eric bana, jennifer connelly,
nick nolte, sam elliott,
josh lucas
unfashionable observations rating: C+
Or so I thought. I read this interview with Ang Lee, and he said that this was going to be the summer blockbuster for brainiacs. I think he was referring to those few scenes in which the camera focuses on plants and other natural things for about a minute, slowing down the pace and forcing us to ponder "why?" in some attempt at pseudo-philosophy. It sort of reminded me of the movie The Thin Red Line, which has a bunch of shots of the grass blowing in the wind. Could it be any more contrived? I don't think you can force an audience to become philosophical. I thought the closeups of nature established a mood of contemplativeness. But philosophy isn't about mood. It's about ideas. The closeups would have been fine if there were also ideas behind them.
The movie is also 2 hours long. It moves rather slowly. I kept yawning during the movie. That's never good.
Finally, the performances left something to be desired. Connelly was radiant and beautiful as usual, but her role was very cliched and limited. Nothing original there. I also think Nick Nolte was miscast as Bruce Banner's father. I never got the feeling that he actually loved his son. His character was supposed to be all about how he loves his son but is conflicted because of the potential (both for himself and Bruce). The love was never there in Nolte's performance. And I could never stop looking at Sam Elliott's mustache (Betty's father). It was disconcertingly crooked. What hair stylist did these people use? Finally, Eric Bana was unspectacular as Bruce Banner. Very little passion in his acting. There was more expression and feeling in the CGI Hulk than in Eric Bana.
Stick to X2. I'd give Ang Lee's The Hulk a C+.
