It's Not Easy Being Green

Yes I know it's a horribly cliched title but I don't give a fuck. It's totally appropriate for a review of Ang Lee's Hulk. I wanted to revisit this title after seeing Brokeback Mountain. This film is clearly the odd man out in Lee's otherwise impressive filmography. It's an abboration, something not entirely devoid of interest, but is not held on the same loftiness pedastal as his other films.
It follows a reasonably faithful adaption of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's comic book from the 1960's. Ang Lee and regular collaborator James Schamus have given the film a contempary setting but the flashbacks and general visual style are presented in a lurid and fanciful manner recalling cinema of the 1960's and 1970's making it more a comic book movie than most. Ang Lee's use of split screen seems clever initially, but almost never makes actual plot use of it, say in the way Brian DePalma would, instead creating a general comic book feel.
The film also presents a cornacopia of colorful visual images, typically often using green motifs, which at times is overpowering, overwhelming in an almost MTV style of toomuchness. His choice of 1.85 was a reasonably sensible one as the overlapping, multi split screens probably wouldn't have worked in 2.35, although several times he even simulates 2.35 within the 1.85 framing.
So this film is a bit of a mess visually. The writing is slightly better, with the plot sound, and only Josh Lucas' character comes across as one dimensional. The whats-behind-the-door moment was built so well during the course of the film that the reveal was incredibly anti-climatic and would have worked better with a more subtle moment. Although not up to the standards of Superman and not as good as those recent sequels, Spider-Man 2 and X-Men 2, Hulk is one of the better and more interesting recent superhero productions. Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly have a nice quiet chemistry thats not quite bland, Sam Elliot has a vulnerability to his hard-ass general that is lovely and Nick Nolte completely steals the film, appearing to play himself just released from prison. Looking uncannily like he did in the early scenes Down & Out In Beverly Hill (or his own recent mug shots), Nolte is overwhelming intense in a quiet manner until the final scenes when he appears to be doing an off-Broadway performance manner while Bana just screams. Hey, he screams well. Bana is ok but I'm worried that Chopper was a one-shot wonder for him. Everything he's done since he's looked sullen or introspective or sullen and introspective and I worry that he'll never get anything as challenging as Chopper again. Hey, he could go back to doing Ray Martin impreshinasions.
Much has been made of the poor effects in this film. In fact, I think much of the negative reaction to this film stems to the fact that a workprint was leaked early and many people saw this and not the final film, noting that it was a dud and the special effects were particularly made. Hello? Hello? Workprint nearly always means bad effects. If piracy = not giving a film a chance then I'm all against it. I saw this film three films: once in the cinema and twice on DVD and for the most part I was impressed by the effects. Not blown away. But impressed. Think about it. You're trying to convince an audience that a giant green man (which could not possibly be a guy in paint, makeup or a suit) is walking down the street in broad daylight. I think people reacted badly because a) it wasn't Lou Ferrigno or b) they were watching an unfinished workprint or c) audiences these days think they are all that and they know everything and they know bad effects shots when they see them. Christ, I'd hate for them to try and watch the original King Kong. Dennis Muren is the top effects man in his field (and he has more Oscars than most people have pairs of shoes) and if anyone could pull it off he could - he practically came out of retirement for this. They don't quite work magic but come awfully close. The mutant dog scene doesn't really work for me, it's a silly idea, but the effects work gangbusters in the dark and it gets down'n'dirty at times. The most magical action scenes for me are those "Hulk Smash" moments in the desert when Hulk is beating up tanks and helicopters. They really do feel like scenes that Jack Kirby drew. And people complained that Hulk could fly. Sheesh. Read the comics for god's sake and get some perspective.
Overall, this film rates about a B- or C+. I think my opinion of this has come down a little over the last few years, but I stand by it like I would any Ang Lee film. Something that was once said of Hitchcock I apply here: at his worst, Ang Lee is still bettter than almost anyone else working today.