Hulk (2003)

That was boring. That is the movie's reputation, and in fairness it wasn't as boring as I expected it to be. But all the trick camera angles and smash cuts can't make the movie more interesting.

To be brutally honest, it may simply be that the premise is boring. I've never liked it. Hulk is a great character. When he's with the Avengers. When he's not, it's basically army guys in the desert, which bore me to tears. That might not technically be this movie's fault.

At first I thought Sam Elliott was miscast as General Ross. I was like "It's okay for J.K. Simmons to make Jameson likable in the original Spider-Man because that doesn't hurt things." Elliott making Ross so sympathetic was a red flag (no pun intended) for me because the character is so loathsome, and is the Big Bad of the Hulk franchise. In the end it worked out okay simply because this version of Ross is NOT the Big Bad, and IS somewhat sympathetic. It's a different take than I'm used to, which is probably why Elliott was cast to begin with.

Eric Bana was pretty great as Bruce. I definitely like his take more than Edward Norton, and I think he's a little easier to relate to than Mark Ruffalo too. And Jennifer Connelly remains lovely in all she does and is my constant celebrity crush.

I remember Glen Talbot from Agents Of SHIELD, but he's far more monstrous here. He's got a bigger claim to being the army villain than Ross does.

The scene at the end between Bruce and David bugged the crap out of me. The army was monitoring the whole thing. They should have stepped in immediately once David starts brow-beating his son and trying to release the Hulk. It's narrative malpractice that they didn't. It didn't sit right with me at all. And while we're on the subject, the meeting taking place is kind of bogus too. David hardly held up his end of the bargain with Betty, and had nothing to do with Hulk being calmed down and taken in. If I were Ross, I would have told him to screw himself with that specific request.

In the credits I noticed Masi Oka (Heroes) worked on the visual effects. I checked IMDB and see that aside from being an actor he was a digital effects artist too. You learn something new every day.

It's great Stan Lee's cameo was with Lou Ferrigno. The other tribute to the TV show I noticed was the catchphrase being said at the end, in I think Spanish ("You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.").

In the end, the movie is too long, has too little action, the premise isn't great, and a lot of the writing was sloppy. I didn't much dig it. **1/2.