Rating: 
Summary: Hulk smashes!
Review: With so many movies based in comic books these days, originality is something that doesn't seem to be appearing much. Most of those movies are formulaic, predictable and action-oriented. "Hulk", at least, tries to be different, gives the characters some time to develop and even has a story to tell. Director Ang Lee builds a superhero-drama and slowly introduces the tension, conflict and pain that define the green giant. Eric Bana gives a convincing performance as the nervous and reserved Bruce Banner, developing his inner fight between sanity and madness. Although the movie is well acted and directed, it doesn`t show most of the trademarks of a typical and bland blockbuster, so it failed to convince a big part of the audiences. That`s unfortunate, since it has an intriguing dark atmosphere, grabbing the viewer and creating a tense mood. Yet, it gets slow in some moments, an runs for too long (2h15m).
"Hulk" is a good comic book adaptation and one of the best summer films of 2003, howevewer it`s not for everyone and requires some patience. The tone and overall feel of the movie is similar to that in "Unbreakable", making for an interesting double-feature.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome Special Effects!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: The Hulk is based on a comic book hero from marvel like,"spiderman,"daredevil", characters like that. Hulk's real identity is "Bruce Bana", a scientist who works for the government, and is testing a nuclear weapon. A friend of his, but then gets in the way and Bruce moves him out of the way and gets hit by the "GammaRay". Bruce's dad has been giving him shots since he was a baby for he could be protected by any government experiments. Then the rage is released, so then every time Bruce gets annoyed, he becomes this ferocious Monster. The government then wants the Hulk for they could do testing on him and stuff. It is a real knockout. Not better than "Spiderman", but is still really cool. This 2 disc set includes behind the scenes on the amazing "Dog Fight" scene. It also includes deleted scenes that actually should have been taken out. It also has an interview with Stan Lee, which is pretty funny. It also has full-length commentary by Ang Lee. He is a weird choice to direct this film, but still pulls it off. Going from "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", to a action packed film! The weird thing that this DVD didn't have but should've, was the teaser that they showed before showing the film "Spiderman" in the theater. Or they at least should have showed the trailer if they had one. Another really cool thing about this DVD is, if you have an xbox, put in the first disc in first, and you can play a complete level of hulk the game. It is real cool. Another question in my mind is "why did Ang Lee decide to direct this film in 1:85:1. Shouldn't it have been 2:35:1? But I guess it can work that way. I don't really get why people hate this movie, its not that all great but its still pretty cool. Well watch it for your self and find out.
Rating: 
Summary: Li Ann's newest present !!!
Review: first, i should appreciate the director of this movie, Li Ann.
After awarding OSCAR prize, he continue his style, direct a movie that mixed any elements he can. When i saw this movie, the scene which gave me a deep impression is, Hulk feel angry and change his outside looking to a greeen monster, you may feel shocked by the direct tech that Li Ann who want to give you. Last, just like most people said, this movie is not bad, and I bagan to look forward Li Ann's next stuff^^
Rating:
Summary: Falls Short Of Expectations
Review: Sorry to say, this movie falls short of what it could have been. Too many LAB scenes and not enough action. Too much lovey-duvvy stuff and not enough action. I think the movie relied too much on computerized graphics when the action did come around, too. I don't do very long reviews when a movie is so bad, so I'll just cut and run now. G.B.
