The Hulk

Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliot, Nick Nolte
Directed by: Ang Lee
Rating: I Like It

Let me start this off by saying that this movie in no way lives up to the new Marvel films.  If you put this up against Iron Man, Thor, or The Avengers, it pales in comparison.  Even the weakest of The Avengers lead in films, which in my opinion is The Incredible Hulk, was significantly better.  If you put this movie up against other similar action movies, it holds its ground pretty well.  For that matter, you can put it up against some other comic book movies, and it does OK.  Ghost Rider, anyone?

I actually watched this for two reasons.  One, I couldn't remember much about it in general.  I know that everyone talks down about it, and honestly, I did, too, but that was mainly based off  a mixture of what little bit I could remember from seeing it and what others said about it.  Two, I have of course been watching all of the more recent Marvel films, and I wanted to go back and compare.  I found out that it's really not as bad as we make it out to be; it's just not as good as it could've been.

The Good:

• Bana did a pretty good job with what he had to work with, and since I always mention casting, I had to mention him.  Nolte also did a pretty good job as a character that, to my knowledge, has never really shown up in Hulk Lore before, David Banner, Bruce's father.  
• On a whole other level of casting, I think Elliot was an awesome General Ross.  He not only looks like him, but he does the angry side of things really well.  In comparison, William Hurt did a pretty good job in the more recent Hulk film, but Elliot was better in my opinion.  
• I love that in one scene we actually see Hulk get larger due to increased anger.  It's a fact that Hulk's power grows with his anger, so, the angrier he gets, the more powerful he becomes.  I liked that we got to see that on a physical level.  
• The one thing I did remember from my first time watching the film several years ago was the fight scene between Hulk and the mutated dogs.  I liked it then, and I liked it upon a recent second viewing.  Although, I'm not sure why they went with one of the dogs being a poodle.  

The Bad: 

• Hulk didn't look terrible in this film, but it really bugged me that in several scenes you can see his body jiggle.  He's not fat, and muscle doesn't jiggle like that.  
• It's cool to play around with continuity to some extent.  In fact, I really like that the Marvel films have their own, separate continuity from the comics.  It allows new fans to keep up.  However, you can only play with a character's back story so much.  I feel like they went a little overboard with the Hulk's mythos here.  
• The movie focused a little too much on the science involved instead of getting us to buy into the characters.  I think that's why the movie failed over all: we didn't care enough about anyone in the movie.  

The Ugly: 

• Why keep the purple pants?  Of all the things to keep from Hulk history, Lee chooses to go with the purple pants.  

I probably wouldn't recommend going back to check this one out now.  You've got so many better comic book flicks from which to choose.  It was a decent movie for its time, though.  If you watch all the other ones that are out and want a frame of reference for where some of it all really started, it might be worth your time.  It wouldn't be as bad as going back to watch the original Fantastic 4 movie.  That's not the Chris Evans Fantastic 4 either.  We're going back even further for that one.