You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Bored

Hulk

Much of what’s been written about Hulk is true: It’s boring, lead Eric Bana gives a lifeless performance, the titular CGI creature looks more like a rubber ball than several hundred pounds of flesh and bone, and the script has all the sharpness and bite of flat soda. But there is a more fundamental problem with the project: the source material.

Bana certainly hurts the picture with his wide-eyed Gary Cole-as-Mike Brady style, but the basic premise of the Hulk story is inconsistent and painfully dull. The Hulk supposedly has no self-control, yet his rage is exceptionally selective; he only smashes things and people that deserve it, and he goes all soft whenever Jennifer Connelly is around. This is a major cop-out, denying the dual character the darkness it needs to be interesting and resonant: the complete loss of control, resulting in the destruction of everything in his path, and the humanity to later regret the damage he’s caused. Bruce Banner/Hulk should be no different and no more noble than a repentant but still-using drug addict. Instead he’s a Boy Scout bore.

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