www.therunninggirl.com
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasantly surprising take on the comic
Review: As far as recent comic book movies go this one has been panned the most by
fans and critics alike. It really shouldn't be. A case can be made that
The Hulk is indeed the best of the new bunch of Marvel movies. I'm not
going to make that case but it can be made. The cast here is stronger than most action movies by a long shot. We have
Eric Bana playing Dr. Bruce Banner who is exposed to gama radiation that
triggers his father's genetic mutations that were planted in his son. He then becomes a being of unmeasurable power, the Incredible Hulk. Bana brings
an easy to relate to demeanor along with some acting chops to the table. We
will see more of him no doubt. Nick Nolte plays the film's main villain and
as it turns it also Banner's father. He is solid and entertains as Nolte
always does. Nick Nolte is one of those rare actors who convinces you that
he isn't acting but yet at the same time we see a little bit of Nick shine
through in everyone one of his roles. His presence alone puts him in a tier
just below the Nicholsons and De Niros of the world. He is great as always,
a dedicated master of his craft. The more subtle actor Sam Shepard plays
the father of Banner's love interest in the film and executes his role with
near perfection. He is one of those actors that you can't really credit
until he finally slips under your radar which is the true sign that Shepard
is doing his job. In addition to being the leading lady's father, he is
also a General who wants to contain and/or destroy the Hulk. His daughter
is of course Betty Ross and she is played by Jennifer Connelly. Now, when I
heard that Ang Lee (Ice Storm; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) was directing
The Hulk and Jennifer Connelly was in it, I knew this film would be very
well done. Connelly has shown her amazing talent in sad roles only, but she
is an outstanding actress based on these performances and I look forward to
her showing more range in the future because I do believe she is the single
most talented actress around. So the cast is great and there were outlets for them to work well and show
off their stuff. Ang Lee's direction was also handled quite well. His
crisp touch complimented the cinematography and the split screening and
comic book like camerwork was the perfect fit. Overall The Hulk is
undeniably well done. So why didn't some people like it? I think a lot of
people that went to see this film expected it to be a collection of near
endless action sequences but the film clearly went far deeper than that,
much to the chagrin of the mindless zombie mobs that flocked to see the Matrix
sequels and other crap. I was pleasantly surprised to see yet another comic
book brought to the screen with a serious touch and strong talent. I
enjoyed Hulk for that and I actually cared about the characters enough to
wait the movie out and watch it unfold. It's a shame that a good movie can
be brought down by word of mouth saying stuff like "it was too slow" or "it
was too serious". The major flaw that I had with the film was it's climax battle sequence. I
guess it was too busy and fuzzy for me to find as compelling as the rest of
the film but in the context is still seemed to work out. The conclusion of
the film made up for any of those feelings and I walked away from the Hulk
with a safe and confident feeling about this character's legacy. I'm quite
sure we won't see a sequel because of the profit this film made but that is
O.K. by me because everything that needs to be said was said. I just hope
that in terms of comic book movies people don't consider this the worst of
it's time. Only a decade ago us Marvel Comic fans had to almost endure a
Fantastic Four movie that was not released (I saw it at a convention and it
was laughably horrendous) and actually sit through a straight-to-video
Captain America and Dolph Lundgren's The Punisher. Try to keep that in mind
when watching Lee's above average effort. Good for Lee for taking a big budget project and making a real movie out of
it. Maybe one day we will look back on it and recognize that it took real
guts to do that.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. McGee, Don't Make Me Angry...
Review: I grew up watching The Incredible Hulk on t.v. This movie makes several references to that long ago classic, including the use of the name David Banner for Bruce Banner's (aka The Hulk) father.
The movie using an interesting visual style designed to mimic the panels in a comic book. The narrative is strange for a comic book film, as the title character is noticeably absent for a large portion of the film. The first half of the movie is spent explaining the origins of Bruce Banner's emerald alter-ego.
The CGI starts out a bit spotty, but they quickly improve it.
Keen eyes will note cameo appearances by Stan "The Man" Lee and Lou Ferrigno of that old series mentioned earlier.
I was not a big fan of the "Hulk Dogs" that made their on screen debut (C'mon, a giant french poodle is NOT scary) but they did at least give us a chance to see the Hulk in action early on.
The actors all played their parts well, even if the movie does not remain true to the source material (but then, neither did the t.v. series of yore). David Banner is a fusion of Bruce's comic book dad and The Absorbing Man of the Marvel Universe.
