By Robert Sims, Special to Hollywood.com
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Thursday, August 14, 2008
7. Hulk (2 stars)
Year of Release: 2003
U.S. Box Office Gross: $132.1 million
Reported Budget: $137 million
The Reassessment: Ang Lee deserves respect for trying to transcend the superhero genre before Christopher Nolan succeeded with The Dark Knight. Unfortunately, this ponderous study of the duality of man reveals how not to bring a superhero to life. Hulk looks like the work of someone familiar with the medium—split screens duplicate a comic book’s paneled format—but Lee has no grasp of the material. He so overly intellectualizes Bruce Banner’s transformation from scientist to monstrous powerhouse that you wonder whether he thinks he’s completing a psychology dissertation. He should have concentrated on creating a lifelike computer-generated Hulk. Or reworking the dense script to downplay the film’s father-son estranged relationship to bulk up on scenes of the Hulk on the rampage. Too much brains, not enough brawn makes this Hulk--unlike the recent reboot--incredibly puny.
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures