Hulk

Hulk is fresh and innovative in its details, but it’s inconsistent as a whole. As the minutes pass, its large number of excellent (not just action) scenes and praiseworthy psychological dimension are transformed into a dramaturgically unbalanced and muddled mishmash. The second half of the film would need some relief from the “family drama” and to let the brilliant action and adventure go full throttle. Then it would have been a hell of a movie. The action scenes in the desert are outstanding. (07/08/2003)

What, five stars? For the boredom? Are you able to see properly? You do! I think this Hulk is perfect. Ang Lee probably figured that since he was making a comic book film, he wanted it to look like one... So he turned the canvas into comic book pages. He divides the image into frames and boxes, with the characters missing only bubbles with written texts above their heads. Lee's next feat is to turn a comic book that is all about fighting on paper (90% of Hulk’s stories) into an almost psychological film, a father and son drama, a description of the tragedy of a family. The scenes, dialogues and so on are well thought out, you can think about them, it's not just a dull chewing of the text. And when it comes to the action, it's spectacular and imaginative (the tank throw and dogfight lead the way). What more do you want? Me personally, nothing. One of the best comic book adaptations. Why, you ask? Precisely because it's different. (06/18/2009)

A family drama and a comic book story – do they even go together? Yes, if a capable director takes it on, which Ang Lee undoubtedly is. Ironically, I enjoyed the much criticized first "action lacking" half the most. Thanks to the imaginative direction, the clever editing and the interesting division of the image into multiple windows, I was not bored for a moment. My enthusiasm waned a bit during the botched scene with the mutated dogs, but the subsequent moments in the Nevada desert satisfied my libido again. The tank demolition scene in particular was awesome. During the lengthy dialogue between father and son at the end, boredom began to take over, but certainly not fucking boredom, as one unnamed critic stupidly wrote. Oh, and one more thing, Hulk’s purple shorts were really nasty :) (10/11/2003)

In the confrontation with the flood of television and film production, it is necessary to weigh every minute, and one friend puts forward the theory that if the film does not interest him within five minutes, it is not worth watching. I broke this rule and gave the Hulk a whole thirty-five minutes, but he didn't offer me much for it. He simply didn't impress me with anything, maybe except for the charm of young Connelly, and that's a bit too little. Too slow start and dialogues overly psychologizing the comic story were not right for me. I cannot evaluate the whole movie, but from what I have seen, I wouldn't give the Hulk more than 40% for the overall impression... (05/06/2007)

Instead of proper psychology, we get a lot of verbal filler, and instead of exciting action, we only get digital ridiculousness in the desert. Ang Lee wanted to take the untrodden path, but he took a wrong turn with this film because it is simply impossible to carry a nearly two-and-a-half-hour colossus only with conversation. The formal games (editing, split-screen) get stereotypically boring after a while and don't suit the film at all. It's as if someone was adding their own psychedelic insertions to it in Lee’s editing room at night. The cast is excellent, and Elfman's ethnic-themed soundtrack is very nice, yet this whole farce still takes a downward turn given that the main villain doesn't show up until ten minutes before the end... in a comic book movie! Oops! (07/15/2007)