It's not a kids film, that's for sure. This movie is very dark, and the action is fast once it gets going.
I enjoyed the movie, but it's not for everyone. The end line is great, though.
Rating:
Summary: Anger Supression
Review: The Hulk may have been created by comic book giants Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960's, had several cartoon series, been a popular live action television star and had a few telefilms to his credits. But it took advances in the world of CGI to finally bring him to the big screen. Dr. David Banner, (Nick Nolte) is a genetic research scientist, working for the United States Military. He hopes to one day "build" a better soldier. His research is halted after he defies the head of the base, General Ross, (Sam Eliott) and decides to begin testing on humans. In an act of desperation, Banner does the unthinkable...When his child Bruce (Eric Bana) grows up to be a scientist working alongside his girlfriend Betty (Jennifer Connelly), an accidental exposure to gamma radiation unleashes a strange metamorphosis in him, anytime he is angered or upset. Little does Bruce realize, that secret sins from the past, have done more harm to him then he could have guessed. Director Ang Lee has given the world a different take on the character than I expected. While elements of the Hulk's comic book beginings remain, that simple story has been turned into a taky convoluted mess,that quite frankly took too long to get going. The whole father/son dynamic, is made watchable, thanks to Bana, who gets points for his performance as Bruce. The problem is that the film feels like its all a set up for further sequels-The ending for example, felt as though, it were just tacked on, so that we could see the Hulk battle another creature. The filmmakers painted themselves into a corner with the backstory of Banner. There is way too much exposition here and not enough plot. My criticism doesn't mean that I wanted to hours of the Hulk doing his thing--I just wanted less filler is whall. As others have stated Ms. Connelly puts herself in A Beautiful Mind "mode" and is on automatic pilot here. One other thing that bothered me about the film was its lack of humor. I know that Banner is supposed to be a tragic figure, but a bit more levity would have helped. I had problems with the film on a technical level as well. Ang Lee tries to recreate the look of a comic book, with multiple "panels" on screen at the same time, (like the series 24) but rather than act as a novel approach it gets a bit tiresome instead. As far as the much talked about CGI Hulk, he came out looking just ok. There may have been many advances in CGI, but there was only one scene, with the Hulk and and Nolte, where I actually thought "wow" Cool. I hate to say this but the big guy looked like a larger version of a certain Ogre called Shrek, more often than not. The 2 disc special edition includes a lot of bonus material. But like the film itself, some of it was rather detached, and frankly not much fun. Sure on a techical level it's a great source for would be CGI-enhanced filmmakers. But I don't understand why everyone had to so serious all the time. The audio commentary with Lee is solid enough, though, a few other participants might have helped to lighten it up. The deleted scenes are noteworthy because there's an expansion of TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno's cameo is included. Next up is a pretty cool feature where different llustrators from around the world create a scene from the movie in comic book form. The Anatomy of the Hulk, offers some trivia about ol'greenskin, and his deades long history. As an extension of that, evolution of the Hulk, takes us from the first metamorphis of Bruce Banner into the Hulk on the pages of comic books to his on-screen metamorphosis. The Hulk Cam viewing mode allows optional flashing icons to provide seamless branching access, during the movie, to behind-the-scenes footage. The Incredible Ang Lee is a "tribute" to the Ang Lee's hands-on directing style that's kind of overdone and not needed here. The Making of the Hulk disects the film in 4 parts: "Cast and Crew," "Stunts & Physical Effects," "ILM" and "Music" There's also additional featurettes on how "The Dogfight" sequence came together and the film's editing style. Toping off the bonus material are some forced pre-show theatrical trailers, on disc one, but ironically none for Hulk itself. There are also some Sunny Delight Juice drink Hulk-inspired TV spots, and brief cast and crew filmographies. The film of the Hulk needed less exposition, more humor, and a better realized story for my tastes. The extras in the set are also a mixed bag at times. Yes, filmmaking is serious business, but The Hulk is a based on a comic book character, and should reflect that as well.
