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« Reply #1 on: Fri, June 13, 2003, 08:19:59 » |
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HULK REVIEW PART 2
At the same time, Bruce has so robustly survived a lab accident that should have killed him that he is approached by his long-lost father, David (Nick Nolte), a weirdo with the countenance of a wolf man who's been nosing about under cover of his job as janitor. "Of course you're flesh and blood, but you're something else too," David ominously informs before being chased away by the young man. Bruce soon discovers the truth of Dad's words when, upon next flying into a rage, he turns into a seriously pumped green giant, destroys the lab, rams up through the ceiling and bounds off the roof.
In short order, intense conflicts are running in every direction. When Talbot gets tough with Bruce, the latter turns green again and trashes him before heading off to save Betty from some mad attack dogs sent by crazy David, who was locked up 30 years back by none other than Betty's father. Betty, meanwhile, has been having dreams that evoke the childhood memories blocked out by Bruce, who begins to enjoy his moments of being bigger and stronger than anyone else on earth but increasingly needs to know how he got that way.
Much of the early going consists of quietly dramatic scenes between Bruce and Betty and sometimes others, and while there is visual pop to some of the lab sequences, Lee has essentially dispensed with the sort of teaser scenes -- such as Peter Parker's high school power antics in "Spider-Man" -- designed to keep eager audiences interested until it's time for the big effects. Approach, while moderately daring by today's diminished standards, is actually in line with that taken by Universal horror pictures dating back to the beginning of the sound era, when much scientific and some personal talk generally preceded the meaty main course.
Script's sensible structure leads Bruce on the path to self-discovery in the second half, just as it places him, Kong-like, in the hands of greedy exploiters who subdue and momentarily confine him before he bursts out in an ultimate effort of rebellion to take on everything General Ross can throw at him.
In beautifully executed interludes, Hulk first strides, then hops like a giant flea across the spectacular rocks of southern Utah, is assaulted by helicopter gunships and tanks he treats like so many child's toys, arrives home in the Bay Area to climb to the top of a fog-enshrouded Golden Gate Bridge and, spectacularly, to jump a ride on the back of a fighter jet that soars to the edge of space in an effort to do him in; even the subsequent plunge into the San Francisco Bay doesn't hurt Hulk. The visualization of these events, achieved by a variety of means, is superb.
Again like Kong, Hulk is reduced to mortal status by the woman he loves, but the cataclysmic climax, along with the tonally inconsistent coda, lacks the precision of effect of most of what's come before and ends things on a relatively flat note.
Worse, however, is the fact that, as the film's ultimate goal comes into view, its lack of heart and genuine tragic grandeur -- which were triumphantly abundant in "King Kong" -- emerges as a crucial shortcoming. All along, the Hulk figure elicits an ambivalent reaction at best; the connection between Bana's introspective Bruce and the elaborately detailed CGI figure presented as his alter ego never comes across definitively, so that in the final stretches, once Hulk has dispatched his greatest enemy, Talbot, it's hard to be too concerned for the fate of this odd hero, who is, let's face it, still an obvious special effect amidst otherwise real individuals.
"Hulk" is, in the end, a noble, shrewd, skillful but still thwarted try at upgrading one of the preferred genres of the moment and of respecting the intelligence of the audience more than is the norm with popular entertainments these days. Helping the cause are the actors -- Bana, Nolte, Lucas and particularly Connelly and Elliott -- who clearly take their work as seriously as did the thesps in, say, "The Ice Storm," without quite the textual heft and complexity to support them.
Pic is technically vibrant and resourceful, from the exceptional effects and juggling of screen panels and formats to the ace lensing, production design and sound work. Danny Elfman's fluid, mood-changing score underlines nearly every scene.
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