The un-credible ‘Hulk’

Eric Bana stars as Bruce Banner, a research scientist who has a

predisposition to hulking out -- a tendency he inherited from his

homicidal father, David Banner (Nick Nolte). Bruce’s father conducted

medical regeneration experiments on himself prior to fathering Bruce,

and murdering Bruce’s mother. Thus, Bruce was raised in an adoptive

family and as an adult, is a research scientist like his father. .

Bruce befriends a fellow scientist, Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly),

whose father, General Ross (Sam Elliot) just happened to be the man

who imprisoned Bruce’s forgotten father. In a fluke lab accident,

Bruce is bombarded with gamma radiation and an experimental

nano-technology that, like a light switch, turns on Bruce’s Hulking

abilities.

Josh Lucas plays Glenn Talbott, a caricature-rich researcher who

wishes to profit from Bruce’s abilities. Meanwhile, Bruce’s father,

released from prison, infiltrates Bruce’s lab posing as a janitor in

order to eventually siphon away some of his son’s hidden power.

Director Ang Lee (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) messes with

the comic mythos and attempts some artistic cinematography which

mostly comes up empty. The screenplay by James Schamus, John Turman

and Michael France, comes away sounding like it was written by three

different people with three different visions. The dialogue is beyond

stale, falling short of that which you might actually find in a comic

book. Lee spends more than two hours getting us through the origin of

the “Hulk.”

It seemed like we didn’t get to see the Hulk until half way

through the movie. When we did it was in the dark, as if the

filmmakers didn’t want us to see him for reasons other than

story-related. When we finally do see the Hulk, the CGI effects that

created him are actually well done. In fact, the Hulk’s “acting”

outshines that of Bana who is bland and not up to the task, and

Connelly, who is misused and mismatched.

When the film ended, a part of me was waiting for it to begin

while the rest of me was glad it was over.

Lee’s vision of using split screens and hard cuts to simulate a

comic book, fail miserably. In comic books, each box of art furthers

the story line. Not so in this film. Here, you can look forward to

seeing not one, but four simultaneous film angles of a helicopter

flying. Wow. There may be truth in the thought that when a director

begins to get creative with his editing that it is only to cover up

what lacks in his material. I wish I could say something good about

Josh Lucas or Sam Elliot’s performances, but they are unfortunate

casualties of the poor script. Unless you are fans of the “Hulk,” or

made a brief appearance as an Atheon Security Officer in a scene

where the Hulk is encased in latex foam (as did I - shameless plug),

I would not recommend this film. If you wait to rent it, you can at

least pause it and nap midway through the film as I wanted to.

* RAY BUFFER, 33, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.

‘Hulk’ attempts

to do too much

Rarely does a movie collapse under the weight of its own ambition

with as much blind faith as Ang Lee’s “Hulk.” Long considered to be

one of the most versatile directors in Hollywood, the genre-busting

Lee has finally hit a creative wall. His new film is about as

pretentious and self-indulgent as a film can possibly hope to be.

It’s not that Lee’s talent is a fluke, many of his films are

near-flawless classics -- “Sense and Sensibility,” “Crouching Tiger,

Hidden Dragon” and “The Ice Storm” to name a few -- it’s simply that

his directorial choices are so misguided that what has resulted is an

abysmal embarrassment to all involved.

Based on the Marvel comic, “The Incredible Hulk,” the film

chronicles the story of Bruce Banner (Eric Bana, “Black Hawk Down”),

an emotionally bottled-up scientist whose accidental exposure to

intense gamma rays causes him to transform into a Herculean mass of

green muscles every time his temper unleashes itself. His co-worker

and sometimes girlfriend, Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly, an Oscar

winner for “A Beautiful Mind”), has become frustrated by her attempts

to unlock the hidden depths of the emotionally stunted Banner, who

himself has no idea what the source of his compressed rage is

catalyzed by. Once his accident happens, however, his fury manifests

itself in a very overtly aggressive fashion -- of the 10-feet tall,

1,000-pound variety.

“Hulk” desperately wants to be many different things, but doesn’t

settle on any one of them as a theme. It wants to be a dark

father/son story involving Bruce’s deranged scientist father (Nick

Nolte, looking very much like his recent mug shot, which is no

coincidence since he’d just come from the set when he was pulled over

by police), who reveals some nefarious reasons for why Bruce survived

an accident that should’ve killed him instantly. The film also wants

to be a love story where Betty’s affections can harness the Hulk’s

rage with more competence than guns and missiles. Last but not least,

“Hulk” throws in a little “Frankenstein” in for good measure -- the

obvious homage being every shot where the Hulk considers his

reflections in water.

Lee has stuffed so much overt symbolism into this two-hour film

that he cuts his foot off at every single turn. Lee has always been

artfully subtle in his past work, but here the dialogue is cartoonish

and loaded with obvious double meaning. “Bruce, you have something

special inside you just waiting to get out.” Things of this nature. I

understand this is a movie that is based on a comic and is therefore

trying to recreate that style. “Spider-Man” pulled that off to great

effect but “Hulk” also wants to portray an emotionally convincing

love story between Bana and Connelly. These are two completely

opposing tones that do not coexist well within the context of this

world. It can’t be “The Ice Storm” emotionally and “Spider-Man”

stylistically. It doesn’t work.

* ALLEN MacDONALD, 29, is working toward his master’s in

screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

‘Alex & Emma’ fails to charms audience

Alex has 30 days to finish his novel or his loan shark will finish

him. Alex hires Emma, a court stenographer, to help transcribe and

type the book. When he starts dictating the book to Emma the story

comes alive on screen. The movie becomes a story within a story about

falling love with the right person.

But, Emma doesn’t always agree with Alex. When that happens the

audience is pulled into the writer and typist bantering about what

should happen next and what needs to be fixed. The result quickly

becomes repetitious as Alex first tells part of his story, then Emma

repeats what he said before describing her version, which causes Alex

to repeat what he originally said to defend his opinion.

Luke Wilson (“Old School”) and Kate Hudson (“10 Ways to Lose a

Guy”) have arrived at a point in their careers where repeatedly

playing the boy/girl next door has finally worn out it’s welcome. The

“Alex & Emma” characters are undeveloped. He lives like a messy

teenager in a run-down penthouse loft. She has mousey brown hair and

takes the bus. That’s really all the audience knows about them. Their

creative debates about the novel become the vehicle through which

they fall in love with each other. The phrase “talking heads” evolves

to “talky heads.”

Director Rob Reiner’s “Sleepless in Seattle” shows proof he has

the talent to make entertaining love stories. Unfortunately Rob

failed to apply his talents in making this movie. His cameo role in

the film as Alex’s publisher is one of the better moments of the

movie, but not enough to recommend seeing the film.

Some people fall asleep reading a book. See “Alex & Emma” and fall

asleep watching people talk about a book.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 39, produces commercial videos and

documentaries.