Rating:
Summary: Would have been 4 if not for Nolte's HACK ACTING
Review: Ok, I'll admit it, I'm probably going to be crucified for this review because I've talked to people who are AMAZINGLY against this movie, but then again, there were people who agreed with my point of view about it. THAT BEING SAID, I HATED this movie the first time I watched it, because it was a little slow for my taste, the Origin wasn't the same as the ORIGINAL Hulk origin, and there was just a whole lot of OVERACTING by Nick Nolte. Then I watched it again. The Origin aspect... It still gnawed at me a bit, but I thought about how he "originally" turned into the hulk, and it really doesn't make sense. He would have been disintigrated by the Gamma Bomb, and that's not going to help make a somewhat believable movie. So the origin change seemed at least... FEASIBLE. I talked to someone else who said it should have been some "new bomb" but... I think that still causes some issues... The SLOW factor. Well, yes, it's slow. But if you think back on most of the Comic based movies, they're kind of slow because they take time to show the true origin of the character, give you an idea of who they are, and what they do. The Hulk is supposed to be a "brainless wrecking ball" and it's kind of hard to devise a 2 hour plot around him smashing stuff (or you'd have Fast and the Furious 3 mixed with a giant green monster). You have to have some understanding of who Bruce Banner is, and why he became what he became. So I understand the need for the pace being the way it was. I'm expecting that they'll have a much faster paced sequel (if rumor turns out to be true) because you don't have to worry as much about character introduction, and can get into the "hulk smash" more without explaining how the Hulk happened. Then the final complaint. The Nick Nolte factor. Round two of watching this movie didn't help this issue at all. In fact, it made it worse. Every scene that Nolte was in was literally painful to watch because he overacted so much it seemed like he was TRYING to overact that badly. It seemed like he was trying to make soap opera acting look good, or possibly he was just trying to make sure that no one ever takes him seriously again. Either way, I had trouble watching his scenes, and seriously wish they would have re-considered casting someone or anyone else in the part. In conclusion, the general story wasn't bad, the thought process of the director seemed to be in the right place, and my only other little complaint may be that the Hulk as a character, seemed a bit too intelligent for my thinking, though, the comic book Hulk has gone through many different levels of intelligence and or mental capabilities and this is comparably a moot issue if comparing it to how poorly Nolte's performance was. Check it out if you haven't seen it, it's not bad, but don't expect it to be the comic book you remembered from the 60's exactly. It makes a little more sense than the original origin, so THUMBS UP for that...
Rating: 
Summary: The Horror, the Horror.....
Review: I so wanted to give this film a better review, because if nothing else, "Hulk" at least takes a more interesting than average approach to the comic-book-turned-into-summer-blockbuster genre. Ang Lee gets kudos from me for his use of split screens to suggest the panels of a comic book, but that's about where my praise ends. Because I usually like Lee, I'm giving this two stars instead of one, but I'm doing that under duress. "Hulk" is dreadful. It's 140 minutes of nonsense, which might be o.k. if that nonsense had any notion that it was nonsense. But Lee and company seem to take their material utterly seriously, which is deadly for this kind of film. Lee uses the comic book look for his film, but he doesn't use the comic book tongue-in-cheek style of story-telling, so every single scene comes across as unintentionally silly. Even with that, the film might have been enjoyable. Hey, I enjoy a fun bad movie as much as the next guy. But this is a fun bad movie without the fun. The story takes forever to get going, and once it does it doesn't make a lot of sense anyway. I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is one case where the story overwhelms the visuals. I don't really need that much back story to the Hulk---what I want are cool action sequences and zingy special effects. Well, the effects in this suck. I almost have to believe the CG animation in this film was intentionally corny, otherwise the producers got seriously ripped off. The only thing I can say about the animated Hulk is that he's a better actor than Eric Bana, who plays Bruce Banner. Please don't ask this boy to act, and especially don't ask him to cry. Jennifer Connelly is starting to really get on my nerves. She's stealing the market on noble suffering away from Joan Allen. But the real booby prize goes to Nick Nolte, who has driven another nail into the coffin of his career with his appearance in this. He's absolutely putrid, chewing the scenery every chance he gets in a greasy fright wig. His big showy soliloquy toward the end might have been more effective if the viewer could understand a word he says, but I doubt it. Perhaps the filmmakers should have chosen to use a CG version of Nick Nolte instead of the real thing. And darned if this movie doesn't suffer from action movie syndrome, complete with false finale and a real finale that is jaw-droppingly wretched. $100 bucks to anyone who can make sense of what happens at the end, and who can also tell me how all of the people back at the military base were able to see the big battle between the Hulk and Nick Nolte as if they were watching it on screen as we are, even though they are miles away watching nothing more than a radar screen. Bad, bad, bad..... Grade: D-
Rating:
Summary: A Comic Book movie that isn't
Review: Outside of some drawbacks, the Hulk is good and worth seeing multiple times, if at all for the surprising and multiple psychological layers. However if you are looking for major action instead of visceral drama, look elsewhere.
