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Hulk June 26, 2003 |
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June has seen the release of two media behemoths that deal with pain and uncontrollable anger. On June 5th Metallica released its first studio album in six years (to great acclaim and sales of nearly half a million copies moved) called “St. Anger”, a pure metal album full of angst and emotion from a sober James Hetfield. Now two weeks later comes Ang Lee’s highly anticipated mega-blockbuster ($62.6 million in its opening weekend) of Stan Lee’s cherished comic “Hulk” and the lines between record and movie (while not specifically linked in any way) can be found readily available to anyone willing to confront such screaming, pounding, full throttle anger of mass marketing and medium rejuvenation. The two much touted releases are both, in their own ways, about the past, fear and redemption and letting out the fury buried within that past. In “Hulk” scientist Bruce Banner is haunted by memories of a childhood tragedy but can’t quite remember what they are and through radiation mutation vents his frustrations beneath a nine-foot wall of green muscles and a piercing roar. On “St. Anger” Hetfield and his co-writer/drummer Lars Ulrich spew through 11 songs and 75 minutes of biting cynicism and repulsion on themselves, their drinking days, the near collapse of the band and possibly, on “The Unnamed Feeling” like on the classic “Fade To Black”, about suicide. “I feel my world shake, like an earthquake, it’s hard to see clear, is it me? Is it fear?” rails Hetfield on the albums title track, a line that, if the green monster of “Hulk” could speak would surely be his anthem. For when he unleashes his rage the earth does quake, literally, and he wakes up in a haze of ripped clothes and unknown fears about what just possibly happened to him. “Hulk” is the latest in a string of big budget, moneymaking, potential franchise adaptations of the comics of the legendary Stan Lee. Like “X-Men”, “Spider-Man”, and “Daredevil” it stays true to the original story (from what I’ve heard anyway, personally I know very little about the history of comic books, except that they are very popular and consist of a fan base of both geeks and non-geeks, a universal literature?) and springs to life with some labored action, state-of-the-art special effects and darker than usual story arches. That the film seems to drag on in long stretches of inactivity is counterbalanced by an amusing score by the prolific Danny Elfman, reminiscent of his work for Tim Burton, and the exuberant direction of Lee (Ang not Stan; no relation). Direction that includes split screens to have the effect of a filmed comic book (with camera movements from left to right), a slick editing technique, special effects and one expensive, expressive computer generated green giant. Like money itself the Hulk is green, powerful and causes ripples in the world that can be felt all the way to the White House. The storyline is at once complex and familiar and concerns two families, the Banner’s and the Ross family who both live (circa 1966) on an Army test base in the Arizona desert. David Banner is the Army’s scientist, concerned with regeneration in starfish and potentially in humans, which gives Ross a bad feeling. Banner is banished from the base and in a crazed bit of overreaction sets off a radioactive bomb on the base. All this excitement comes during young Bruce’s formative childhood, one marred by the fact that his father has begun his human study on, you guessed it, his own son, which 30 years down the road will come out in fits of beastly anger. The adult Bruce is played by Eric Bana. He is an actor who has an appropriate blend of nerd (to be a scientist), charm (to play love interest to a gorgeous Jennifer Connelly) and rage (you know what for). The father Banner comes back too, after years of secret confinement to indulge in his son’s recently discovered monstrous disorder. He is portrayed by Nick Nolte in a scene-stealing performance as a jaded scientist, a white shaggy bearded nut who possibly loved his son but let the mad scientist gig get in the way. Here is a tip to all you scientist dads, if you want a good relationship with your son don’t inject them with radioactive dye when they are babies, it’ll just blow up in your face when they are 38 and have a pesky habit of turning into big, angry monsters. David Banner is obviously like Dr. Frankenstein in the way he cherishes his creation, but unlike old Frank, Banner wants the power for himself rather than to stop it. “I tried to improve,” he says to his tormented son as a form of explanation, “improve upon limitations within myself.” Nolte, an actor used to playing grizzled guys like this, turns the crazy, selfish, flawed David Banner into the films most memorable character. The other story in “Hulk” concerning elders and offspring, troubled pasts, and potential redemptions is the background to Betty Ross (Connelly) and her father (Sam Elliott), the man who took down David Banner and now guns for the son’s alter ego. She is in love with Bruce and reaches out to her estranged daddy to help with his infliction, but he only sees the Hulk as a threat, both to her and national security. He can hardly explain his position to her except that there would be a lot of interest in harvesting the DNA to reproduce the Hulk’s special brand of, shall we say, enforcement, to be used for military troops. I’d say forget the army, we’re already tops in battle, why not suit the big guy up in a Knicks uniform, they could use a good center who has the ability to leap three mountains at a time, let alone a Shaq or a Yao Ming. Eventually, at nearly 140 minutes the film begins to seriously lag. When not in over-animated destructive action sequences (an early scene where we see the Hulk destroying the lab is reminiscent, in a way, to Charles Foster Kane destroying Susan Alexander’s stateroom at the end of “Citizen Kane”) or telling the painful background family stories the movie suffers that usual blockbuster exposition malaise. The climax doesn’t help much either, instead of carrying out the stories darker elements or thought-provoking relationships we get a heavy-handed explosion that leaves the opening for a possible sequel. That being said, the action scenes are mostly exhilarating. A scene where the Hulk battles (at night, in distracting darkness) three genetically mutated dogs, ala King Kong and the dinosaurs, is both surreal and exciting. Betty Ross looks on in compassion to the Hulk after the fight, but frankly I’d be a bit more freaked out after witnessing a green monster (her boyfriend no less) rip in half a rapid, six-foot tall French poodle. Now much has been made of the monster (apparently patterned on motions by Ang Lee himself) that it looks fake and moves in herks and jerks. It’s a step up from Lou Ferrigno in green makeup at least, and while it is certainly an animated creation anybody who actually quibbles about it is unrealistic himself. I mean seriously, cut the guy some slack, like Frank Sinatra and Kermit the Frog sang, it’s not easy being green. Ang Lee has dealt with this kind of story before, though never quite as extravagant. The troubled family aspect showed up in his Taiwanese gem “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman” and in his best American film “The Ice Storm”, while he showed himself a cool hand at action with the international success “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Lee emulates some classic tales here, “King Kong” and “Beauty and the Beast” spring to mind immediately while essentially this is a veiled version of Mary Shelly’s gothic masterpiece “Frankenstein”. I wished however that the Hulk could speak like the monster in “Frankenstein” who spins, first person, his sad and eloquent tale of botched creation and heartbreak. But instead the Hulk just expresses with his eyes before bashing in tanks and leaping like a bouncing ball. Ultimately Bruce Banner’s tale in “Hulk” is two-fold. He is a victim of his father’s neglect and ridiculously bad judgment and has to live with his curse but he at times acts like he enjoys it. “It was like being born, coming up for air…like a dream with rage, power and freedom,” he recants to Betty Ross and if this is so, how can we rate him? Anti-hero or tormented creature? “Not only do I not know the answer,” sings Hetfield on “My World”, “I don’t even know what the question is.” Exactly, as the beast may say if he could sing Metallica, “it’s my world, you can’t have it.” “Hulk” is playing at the Movie-Plex 59. by Adam Suraf
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