Really enjoyed this look back at Ang Lee’s Hulk from The Dissolve. I must admit to having a bit of a soft spot for that film, there’s a hell of a lot wrong with it, but I remember enjoying the fact it wasn’t just mindless Michael Bay style action and spent time with the characters and their respective motivations. Even though the film didn’t achieve what it set out to do (some dodgy performances, CGI which has dated (but at the time was well received) and Nick Nolte's cloud thing). I have to embrace the fact they tried. It is refreshing when usually with this type of film the closest we get to character introspection is Megan Fox’s midriff.
Even though they get so much hate now, I'm on the record for really liking the comic book style transitions. Looking at some of it with fresh eyes today, yes they are a bit OTT and scream 'Hey this is a comic book adaptation!', but there is some cool work there and as one of the posts from The Dissolve mentions, it was at a time when you could easily do this in post-production, so is an interesting reflection of filmmakers just trying stuff with available technology.
Taking comic book panels too far?
Art of the Title actually have a nice write up of the graphic treatment in the film, which is worth a read.
Bravo to The Dissolve for taking such a deep look at this film with three seperate posts, it’s a film blog for film nuts which apart from being beutifully laid out with great typography they write with great knowledge and insight on films new and old.
At my most cynical though, I would have to agree with a lot of what Honest Trailer say about Hulk…