I've seen a lot of movies where it looks like the studio and director influences are fighting with each other and the studio ultimatley wins out therby hindering the project. In this case it's the opposite. This is what happens when a director understands aesthetically what the comic is about, but not the general appeal. The Hulk is a very thoughtful and introspective film, but there are times here when thinking outside the box is the major flaw. Ang Lee got the look and the mood of the film down, but I cannot agree enough with another amazon reveiwer who said that the fun was missing from the film. Which is what this needed and what the studio was trying to do. The DVD makes every attempt to compensate for the movies shortcomings. The Bonus features are great. I loved the origin of the Hulk and and the obligitory Stan Lee interview that comes with all Marvel comic adaptations explaining how the character came to be. The in depth featurettes with the CG dogs and the films unique editing process I also enjoyed. Ang lee's commentary is the only feature left to be desired. If he says anything at all, it's mostly esoteric. Example, I swear I'm not lying:(in montone) "He reminds me of Picasso painting watermelon clowns in pink." ............ookay! You go Ang! Back to the film, the CG worked, especially in a great tank battle set in the desert. This was true vintage Hulk and it did not disappoint.
Both Nick Nolte and Sam Elliott are in their element and command the screen very time they show up. The chemistry actually is better with Elliot/Conelly then with Connely/Bana and I wound up caring more about the resolution betweeen the father and daughter. It was pleasant surprise that really worked.
And kudos to Danny Elfman for not making a "Danny Elfman" score. If you would have played me the music with out telling me I never would have guessed. There is some arabic chanting that lends itself unexpectedly well. The editing and transitions were ingenious and well thought out. Where it really stood out was when the Hulk escapes an underground compound. It kept the action going and you could absorb alot at one time. However there were times of sheer grandstanding. An overly long chopper sequence flying in the desert being the prime offender. Another flaw in that stood out was establishing characterization. Which some have blamed on Bana's performance but I desagree. We needed to see a solid example of Bruce Banner's passiveness beforehand thereby making an actual need, cinematically, for the inevitable tranformation.
When the first Hulk-Out occurs in the lab, it was, comparitavely, anti-climatic. Banner is alone and it just sort of ... well, happens. In the commentary Ang Lee states that Banner first tranformation was brought on by fear and anxiety. Interesting choice, but it should have been switched with the second Hulk-Out. In that one, the stakes were raised (Betty in Danger, Bruce being provoked)and there was a need for Hulk. I got goose bumps the second time the Hulk appears and was very much aware that I did not the first time, which after forty minutes of exposition, should have happened. Flaws aside, this is a decent watchable film. But it's something you really have to be in the mood for. However lacking in charm and fun, there is a lot of cerebral themes to gnaw on. But it might too much for those looking for a staightforward adaptation of a beloved character.
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