic book fans groaning in their seats when I mention that name. Hulk is a film that is not fondly remembered among comic book fans nor moviegoers in general. Go to any Worst Of list for superhero movies and you’ll probably see this movie somewhere in that list. And, I stand before you guys today with this statement: I don’t think it’s that bad. Now, before I go any further, let me just say that I know that the film isn’t technically good and does have a lot of problems. But, I don’t think that it deserves to be rated as one of the worst superhero movies of all time. I’ll go into why after examining the story.

David Banner (an obvious nod to the 1970s Incredible Hulk TV show) has been trying for years to make super soldiers by “strengthening the human cellular response”. But, General Ross, his superior, denies him the opportunity of using human subjects. David disregards protocol and experiments on himself. As a result, David’s newborn son, Bruce, has inherited “super-cells”; David spends four years trying to find a cure for his son, but Ross fires him. Enraged, David initiates the fail-safe at his workplace and tries to kill Bruce, but ends up killing his wife instead...right in front of his four year old son. David is subsequently apprehended and Bruce is put into foster care. As Bruce grows up, he has no memory of the incident and this leads him to become emotionally cold and distant from people.

Thirty years later, Bruce (Eric Bana) is a scientist working on nanomed research at the Berkeley Biotechnology Institute with his ex-girlfriend, Betty (Jennifer Connelly). They are currently researching the use of gamma radiation as a catalyst for the nanomeds to instantly repair cells, yet they have not been having any luck recently. One day during a test, a freak accident occurs and Bruce is exposed to a high-dose of gamma radiation. He survives, but now whenever Bruce becomes angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs (and yes, I did just quote the them to the original TV show).

I’m gonna start with what I liked about the movie. First off, I like how they updated the origin of how Bruce got his powers. In the original 1960s comic, Bruce and others were testing a gamma bomb out in a desert field. A teenager accidentally got into the testing area, Bruce went out to save him , but was caught in the explosion and was inundated with a dangerous amount of gamma radiation. Yeah, modern day audiences, knowing what they know about the effects of radiation on the human body, probably wouldn’t be willing to buy such wacky, improbable pseudoscience. So, the idea of giving Bruce hereditary super-cells and having the gamma radiation act as a catalyst is a good update which obviously borrows a lot from Peter David’s run with the Hulk comic. I also liked the idea of repressed childhood trauma being the source of Hulk’s anger, which is also another idea straight from Peter David. I thought it added interesting psychological intrigue to the idea of a man who becomes a monster when he gets angry.

Another element which I really enjoy about this film is the musical score. It was written by Danny Elfman and believe me when I say that it’s one of his best. In fact, you know what? I’m not gonna say any more about the score because it really deserves a review of its own.

A lot of people didn’t like the Hulk’s design in this film (the common complaint being that he looks too much like Shrek). And while I can see where they’re coming from, I actually don’t have that much of a problem with it. Honestly, it’s probably my favorite design of the Hulk so far. You see, with the Hulks in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and both Avengers films, I was always aware that I was looking at a computer-generated entity. I never got the sense that they looked entirely realistic. With Ang Lee’s Hulk, however, something about it felt very tactile and realistic. I actually bought that it was there. Plus, this Hulk actually gets stronger and bigger as he gets angrier! This is something that I wish the other two Hulks would have incorporated, the idea that Hulk’s strength increases in correlation with his rage.

Now, I’m gonna get to what a lot of people don’t like about this movie: the editing. This film did not have standard fade-outs or cutaways, but was instead edited to look like a comic book movie. People feel that this aesthetic distracted from the serious tone that this film was trying to convey. But in my opinion, I think it gave the film a unique visual identity and appealed to me. It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before nor since, and I hope that some other director decides to apply that style and incorporate it into their film.

Now that I’ve stated all the good stuff, let’s get into where this movie falls flat. First, the plot gets really complicated and is not very well explained. I mean, I just stated a bare bones summary of the plot but I didn’t even go into the subplot involving Glen Talbot (Josh Lucas) trying to use Banner’s research for the military, Bruce getting detained at Desert Base by Ross (Sam Elliott), not to mention the whole nonsensical antagonism of Bruce’s father David (Nick Nolte). It’s all too much. And it doesn’t help that all the actors talk in such a quiet, subdued manner that is sure to bore people. In fact, when I last watched this with my dad, we had to constantly turn up the volume whenever there were any dialogue scenes.  With Bruce, it makes sense, because he grew up emotionally distant from the world. What’s everyone else’s excuse?

The one big problem I have with this film, which is also where I agree with the film’s haters, is the pacing. This movie just goes on FOREVER!!!! There are scenes in which the characters are just sitting around, moping about their problems and not really doing much to solve them. There are also scenes that were trying to be artsy and deep that didn’t work. Some of them did; for example, I love the scene in which Bruce is looking at the Hulk in a mirror. It’s just a great, surreal image. But others just don’t seem all that necessary; there is a scene where Hulk is just staring at moss for a long time….why? What is that supposed to symbolize? It’s unnecessary fat like that which makes the film drag on longer than necessary.

In the end, I suppose I admire what this film was trying to do more than the final product. As problematic as this movie is, I cannot accuse it of trying to be like every other popular superhero movie at the time (which would have been so easy to do, considering Spider-Man had come out a year earlier). I like that it was trying to be a more serious, psychological take on the superhero film, a void which would be filled by Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins two years later. But, does it make for a good movie? Not really. Like I said, the movie has awful pacing problems and does become boring after a while. However, I don’t think these problems make the movie one of the worst superhero movies of all time. In my opinion, this film is just a noble misfire with some good ideas that aren’t executed very well. I’d say that if you’re looking for a Hulk movie with some big impressive action scenes…they’re in this film, but you just need to sit through a lot of psychobabble to get to them. I’d say just stick with Avengers. But, if you’re really curious about this movie and want to see if it’s as bad as everyone says it is, I’d say give it a watch.

And speaking of superhero movies, I will be posting my review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on Saturday. So, stay tuned till then!