It's Not Easy Being Green (and Gamma Irradiated)

I saw Hulk today. I went expecting to find a mindless summer action flick. Instead, I was taken aback by the dark, often extremely disturbing elements of it. I shouldn’t be, since most of the elements showed up in the comic over th years, but I guess seeing it all on screen adds a certain emotional page that you just don’t get on the four colored page. Some scenes caused me to squirm in my seat. Without elaborating, some things hit close to home. The origin story differs much from the story. In the movie, Bruce Banner’s father is using his toddler son in illegal experiments hoping to build the perfect man. In actuality, his long term goal is to improve upon himself genetically. Without spoiling any more of the essential plot elements, Bruce’s father is an all around abusive man who brutalizes both Bruce and his mother. Bruce represses memories of this abuse (one instance especially) but it comes out after the accident that exposes him to Gamma rays. The Gamma rays trigger his father’s old experiments and turns Bruce into the Hulk. The Hulk is Bruce’s id—a personification of his subconscious rage.

The only calming effect on the Hulk is Betty Ross, played by Jennifer Connelly. Connelly is pretty much playing the same character she played in A Beautiful Mind She won an Oscar for that role, and although he Academy Awards ignores movies like this, I think her role here is just as emotionally intense and deserves at least a nod. Mercy, they gave one to a thug like Eminem. Why not to a comic book movie? Sam Elliot plays General “Thunderbolt” Ross, Betty’s estranged father (See a theme here?) who is obsessed with destroying the Hulk—until he sees how much Betty cares for Bruce. I love Sam Elliot for his westerns, but he makes just as good an old warhorse. It eminded me a lot of his character from We Were Soldiers If you liked him in that, you’ll like him in this. The best role, though, was Nick Nolte as David Banner, Bruce’s father. He played him so clinically psychotic and over the top, he was the most colorful actor. He chews up every scene he is in, especially near the end when he lays out his motivations for experimenting on Bruce. It is totally chilling that a person would do that to his own son, yet I believe he’s capable of it because he’s such a fruitcake.

The star is, of course, the Hulk. The CGI was fantastic—miles above Jar Jar Binks. My favorite scene is the battle with the tanks. There are several laugh out lius moments as he destroys them one at a time. The scene where the Hulk attacks San Francisco is also impressive.

I’ll admit some things had me scratching my head. The mutated poodles, for one. Yes. Mutated poodles. The ending is also largely symbolic and open to interpretation. I’ll have to chew it over before I pass judgment on it. Regardless, I think Hulk is definitely worth seeing, but it is certainly not a movie fit for kids like Spiderman was.

(I must announce as an addendum that I did not, at any point, pick nits about deviations from the comics, as I have in other movies based on comics I’ve seen. I’m a purist, but I’m improving.).