Rating: Summary: This movie was a let down for me. Review: The Hulk is a movie with dynamic special effects and far too much drama. This story steered too far away from the Hulk's original origin in order for me to enjoy it. No Rick Jones, no gamma bomb explosion. Sorry the original would have worked much better. Not all of this hub bub with his dad.This film was marketed as an action film, and what it really is, is over an hour of drama, and about 30 minutes of action. Sorry this didn't work for me. The pros: 1) The special effects and actions is top notch. 2) The scenes with the Hulk were fantastic. (there just not enough of them). 3) Sam Elliott and Jennifer Connelly did the best they could with the poor script. The cons.... 1) struggling through all the drama to see the hulk for the first time. 2) Bad story 3) where is the hulk? is this movie called Hulk or life with the Banner's? 4) some scenes were filmed so dark, it was hard to tell what was going on. (aka Hulk/ gamma dog fight scenes) Overall, the best reason to buy this DVD is you can go to the track selection and watch the great Hulk scenes, without having to struggle through all the other nonsense. This movie does not compare to Spiderman, Xmen 1 or 2, Batman, or Superman. As a whole, Daredevil was more enjoyable than this. Buy at your own risk!
Rating: Summary: Excellent Film, Good Features Review: The one thing I hate about people today is that they can't sit through a movie unless it is one big war or an insane car chase. I find it disturbing that all films must be action, or they are deemed "boring and lifeless". This is not fair, especially with "HULK". The acting is top notch and the story is great. We really get a great sense of what Bruce is feeling throughout the entire film, and Ang Lee impresses with his fascinating back story. The DVD itself is very nice, with no picture flaws at all. The features are good, but they didn't include trailers. Also, there are not enough deleted scenes.
Rating: Summary: Lifeless Review: For a movie as hyped up as this movie, you had to expect something with a little more, well, better than this lifeless, dull action piece. Ang Lee apparently wanted to make something a little more human than "Daredevil" I guess, but for the most part, there is nothing exciting here. The acting is all fairly cardboard, with the exception of a surprisingly good Nick Nolte, with all the dialogue being delivered at a muted, monosylabic tone. The directing is is mediocre, surprisingly from the usually great Lee, and the special effects are cheap at their best, fake at their worst. The one comandable thing about this movie is that the movie captures the feel of a comic better than any other comic book movie I've seen. "The Hulk" isn't so much bad as thorougly forgettable. There are worse movies out there("The matrix Revolutions" can you hear me) but far better than this one.
Rating: Summary: Lifeless, dull, silly cliche riddled, humorless disaster. Review: I have been a fan of director Ang Lee since The Ice Storm but even he cannot make sense out of one of the worst scripts in years. Traumatized child with suppressed memories grows up adopted and becomes scientist, works with former complicated girlfriend (that is trying a little to hard to act serious in this film) mad scientist father brings ruin to all he loves, cliche hardass general which happens to be father of complicated scientist girlfriend, mutant poodle, flying Hulk, really easy to hate bad corporate guy that has a personal grudge with Hulk and wants his body for science weapon or profit.... Have we not seen these characters and subplots a hundred times before. Even the tiresome Spiderman of last year had better pacing and some humor in it. This movie is a real stinker and I am shocked how kind the reviews were when it was released in the theaters. Fortunately I only rented the DVD but I found myself wondering if there was anything better on TV while I was watching this movie. Split screens for that comic book look are distracting and add nothing to this film, bad idean that unfortunately pops up like an annoying fly at a picnic. Music for the movie is very "World" sounding with driving beat and generic "Exotic" lyric free singing fails to bring up the pace. Sorry Hulk fans I don't know what you see in this one.
