Not so Marvel

Jeremy King|Til10 April 2012

It was only a matter of time before the most troubled of superheroes made the transition from comic star to big screen idol.

Hot on the heels of the X-Men and Spiderman, The Hulk is the latest marvel comic character to make the movies.

Under the direction of Ang Lee, who achieved critical acclaim with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, expectations were high.

But with a hardcore comic book fan base and a generation brought up on the 70s television series, The Incredible Hulk, it was always going to be hard to please everyone.

So when Lee took the decision to stick to the original comic book dimensions, and make the Hulk a staggering 15ft tall and not the 6ft 5ins height of TV actor Lou Ferrigno, he immediately alienated fans of the television series.

What's more he created this big screen version of The Hulk using a computer generated image, opening him up to a wave of criticism from fans and critics alike.

And after an opening 30 minutes, which seems to drag on, you could hear the sharpening of knives.

As the film develops the audience is treated to the meat of the film, which sees mild mannered Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) exposed to some deadly gamma rays with devastating consequences.

Every time he begins to get angry his body transforms into the 15ft green monster and this provides the most interesting and challenging part of the film as we see him struggle to come to terms with this strange behaviour and search for a cure.

And for the first few times the audience's attention is drawn to the clever way in which he makes the transition. It's only as the movie wears on, and the level of acting deteriorates, that things take a turn for the worse.

Not only does the acting of Bana and even Oscar winner Jennifer Connolly, who plays Betty Ross, leave a lot to be desired, the actual generated image of The Hulk looks particularly flimsy at an alarmingly regular rate.

None more so than when he is racing across mountains and ravines at a rate faster than the finest military fighter planes and helicopters, which begins to stretch even the boundaries of the comic book and the television series.

In fact he looks more like a character from Roger Rabbit and does nothing to detract from the somewhat questionable acting that even Nick Nolte and Sam Elliot struggle to improve.

It also deals clumsily with the underlying issue of being an outsider with which all the Marvel comic book heroes are based upon, and often sends out a confusing message.

However most criminal of all is the pathetic ending, which crudely paves the way for a sequel.

After the success of Spiderman and the two X-Men it is a major disappointment that one of the most poignant and intriguing comic book stars ever created has not been given the big screen vehicle he so badly deserves.

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