Saturday, June 28, 2003

The Hulk (IMDB) (Netflix)
Ang Lee's take on the poster child for anger management therapy, with Eric Bana as the super anti-hero, Jennifer Connelly reprising her Beautiful Mind role as deeply troubled guy's love interest, plus Sam Elliott as her over-protective dad with strategic weapons capability and Nick Nolte as the Hulk's long-lost father.

This movie highlights Ang Lee's strength as a director of character-driven films like The Ice Storm and Sense & Sensibility. Here, he seems determined to make this the grown-ups' comic book flick, and through some strong writing and restrained performances by Bana and Connelly, wins on that score, but at the risk of not meshing with the necessary high-key action sequences. He's also undermined by a reach-exceeding-its-grasp CGI challenge in rendering a large green humanoid that doesn't have a costume or distracting superpowers. It doesn't quite work, so the film seems bi-polar; a heartfelt, high-quality troubled romance butted up against a kill-the-misunderstood-monster flick.

Worth seeing for the nearly fulfilled ambition.