Not Worth the Green

MOVIE REVIEW: Hulk
Emotionally distant young scientist Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) discovers he was genetically modified by his father (Nick Nolte) and deals with a repressed tragedy from his past with his love interest Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly). He also turns into a giant green monster and is chased by Betty's dad (Sam Elliott). There's also an evil corporate/government guy involved (Josh Lucas) who wants to kill the Hulk to make a weapon.

The movie has an identity crisis, trying to be a personal tragedy like The Sweet Hereafter at time, and a King Kong style monster flick at other times. If you don't look at it as an action flick it works for a while, but in the end instead of cohesing it falls apart, aimlessly runing to the unsatisfying conclusion. The film fails as an action flick due to a couple of very bad fighting sequences (Hulk vs. the Mutant Dogs and the ending battle) and the slow pace. Ang Lee's direction is another sore point. He can't settle on whether to be serious or silly. The much maligned Hulk special effects come across well; The Hulk may look CGI, but he moves and interacts with the environments realistically. Two stars, starts well and goes nowhere.