Rating: Summary: Couldn't even finish it. Review: The Hulk was so bad I couldn't even bring myself t finish it. After about an hr, I had enough. The trailer makes the film look so exciting, intense, and well made. However, it's a big mess. From the special effects to the acting. Eric Bana as the Hulk does a decent job, but Nick Nolte is horrendoes, and Jennifer Connelly is boring. She speaks in a whisper the whole film, and the only reason i can come up with as to why she does this, is to prove she is a serious Academy Award winning actress. The special effects are horrific. The Hulk looks so fake, and if Gollum from Lord of the Rings look real, why couldn't the Hulk. I admire Ang Lee for taking on such a project, but his comic book directing, with split screens and all are distracting. Skip the Hulk. It's a complete waste of time.
Rating: Summary: This movie makes me Ang Lee Review: Anytime I think Brett Ratner might have done a better job with a film than Ang Lee, there's a problem. I don't know what the heck movie Ang thought he was making, but this ain't the Hulk. It was suprisingly uninvolving. Everyone in the film seemed to be taking valium or something. Where's the passion? Muted. Totally bizarre in a movie about the unrepressed ID. That's what it was about, right? And it had big dogs and rock monsters or something? Even the effects were substandard. The Hulk looked fake and cartoony. Too bad this film came out *after* Two Towers' Gollum raised the CGI acting bar into the stratosphere. The Hulk is on a level well below that character, obviously an animated creature everywhere he appears. Lastly, I don't ask for much physics accuracy in my superhero movies...but when a guy swings a 120,000 pound M1 tank around by the main cannon--which would have snapped off like a toothpick--my suspension of disbelief, like fantasy tank, flies off into the distance and is smashed to flinders. The Hulk as directed by Ang Lee is misguided and bizarre.
Rating: Summary: Personally, I liked it ... Review: That said though, I TOTALLY understand where people are coming from when they say they didn't enjoy it. Universal really fumbled the ball when they tried to advertise 'Hulk' as a front -to-back action movie. It just isn't, I can't put it any more simply then that. If that's what you are expecting (or had expected) I can almost guarantee you'd come away disappointed. Ang Lee is an art-house director ('Ice Storm' 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) and that influence very clearly shows here. 'Hulk' is much more a character study of Bruce Banner then it is an action movie. The Hulk as a comic book character was always, quietly, one of the more complex characters in the Marvel universe, as opposed to the rampaging maniac that most people unfamiliar with the comic seem to think he is. Lee's choice to explore the former when most people were actually expecting the latter wound up alienating a great deal of the target audience. That's really a shame too because it's really a terrific movie. The story and plot were really well thought out. The changes that were made to the Hulk's origin made a lot of sense. The performances were all great (Nick Nolte and Sam Elliot really stole the movie). It's just too bad that so many people were (I feel) misled to expect something that they, ultimately, weren't going to get.
Rating: Summary: Not very good on the entertainment side Review: UGH, I'm pretty disappointed with this movie. I'm pretty open-minded and always give a bad movie the benefit of the doubt. The way they hyped up the hulk seemed like their target audience was kids and action buffs. The trailers only showed action sequences (mind you if you've seen the trailer, that covers all the actions sequences in the movie) so I figured I knew what I was in for. I rented this movie with the mindset of watching a fun action movie.... I got neither. I would say it was a movies for intellectuals, but it's not that either because of the convoluted story line, a 2 year old could figure it out that the movie didn't make sense. As for the story line, they had so many avenues which to expand upon and yet they barely touch on each and leave you utterly frustrated because they don't fully commit to any. Just know this, the trailer is very misleading and it does not represent what the movie is about. I think even the producers don't know what this movie is about. They tried to make it everything and came out with nothing. None of the characters are built up well, for example many of the actions driving his dad's character don't fit with his person, in a sense of being contradictory to his personality, you find yourself saying things like, "whoa, where did that come from?" Honestly if you watch this movie with the expectations of Spiderman or any of the Xmen movies, you will be sorely disappointed. Those movies had solid story lines and excellent character development with out being overly complicated. Go to this movie expecting something like A Thin Red Line and you'll be alright, both movies move in the same snails pace with way too much thought put into every sentence that is spoken.
