The Hulk (2003)

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Directed by Ang Lee.

Starring Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas, Eric Bana.

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Ang Lee directs the live-action feature film The Hulk, based on the Marvel comic book created by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby. Emotionally stunted Dr. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) is part of a research team at the University of California at Berkeley. Corporate hustler Glenn Talbot (Josh Lucas) takes notice of the lab and makes plans to take it over. Then Bruce accidentally gets hit by an experimental ray and grows into a huge beast, destroying the lab in the process. A creepy janitor who claims to be his real father, Dr. David Banner (Nick Nolte), starts to secretly use the experimental ray on himself. He creates some mutant dogs and sends them after Bruce's lab mate and ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly). After Bruce saves her life in the form of the Hulk, she lets her distant father, General Ross (Sam Elliott), take him to an abandoned army base in the desert. However, Glenn Talbot takes over the operation and wants to patent the creature's superpowers for his own profit, so he holds Bruce unconscious in an isolation tank. When provoked, Bruce turns into the Hulk and makes a break for San Francisco, leading to a desert chase sequence involving military aircraft, tanks, and bombs. Only the sight of Betty can make him turn back to his human form. When he is eventually captured, Dr. David Banner shows up for a final confrontation with his son and his old adversary, General Ross. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Green, back
by usesoap in usesoap Blog

lost interest.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Oh , Kermit T. Frog. What a sage you are. For you have foretold the dilemma facing one similarly hued hero and his battle for acceptance among the masses. Let's take a look at his Magi-like prognostication on a more thorough level to unveil his astute observations concerning the current box office bind concerning one “Incredible Hulk”: It's not that easy bein' green,Having to spend each day the color of leaves. For five years, the not-so-jolly, lime-colored character has been the target of many a nasty fan-boy rant, ever since director Ang Lee decided to saddle the comic book adaptation with Freudian subtext and layer his tale with psychoanalyses better left on the couch than in a mega-watt movie. The film was levelled by hoards of angry basement-dwellers who puffed up like the titular beast and smashed the best way they knew how – through anonymous postings on message boards. In an attempt to rectify the situation, Hulk's owners, Marvel Comics, have opted ... " [More]

Hulky Talky. BlogNosh 06/12/08
by Karina in Karina on SpoutBlog

hasn't rated it.

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"“If Iron Man was about America’s power overseas — specifically in Afghanistan, where much of the movie takes place — then the Incredible Hulk is about what happens to our soldiers when they come home,” writes Charlie Jane Anders in a long review at io9. It’s about the impossibility of transforming young men into “super-soldiers” and then expecting them to blend back in.” Related: Anders takes a look at superheroes who can’t have sex, including “Poor Rogue from the X-men. She’s got the cool Susan Sontag hair, and the leather jumpsuit, and the hot boyfriend… but she can never touch anyone.” Anders isn’t exactly ga-ga over New Hulk, but she calls Ang Lee’s version “disastrous.” At Bright Lights After Dark, Erich Kuersten vehemently disagrees. “Man, it’s a sad day on our bitterly defended-from-Galactacus earth when an Ang Lee Hulk film is just dismissed outright, and here it is a super and vastly underrated picture. Granted the CGI was a bit cartoony in the previews (I know I laughed a ... " [More]

Hulky Talky. BlogNosh 06/12/08
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

10 Movies That Overcame Bad Buzz
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Two big movies arrive in theaters this week, The Incredible Hulk and The Happening, and each has had its share of bad buzz. From what I can tell, though, the former is recuperating quite nicely with mostly favorable early reviews. And it’s sure to gross in the hundreds of millions, just like its big brother, Ang Lee’s Hulk, did a few years back. The latter, however, is still struggling through the muck, with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan doing everything he can to assure us that his film is merely a B-movie and shouldn’t be the victim of high expectations. If The Happening bombs, though, 20th Century Fox won’t be able to blame its bad buzz. Especially if The Incredible Hulk comes out a big winner this weekend. When a movie is good, or at least has some goods that audiences actually crave, it can overcome bad buzz. The list of films after the jump is evidence of this, although it’s possible that some of the older titles might have been less successful in the globally conscious ... " [More]

CG: Death to Imagination
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"When I saw the title of Olly Richardson’s rant on The Empire Blog asking if CG has killed our imaginations, I presumed he meant filmmakers’ imaginations and how special effects are less creative when done with the ease of computer graphics. But no, he’s really talking about our imaginations, meaning me and you and everyone we know. I’d never given it too much thought, but maybe modern audiences are really losing their ability to believe at the movies: We never used to be so picky. If somebody watches the original King Kong or any of the works of Ray Harryhausen, you will never hear them complain about how the skeletons were a bit jerky or that the big ape’s fur didn’t blow realistically when he was climbing the Empire State Building (if they do complain, however, you should feel free to shoot them on the grounds of wrongness and philistinism). You just watch the film, acknowledge that what you are seeing couldn’t possibly exist, admire the artistry it took to create it and choose t ... " [More]

The Incredible Hulk
by mercurial in Trailer Park

disliked it.

