Hulk is the most misunderstood superhero film of its era and one of the most daring. Ang Lee's 2003 adaptation is not the film that audiences expecting a conventional action blockbuster went to see, and the gap between expectation and delivery is the primary reason for its divisive reception. What Lee made is a Freudian family drama about repressed rage and the cost of emotional suppression, a film that uses the Hulk as a metaphor for the violence that unprocessed trauma produces. Intellectually serious and narratively uneven in equal measure.
At a Glance
Director: Ang Lee
Runtime: 138 minutes
Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte, Josh Lucas
Release: 2003
Critics Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, ambitious and uneven)
Audience Rating: ★★ (2/5 stars, divisive)
Review Breakdown
Plot
Bruce Banner, a scientist whose father conducted illegal genetic experiments on himself before Bruce's birth, is exposed to a massive dose of gamma radiation that triggers a transformation into a creature of enormous strength whenever his anger reaches a critical threshold. His father David resurfaces after decades of absence, and the film's central concern becomes the relationship between Bruce's repressed emotional life and the Hulk's uncontrolled rage. The plot is the film's strongest element in its first two acts, a drama of real depth that uses the superhero framework to explore the relationship between childhood trauma and adult dysfunction with a seriousness the genre had not previously attempted. The introduction of David Banner as a shape-shifting villain is the film's most consequential narrative failure, abandoning the more compelling concerns of the preceding film for a confrontation that resolves nothing and satisfies no one.
Characters
Eric Bana's Bruce Banner is the film's greatest achievement, a portrayal of emotional suppression and damage that gives the character a depth and specificity that more action-focused interpretations have not always managed. Bana plays Bruce's stillness and his disconnection from his own emotional life with a conviction and naturalism that makes the character feel entirely real. Jennifer Connelly's Betty Ross is the film's most fully realised supporting character, a woman of intelligence and emotional courage whose relationship with Bruce is handled with a complexity that makes her the film's most sympathetic presence. Nick Nolte's David Banner is the film's most polarising performance, either a committed and unsettling piece of character work or a collection of actorly tics that overwhelms the character's function. Sam Elliott's General Ross is the film's most conventionally effective performance, a figure of authority whose opposition to the Hulk is rooted in a comprehensible if misguided logic.
Tone
Lee pitches the film as a drama filtered through the visual language of comic books, and the approach is more successful than its reception suggested. The split-screen and panel-transition techniques give the film a visual identity entirely distinct from any other superhero film of its era. The film's quieter sequences, in which Bruce and Betty's relationship and Bruce's inner state are developed with patience and specificity, are its most effective. The action sequences are the film's weakest element, staged with a visual reach that the CGI technology of 2003 could not fully support.
Meaning / Themes
The film's central concern is the relationship between repressed emotion and destructive behaviour. The Hulk as a manifestation of Bruce's suppressed rage, and the suggestion that his inability to process his childhood trauma is the source of both his power and his danger, is the film's most coherent thematic statement. The father-son dynamic, in which David Banner's own repressed violence is the origin of Bruce's condition, gives the film a generational dimension that deepens the central theme considerably.
Direction
Lee's direction is the film's most distinctive and most debated element, a work of invention that uses the visual language of comic books with a consistency and confidence that no other filmmaker has attempted at this scale. The split-screen sequences are its most formally interesting passages, though the action scenes are the directorial weakness, staged with a reach that the available technology could not match. Danny Elfman's score is one of the most underrated in the superhero genre, a brooding and atmospheric piece of work that suits the film's register far better than a more conventionally heroic score would have.
Cultural Reception
Hulk received mixed reviews on its release and was a moderate commercial success, performing below expectations for a major superhero release. Critics were divided between those who admired Lee's invention and seriousness and those who found the film inert and narratively incoherent. It is now regarded as one of the genre's most interesting misfires, a film that attempted something genuinely different with superhero material and paid the price for its refusal to deliver conventional entertainment. Its reputation has improved with time, and Bana's performance is increasingly recognised as one of the most undervalued in the genre's history.
Final Verdict: A more daring and more interesting film than its reputation suggests, and a less satisfying one than its intentions deserve. Eric Bana's Bruce Banner is the most nuanced portrayal of the character the screen has produced, Jennifer Connelly's Betty Ross is the film's most compelling presence, and Ang Lee's formal invention gives the film a visual identity unlike any other superhero film of its era. The final confrontation is a significant failure, Nolte's performance is polarising, and the CGI has dated badly. But Hulk is a film that tried to do something different with superhero material, and that attempt deserves more credit than it has received.