For a little while now, I've been thinking about running
an occasional series here on my blog looking at films which you could describe
as 'Heroic Failures'; by that I mean films which were in some (or a lot) of
ways disappointing - but at the same time have elements which are still greatly
laudable. I'm talking about films which aspired to break out of genre or
creative boundaries, but didn't quite manage it; or films that tried to evoke a
different era or genre in a new or reverent way, but couldn't pull it off.
HEROIC FAILURES:
ANG LEE'S 'HULK' (2003)
To kick this off I'm going to write about one of the
'black sheep' of the recent Super-hero/Comic Book adaptations - Ang Lee's 2003
'Hulk'. Although a reasonably sized hit at the Box Office when it was
released, audiences didn't seem to warm to it, and since then a lot of negativity
has grown up around it. A lot of people's problems about it are
understandable; firstly, there is a long build up to finally revealing the
titular monster, in fact it is reasonable to say there isn't as much of the
Hulk in this film as people would assume or expect. Secondly, I'm not
sure if the film's leads are miscast, but Eric Bana's Bruce Banner and Jennifer Connelly's Betty Ross aren't particularly easy to warm to; while Bana does
brooding and angst well, it's not quite enough to get audiences invested in to
the tragedy of the character. Finally, the final act of the film is
pretty anti-climactic, thanks to a villain that doesn't particularly feel
threatening or consequential, beyond the fact that he's Banner's father.
While it made sense to include a version of comic villain 'Absorbing Man', I
think comic fans were underwhelmed by the portrayal in this film, as well as
the lack of an impressive show-down between the two. I think audiences
would have appreciated a longer and more spectacular battle between the two,
instead of the brief scene where Banner lets his father take his powers before
he appears to be nuked out of existence...
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| A bitter confrontation between an estranged father and son is not how most people would expect or want a comic book superhero movie to conclude..! |
I will happily admit this film is flawed, but at the same
time I can't help but admire it - because this is a film which had great
ambition, even if it didn't succeed. To start with, I really applaud the
studio's choice of Ang Lee to direct this film. At the time, and even
now, a lot of people expressed uncertainty of his suitability, being best known
for art-house films rather than big-budget blockbusters. But prior to
Hulk he had just directed the Oscar Winning Chinese Martial Arts Action Epic
'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', and the under-rated American Civil War film
'Ride with the Devil'. Both of these films combine spectacle, whether it
is action or beautifully realised period and location detail, with a strong
attention to character. Both films
feature characters who are marked by conflicting desires that they try to keep
buried and hidden from others. Hiring Lee shows that the producers were
taking the source material seriously and treating it with respect, paying
particular attention to the psychological aspects of the character. And I
think Lee had fun making this movie - whilst there is a seriousness to it (some
would argue too much), at times he lets his hair down - during one scene there
is a playful nod to one of the most memorable scenes in 'Crouching
Tiger'. Lee also acknowledges the materials' comic book origins by
incorporating shots featuring multiple 'panels' in some scenes; this is
something that, again, a few people didn't take too - I think you can argue
reasonably that in trying to evoke comic book layouts the film undermines it's
serious, dramatic approach. However I think it shows the respect that Lee
has for the source material on an artistic level - there is something special
about the way comics lay out the panels to tell the story, and I believe Lee
wanted to acknowledge and capture some of that.
 |
| The 'Hulk-dogs' aren't an entirely successful idea, but they do lead to a particularly fun moment in the film, if you're familiar with Lee's other films... |
The film itself is a hybrid, of sorts - a psychological drama
with comic book action, married together with a kind of 'monster movie' ethos. Seeing as the film was released by Universal,
built on the success of its productions of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf-man
during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this makes perfect sense. And yet it is possible to see the problems
with this, angsty drama is a strange bed-fellow to a big green monster smashing
things; it works at some points, but does create an uneven tone at others. But I still can't help but admire that the
film attempted to do this at all - compare this to Marvel Studio's first
attempt with the character, 2008's 'The Incredible Hulk', which is a straight-forward
comic book action flick, but in some ways is uninvolving because of a relative
lack of psychological characterisation.
Thankfully, with 2012's 'Avengers Assemble' the studio finally nailed
the portrayal of this signature character on the big screen. Having said that, Ang Lee's version of the
titular monster is no disaster - impressively realised by CGI, it resembles the
actor playing his alter-ego (something that 'The Incredible Hulk' didn't, and I
found to be a bit jarring, to be honest), and succeeds in being quite emotive
and expressive. Clearly, almost a decade
later the technology available to film makers to realise a character like Hulk
has improved exponentially, so Lee's version is always going to pale in
comparison with the Avenger's version; but considering when it was made, it is
an effectively realised character.
 |
| The CGI realisation of the Hulk wasn't too bad by 2003's standards, and at least it looked like the actor playing Bruce Banner! |
Even though the characterisation doesn't quite hit the
mark, you can't fault the cast assembled by the studio - another indication of
how seriously the studio took this film.
You have heavy hitting award winning or nominated actors like Sam Elliott,
Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly, and in the lead, Eric Bana, an up-and-coming
actor who had garnered great reviews for performances in films such as 'Chopper'
and 'Black Hawk Down'. In retrospect
their portrayals of their characters weren't quite sympathetic enough, but if
you wanted to make a thoughtful drama, with elements of inter-familial
conflict, then at the time you couldn't have picked a stronger cast. In fact, if I had to pick, I'd say I
preferred Elliott's General Thaddeus Ross to William Hurt's (who kind of looks
a bit lost behind those eyebrows and that moustache!) - though whether we're likely to see that
character again in a future Marvel movie is yet to be seen; but if they decide
to do a Hulk spin-off, comic fans will know that there's potential for this..!
Another element for which I don't think this film gets
the credit it deserves is its score, composed by none other than Danny Elfman. If you wanted to summarise Elfman's work,
perhaps unfairly you could say that he's the guy who scores Tim Burton and
Superhero films. No doubt because he
composed such an iconic score for Burton's 'Batman', for a while he was the
go-to composer for Hollywood big screen comic adaptations: following Batman he
was tasked with scoring 'Dick Tracy', 'Darkman' (alright, it's not based on a comic
but it's clearly inspired by superhero comics!), and Sam Raimi's (so far, superior) Spider-man. One of the things
about his work, up to this point, is that he had developed a clear and
identifiable signature sound, as epitomised on his scores for several Tim
Burton films. This is no bad thing, but
it always perks my interest when a musician, whether it's a group or if they're
writing for film scores, push themselves and step beyond the areas they're most
associated with and add new elements to their sound. Although it might sound like a
back-compliment, I think 'Hulk' is one of Elfman's best scores because it
sounds so little like many of his previous scores. There are elements that he had rarely
incorporated before then, such as ethnic/world music instruments, and the
result is a score that is as brooding and mysterious as his previous works, but
in a different way; less gothic, more ethnic!
Although it is flawed, I do feel that Ang Lee's 'Hulk' is
unfairly maligned by a lot of people. It aims high, but doesn't quite achieve what
it clearly sets out to; but it takes the source material seriously and treats
it with respect. I think the biggest
problem is that it just wasn't the Hulk movie people wanted - although I don't
think anyone REALLY knew what sort of Hulk movie they wanted, until they saw
'Avengers Assemble'! But there's still
plenty to like about this film, even if it is one that you merely 'admire',
rather than 'enjoy'. Besides, you not
only get a fun cameo from Stan Lee, but also one from the TV Hulk, Lou Ferrigno. And seeing as he used to make me hide behind
the sofa as a child, I wouldn't want to argue with him about it..!
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