Rating: Summary: Stop the Madness Review: How many films of the 1990s and 00s can be reviewed in one sentence: The special effects were dazzling, but the plot and acting left something to be desired? If the 1970s were the height of the humanistic film ("Whose Life Is It Anyway?," "Breaking Away," "Testament," "Harold and Maude," "Ordinary People") than 1990-2003 has to be its all-time low. So much current film is digital and excessively slick. Director Ang(st) Lee's attempt to inject the issues of child abuse and family dysfunction into its FX parade meets with clumsy results. "Spiderman" was far superior in fusing its dazzling visuals with the charisma of Kirsten Dunst and Tobey McGuire, but no actor in "Hulk" is terribly compelling in his or her role. "Hulk" vacillates between slow, sad, and baffling passages about Bruce Banner's secrets and upbringing and roid-ragingly impressive but oddly disconnected Hulk transformation and battle sequences. Eye-candy and ennui. Pass on this. Buy "Spiderman" instead.
Rating: Summary: More than just another comic book movie Review: This is not your standard super-hero movie, so be warned. It's like King Kong and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde mixed together rather than a film like Spider-Man or Daredevil. In some ways, it's similar to the first Tim Burton Batman film as it's just as much about a warped relationship between the lead characters as it is about bringing a comic book character to life on the screen. If you want a by-the-numbers comic book movie, then you might be disappointed (but certainly not during the action scenes, which are awesome)...but if you approach this movie with an open mind, you may very well find yourself really appreciating this movie more than you would other standard "super-hero" films. The editing is amazing in this film. This is probably the closest audiences will ever get to seeing a comic book "look" translated to the screen. The film attempts to mimic comic book-style framing and succeeds beyond all expectations. It's not confusing at all, and the filmmakers show an understanding of comic book storytelling and adapt it for the big screen flawlessly. The viewer is aware of the editing, but at no point does it derail the story that's being told, which is exactly the aim of the best creators in comics. The CGI work is some of the best ever seen in movies. Not only does the Hulk look realistic and well integrated into the shots, but he also emerges as a character in his own right. The work done by ILM is groundbreaking stuff. As for the performances, Eric Bana is fine as Bruce Banner as is Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross. However, the two standout performances come from veteran actors Sam Elliot (one of my favourite actors...always dependable and likeable) as Betty's father, General "Thunderbolt" Ross and Nick Nolte in a larger-than-life performance as David Banner. Nolte has been criticised by some who say that he's overacting, but he's playing a guy who is a few sandwhiches short of a picnic basket even though he's a brilliant scientist. As for the DVD presentation, I marked this down one star because of the extra features. It's not that what's on offer is not enjoyable, but when compared to what's found on other similar DVDs, this one could have been better. There are a number of featurettes, but the longest is 25 minutes (the Making Of documentary). The section about the comic book is the most disappointing. No Peter David, who wrote the book for many years and sent it sailing up the sales charts...just a predictable appearance creator Stan Lee. Surely other creators could have been interviewed...? After all, take a look at the similar and far superior comics documentary on the Daredevil DVD. A number of creators are interviewed and we see the evolution of the character throughout the years. The version on the Hulk DVD is little more than a brief overview that contains very little that is interesting or new. Some of the other featurettes repeat stuff like some comments from Danny Elfman and scenes of Ang Lee in his motion capture suit. There are very brief chats with the cast, and I would have liked to have seen more from them, particularly Eric Bana and Nick Nolte. It would've been great to have a cast commentary track, but we only get to hear Ang Lee who often pauses to let the action play out onscreen uninterrupted. Having said that, the extras that have been included are still a welcome addition to the DVD and are informative. I thoroughly recommend purchasing this film on DVD. Great film, excellent video and audio transfer, decent extras...it's well worth adding to your DVD collection.
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