REVIEW
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THE HULK REVIEW
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Posted on August 2, 2004
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Another Marvel Comic was about to hit the big screen, and I couldn't wait. I remember watching the Hulk cartoon show in the late 80s, where we would find Bruce Banner having his shirt rip into shreds as he turned into the Hulk. The Hulk had the ability to jump very high and for very long. He also had the ability of crushing cars in an instant. His rage was unmatched and would only stop at the sight of his one true love, Betty Ross. Like Banner, Miss Ross was a scientist and the only one who saw Bruce as a gentle, loving man. Her father, a General, saw Bruce as a weakling, someone who wasn't man enough to be with his daughter. Little did he know that ... that very same person would turn into the Hulk.
The movie doesn't stretch too far from the original plot except in some areas. For example, in the cartoon Bruce gets attacked by gama rays in the middle of the desert, whereas in the movie he gets attacked in a lab. I only noticed a few differences from what I remember from the old TV show.
The movie was directed by Ang Lee who was also the director of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. He did a splendid job on the Hulk, and I heard that he also did many of the actions for the CG Hulk in the movie. The stars in the movie, Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly (sp.), had nothing but good things to say about him and his directorial approaches. They felt that Ang was a very creative individual. The movie used frames to show several different situations of one scene at one time. A very similar trait to what is seen in comic books. This was definitely one of the highlights of the movie. Another would have to be the amazing special effects and CG graphics. The Hulk definitely looked real, as if he were a huge wrestler painted green.
Ang Lee took a unique approach in regards to the score of the movie. He used lots of vocals and some Arabic and Indian instruments. The atmosphere created was very different from what you would expect in a super hero movie. Nonetheless, the sounds were nice to hear, even though they had nothing to do with the movie or its characters. The actors chosen for the movie did very well excpet for one, the main actor, Eric Bana. He just left me with an unsettling feeling, one which made me believe that he may not be a very good actor. But I could be wrong, seeing that he struck a deal to star in a movie alongside Brad Pitt. I guess directors find something in him that they are hiring him.
In the end, the movie was fairly enjoyable. It had good production values and also showed us a small teaser trailer of the Punisher (set to release summer 2004). The movie also did well at the box office earning around $62 million on its opening weekend.
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(Rating: B+)
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