"So, here we go again. The full length trailer for The Incredible Hulk has been unleashed unto the populace and I have to say I'm actually kinda interested after seeing it. I've been adamant about my hatred for The Hulk released in 2003 by Ang Lee so the thought of someone else attempting to bring the comic book character back to the screen is rather aggravating for me. http://www.apple.com/trailers/ universal/theincrediblehulk/ Here's hoping that little Edward Norton can pull it off. " [More]

Entertainment Weekly Is Funny
by The1TheOnlyJP in The Paxton Log

disliked it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're but a mere seven days from the official start of the 2008 summer movie season. Hollywood is hoping the current box office slump will take a turn for the better and begin to rise with releases such as 'Speed Racer', the next trip to Narnia 'Prince Caspian' and Indiana Jones' highly anticipated adventure 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' all in the coming weeks. This past week Entertainment Weekly put out their summer preview issue which includes projections for what they believe will be the top ten grossing films of the summer. That list is as follows:$355.9 mil 01 - 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'$310.8 mil 02 - 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'$280.4 mil 03 - 'Hancock'$280.3 mil 04 - 'Wall-E'$267.7 mil 05 - 'Iron Man'$255 mil 06 - 'The Dark Knight'$244.6 mil 07 - 'Kung Fu Panda'$176.5 mil 08 - 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'$147.2 mil 09 - 'The Incredible Hulk'$146.6 mil 10 - 'Tropic ... " [More]

The Incredible Hulk
by TheWorkingDead in The Film Library

liked it.

"Ang Lee's 2003 version of the Hulk ranks as one of the most underrated movies of the past decade. Too arty and cerbral for most fans wanting a 'hulk smash!' film, and too rooted in comic book imagery to appeal to the arthouse crowd that would follow Lee anywhere, the movie tried to straddle two worlds and only ended up impaling itself. But to me, it's one of the best comic book movies out there, and i find it much more enriching than even the superb Spiderman, Batman or Superman movies. The film was not what I initially wanted, but by the end I was saying 'I never knew I wanted this in a Hulk movie'.And so I'm a bit disappointed to see them doing The Incredible Hulk, completely disregarding everything set up in the first film for a more standard reboot, albeit with some pretty good talent involved. I enjoy Edward Norton's work as an actor and I'm sure he won't be able to keep some hefty emotional weight out of the film, but Liv Tyler is one o ... " [More]

Top 5 Bad Movies by Great Direc ...
by schulen in Top 5

disliked it.

"Planet of the Apes - Tim Burton.The Brothers Grimm - Terry Gilliam Bad News Bears - Richard LinklaterPsycho - Gus Van SantMost Woody Allen Movies Strange how great directors fuck up so many remakes. What do you think? " [More]

"I think there's more than ...
by BigJeffLebowski in BigJeffLebowski Blog

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"I'll admit I have dual biases. Biases which are in direct conflict. On one hand, I grew up loving the Transformers, and to this day consider Optimus Prime a personal hero on par with Atticus Finch or Abraham Lincoln. On the other hand, Michael Bay sucks. I mean he really sucks. Excluding The Rock, has he done anything worthwhile? Well, I suppose now that Transformers is out, the answer is, surprisingly, yes. Rather than let Autobots and Decepticons fight to the death with nary a human around to ask "...um, wha?" the film focuses on the military response to a "Non-Biological Extra-Terestrial" invasion. It's a wise choice, lending at least a modicum of credibility to a franchise that is, essentially, the world's longest toy commcercial. (The film was, in fact, co-produced by Hasbro). Still, no one goes to see Transformers -- or, hopefully, any Michael Bay film -- for things like character arcs and plot points. No, we go to Transformers to see big robots kicking the crap out ... " [More]

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Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

lost interest.

The hotly anticipated summer blockbuster The Hulk sets up a power struggle between father and son that manifests itself in the form of a giant green CGI creature. As Dr. Bruce Banner, Eric Bana certainly has the right bone structure and muscle mass to be convincing as the alter ego of a comic book superhero. He maintains an intense, cheerless attitude while Nick Nolte overacts as his Charles Manson-looking mad scientist father, Dr. David Banner. The clincher hangs on a repressed memory lurking in Bruce's subconscious, which is alluded to in the opening sequence of close-ups and replayed in various flashy ways. Much of the film's structure is flashy, with multiple split screens, fancy dissolves, and moving comic book-style cells that may seem gimmicky to some. Still, there are thrilling moments and striking visuals when the Hulk appears, especially during the extended chase scene across the desert and through the sky, culminating in the trashing of the San Francisco Bay area. Throughout it all, Jennifer Connelly is weepy and worried as Dr. Betty Ross, who never seems to spark with the closed-off Bruce. Surprisingly, it's Sam Elliott who brings a sorely needed gentle humanity to the role of Betty's stern and distant father, General Ross. After the main special effects-laden climactic sequence, the tacked-on ending marks a radical shift in tone toward a Hulk with a purpose rather than a Hulk on the run, presumably for the function of setting up a sequel. As a good monster movie, the action is entertaining and the main drama is intriguing, but the downbeat story and long running time might disappoint viewers looking for the charm of other contemporary superhero movies. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Tags: underrated , great-direction , bad-script , notasbadaseveryonesaid , dontmakemeAngLee
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