The Marvel Movies: Hulk (2003)

Ang Lee's "Hulk" is undeniably a spectacular failure. It underwhelmed at the box office, took a drastic departure from established Hulk lore and employed odd, gimmicky camera tricks to go along with its muddled, confusing and watered-down narrative.

So what's not to love, right?

Well, it's an interesting piece of Marvel movie history — one sure to be forgotten because of 2008's more action-oriented "The Incredible Hulk," starring Edward Norton, but it's still an interesting, even entertaining film when watched in the right context.

Looking back, choosing arthouse director Ang Lee — who did films like "The Ice Storm" and would go on to make "Brokeback Mountain" and "Lust, Caution" — might not have been the best idea in the world for a tentpole summer blockbuster. You certainly can't argue that Lee didn't give his all, but his sensibilities aren't geared so much toward the Hulk's often mindless destruction.

Lee focused on the psychology of Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) and gave him a convoluted origin involving his father (Nick Nolte), a government scientist who experimented on himself and then inadvertently passed along contaminated genes to his son. Along the way, Dad's boss (Sam Elliott) put a stop to his work, leading to some kind of disaster. Or something.

Cut to years later, Bruce is known as Bruce Krenzler and is a scientist of his own, coincidentally working with Pop's old boss's daughter, Betty (Jennifer Connelly). Bruce had been adopted at some point and his long-lost dad returns and is now insane, working as his office's janitor. Get my point here? This ain't no Bill Bixby, you-wouldn't-like-me-when-I'm-angry simplicity here.

And as it turns out, Bruce's exposure to gamma radiation is caused by a combination of his genetic deformities and the nanomites he's working with ... ah, just forget it.

Point is, it takes quite awhile before we even see the Hulk, and when we do it's often fun, but the Hulk is made into an indestructible man. Harming him only makes him more angry, which in this film makes him larger. At one point, he grows to about 12 feet tall.

There are also the much-maligned "Hulk Dogs," which I actually liked. In the hands of Nolte's madness, though, they are just one more silly aspect of the film that end up not working.

There are plenty of great moments in the film, to be fair. The film's sprawling shoulda-been climax was outstanding, with the Hulk bounding around the desert, fighting off jets and tanks and finally ending up in the middle of San Francisco.

Elliott and Josh Lucas are tremendous villains as well, with Elliott playing Hulk's nemesis, General "Thunderbolt" Ross, and Lucas playing Talbot, who has plans for his career and personal life of which Banner is standing in the way.

The comic-book-panel camera shots are really inspired, though they eventually become distracting — moreso given the complexity of the plot. When we are able to just take in the movie, it's really fun to see the shifting perspectives. When we're trying to piece together the labyrinthine relationships between everyone and discern what's going on, it doesn't work.

And then we get the film's ending, which is among the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in a mainstream blockbuster-type movie. The scene starts with two characters sitting in chairs on an airport runway in between giant jet engines. One character (OK, it's Bruce) is strapped to a chair, the other is ranting about God-knows-what, before biting a giant electrical cable and turning into a cloud of electricity. Bruce becomes the Hulk and fights the electricity cloud in a lake. Somehow, the scene is actually more ridiculous than I'm describing.

It was all just too much for a "Hulk" film, which should have been an exercise in simplicity. We all pretty much know the story: Bring it to life with gusto, give characters to care about, a little "Hulk Smash," and we'd all be happy.

Ang Lee just overdosed us on crazy, and we couldn't handle it.

Next Time: Marvel decides we still haven't been "Punished" enough.

Previous Marvel Movie Entries

Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Destroyer (1984) Red Sonja (1985) Howard the Duck (1986) The Punisher (1989) Captain America (1990) The Fantastic Four (1994) Blade (1998) X-Men (2000) Blade II (2002) Spider-Man (2002) Daredevil (2003) X2: X-Men United (2003)