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Entertainment
"Hulk"
THERE IS a brooding quality to the 1960s-inspired story of a man with inner demons which surface when he is enraged. If the idea of unleashing the beast within man is the thought that comes to one's mind, you can ignore the moral implications.
This is just a story of an experiment gone wrong. So horribly wrong that it dwells more on the truncated relationship of a father and son and on the hazards of pushing beyond the limits of science and experimentation. Adapted from the Marvel comic character, "Hulk", created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the film, directed by Ang Lee, tries to tell the tale in a modern era dominated by the likes of "The Matrix" and the "Terminator".
Especially when they have to make the monster-like creature seem plausible. In fact that was one fear nit-picking movie watchers would have had. A computer-generated character to look convincing, takes a great deal of creativity.
The attempts to create some novelty out of something from a comic book begins right at the start when the background score leaps out from the visuals. Then the director gives the entire venture a comic book feel by splitting the screen into two, three or even four panels which blend most of the time and give the viewers a different experience — plenty of zooms and editing patterns provide this Paramount Pictures' movie, released by Vijayraj Films, its character. But then while it is novel initially, it later starts distracting, proving that too much of anything can be counter productive.
"Hulk" is about power and its irresponsible use. Dr. David Banner (Nick Nolte) is a brilliant scientist who is seeking to find the solution to greater strength in a human being and elements of regeneration. But does so without the approval of the US Army, concerned as it is with security issues. But he continues regardless and uses himself to experiment on. In the meantime his wife is pregnant and David is worried about the impact of all his experiments on the baby. But a seemingly normal, healthy baby is born displaying no aberrations that could cause worry.
An accident that kills his mother leads to David being arrested by the army and Bruce Banner grows up thinking he is an orphan. As a young adult, Bruce turns to science like his father and displays the same genius. While working on a project to see if nanotechnology would allow wounds to heal instantly, he is hit by gamma radiation.
His ex-girl friend Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly) is with him while this happens. Events then lead to the dormant creature in Bruce to surface and create havoc. Betty, by the way, happens to be the daughter of General Ross, the man who put David away. As the Hulk goes stomping around, his father arrives to tell him his birthright and the truth about him. And so begins the parallel dilemma of a splintered relationship along with the psychological questions about transformations and changes.
CHITRA MAHESH
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