‘Hulk" is an emotionally anesthetized tale that’s short on plot and heavy on hushed brooding, the somber tone undermined by a silly-looking 800-pound computer-animated gorilla.
"Hulk" is cleverly crafted, with a distracting flurry of split screens, pictures-within-pictures and other fanciful framing techniques to simulate comic-book panels.
Despite that, the tone is oppressively serious, befitting Greek or Shakespearean tragedy more than a tale ripped from the pages of Marvel Comics.
The movie opens with a promising montage of science and ego gone wrong as David Banner (Nolte), a researcher for the military, experiments on himself, passes on a genetic alteration to son Bruce (Bana), then goes ballistic when the government tries to shut down his work.
Decades later, having been raised by foster parents, Bruce unknowingly follows his father, conducting gene research with ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (Connelly). Bruce survives an accidental dose of fatal radiation, which reacts with his genetic abnormality, turning him into a non-jolly green giant whenever he gets mad.
By coincidence, Bruce’s shadowy dad shows up about the same time, with hazy motives.
Also by coincidence, Betty’s father is Gen. "Thunderbolt" Ross (Sam Elliott), the same honcho who derailed David Banner’s career and who now wants to harness the power of Bruce’s beastly alter-ego, which grows larger the angrier he gets.
But Ross heads a crack unit whose mandate seems to be: "Oops, we unleashed the monster again. Let’s fire more bullets and missiles so it’ll get bigger and madder."
From there on, the movie is mostly turgid visuals as the Hulk races through the desert or leaps from mountain peak to peak pursued by heavy armaments.
And watching the great ape mutely reflect on his sorry circumstances held far more pathos than listening to Bruce and his associates drone on about the dichotomy of the "superficial shell" of humanity vs. the savage inside.
"Hulk" tips the scales at well over two hours of inner-demon hand-wringing punctuated by a few endless, repetitive action sequences featuring a big fat cartoon character: He’s Roger Rabbit without the slapstick.
The computer-generated Hulk is true to the look of the comic books, but other superhero adaptations have made wise concessions on characters’ appearances to more credibly morph them to cinematic mold. •