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The Hulk

Thank goodness for those stretch pants...

Ang Lee directing The Hulk is like Spike Lee directing Jason X. Like a recent irrational lawsuit - wacky.

Lee - the acclaimed director behind indie faves The Ice Storm, Sense & Sensibility and the global smash Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - seems the least likely candidate for the job. The director himself has tipped his hat to this fact as his entry into 2001?s celebrated BMW ?The Driver? series of web films capped a blistering car chase with an amusing aside to this latest project ? a quick glimpse of a Hulk Band-Aid. In that short film, Lee was as much acknowledging his critics as he was offering up an audition tape. Fans of either camp need not worry. Like those titanic dream team-ups that splashed across the comic book covers of Amazing Fantasy and Tales to Astonish, the directorial stylings of Ang Lee crash into the four-color world of Stan Lee with breathtaking results.

The Hulk tells the familiar tale of Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) ? a genetecist whose experiments into cellular regeneration hold the key to unlocking a raging secret lurking within him. After an accident floods his body with gamma radiation, Banner finds that he metamorphosizes into a mammoth hulking monster whenever his tightly bottled emotions spring a leak. The military industrial complex, led by Sam Elliot?s General Ross and Josh Charles sneering Talbot, immediately mobilize ? looking to capitalize on this new found biological weapon or ?cap? him in the process.

In print interviews, Lee has mentioned that despite his pedigree of auteur-driven character pieces (despite it?s frantic wall climbing chop socky, Crouching Tiger is essentially a tortured love story at heart) he was hell-bent on attaching himself to a big-Hollywood blockbuster ? perhaps as a greater test of his narrative prowess and the ability to expand upon his command of the cinematic language. Lee even flirted with the idea of directing T3: Rise of the Machines but had difficulty wrapping himself around a project with such firmly entrenched expectations on behalf of the audience. There were too many ground rules, embedded by Terminator series creator James Cameron, and Lee felt there wouldn?t be much room to play.

The Hulk, while certainly a recognized comic book character, didn?t carry the same box-office busting clout enjoyed by the likes of Spider-Man. For Lee, this represented the chance to grab hold of an iconic hero, redress the source material?s mythic backstory in Greek tragedy trimmings and add some much needed depth to the burgeoning superhero genre. Imagine his surprise when the high-profile teaser trailer for The Hulk played during the 2003 Super Bowl telecast ? and despite its techno razzle-dazzle illicited one recurring complaint ? reverberated throughout the Internet - The Hulk looks fake.

Certainly this film depends upon the believability of its central character. Just as Peter Jackson opted to use CGI to render a key figure, Gollum, in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Lee decided that the only way to truly capture the Hulk was to commission a synthespian - whose performance could be directed just as he would his flesh and blood actors, through close collaboration with the techie wizards at Industrial Lights and Magic. It was the right approach.

Does the Hulk appear as a natural figure in this world? No ? and nor should he. He?s a green giant that stands fifteen feet tall. Also, this is no pteranadon or other flight of fancy, but a living, breathing humanoid, and thus held up to greater scrutiny. Viewers need to approach this with a greater eye on the source materal. I sense that too many of the Hulk?s critics cite Bill Bixby?s alter-ego (played by Lou Ferrigno) in the late 70?s CBS television adaption, The Incredible Hulk. A steroid steeped lime-green lummox in a spraypainted fright wig may have represented the apex of make-up effects a quarter century ago, but it doesn?t pass muster these days. Lee?s Hulk harkens back to the comic origin and in his digitized depiction of a tank hurtling behemoth, Lee and his computer-aided collaborators have wrought real beauty out of this beast.

The Hulk is the definitive comic book movie. In addition to fully realizing the lead role, Ang Lee brings an inventive touch to the editing of the film ? using a variety of extreme-closeups, dramatic longshots, and skewed angles that work to recreate the artistic style of contemporary comic books. Lee?s greatest contribution is the frequent use of split-screen to convey multiple streams of information within a single scene. Though split-screen technology has been used before, most notably in Mike Figgis? Timecode and more recently as a narrative device on TV?s 24, Lee utilizes this design scheme to breathe unexpected life to every scene. A sequence later in the film, in which a helicopter convoy approaches a secretive military base, deep in the Mohave desert, provides a jaw-dropping example of how the most pedestrian of scenes springs to life under Lee?s deft touch. Coupled with Danny Elfman?s percussive score, his best since the original Batman, the film often plays as a masterful marriage of sight and sound.

For a comic book film, the performances are rock-solid, with each actor adeptly melding with their character?s respective archetype. Aussie Eric Bana portrays raging insecurity confidently. Although a relative newcomer to these shores, with a supporting role in Black Hawk Down and a voice credit in Finding Nemo his sole U.S. credentials, Bana earned acclaim in his homeland with his portrayal of a seething sociopath in Chopper. That performance itself was a departure from Bana?s resume ? as the dramtic performance was a first for the comedic actor (Bana was a featured player on Full Frontal - Australia?s answer to Saturday Night Live.) Bana is the perfect choice to play Banner. His anonymity with American audiences enables the viewer to invest into his role as the Everyman who suddenly becomes an Uberman.

Jennifer Connelly portrays Banner?s colleague Betsy Ross. Though the script hints at a romance gone sour, their relationship remains largely platonic and workmanlike. Connelly, with her long dark hair and haunting, emerald eyes, bolsters her beauty with brains. We believe her as a scientist ? unlike say, Denise Richards being trotted out as a ?nucular? (sic ? intentional) scientist in that lame Bond flick. Connelly is so good she even draws a compelling performance from the CGI Hulk. There are a few close-up reaction shots, as he gazes upon her visage, that are genuinely touching.

The lone factor that threatens to derail the entire picture is Nick Nolte ? who prowls through the movie in full-on wild man fervor. Nolte, looking at every moment like that unfortunate true life mug shot of himself, plays Banner?s long lost pappy ? a mad scientist responsible for his son?s repressive genes and burgeoning fate. Trailing a trio of wild dogs ? including one nasty French poodle ? Nolte hijacks every scene he is in, overacting with wild abandon. The CGI Hulk meshes more tightly with the onscreen action than Nolte does. Nolte?s character also wields a surprise later in the film that had me scratching my head trying to figure out exactly what had happened. I have heard his performance described as Shakesperean. That is an accurate assessment as he overacts the hell out of every line ? like some third rate Shakespeare in the Park actor projecting for the cheap seats.

Ang Lee?s The Hulk may not be the greatest superhero ever made (I am partial to the Tim Burton-directed Batman films) but it is a tremendouly exciting entertainment that pushes the genre into some daring new directions. There are a handful of sequences that are so well-crafted they explode beyond the confines of the screen with their overarching beauty. Additionally, Lee knows when to let loose with the fireworks and delivers a 45-minute action set-piece that caps the brewing drama with some speaker busting bombast.

In the words of our monosyllabic hero:

Hulk SMASH!!!