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Hulk
Directed by
Ang Lee
PG-13
2003
2h 18m
Action
,
Adventure
,
and more
5.6
63%
29%
Add to Watchlist
Bruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, suffers a lab accident that makes him transform into a raging, giant green monster when angered, making him a target of forces seeking to abuse his power.
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Where to Watch Hulk
Amazon Video
Buy $14.99
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Apple TV
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Rent $3.99
Fandango At Home
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+4 more
Cast of Hulk
Eric Bana
Bruce Banner
Jennifer Connelly
Betty Ross
Sam Elliott
Ross
Josh Lucas
Talbot
Nick Nolte
Father
Paul Kersey
Young David Banner
Todd Tesen
Young Ross
Cara Buono
Edith Banner
Kevin Rankin
Harper
Celia Weston
Mrs. Krenzler
Mike Erwin
Teenage Bruce Banner
Lou Ferrigno
Security Guard
Stan Lee
Security Guard
Regi Davis
Security Guard
Craig Damon
Security Guard
Geoffrey Scott
President
Regina McKee Redwing
National Security Advisor
Daniel Dae Kim
Aide
Daniella Kuhn
Edith's Friend
Michael Kronenberg
Bruce Banner as Child
David Kronenberg
Bruce Banner as Child
Rhiannon Leigh Wryn
Betty Ross as Child
Lou Richards
Pediatrician
Jenn Gotzon Chandler
Waitress
Louanne Kelley
Delivery Doctor
Toni Kallen
Delivery Nurse
Paul Kim Jr.
Officer
John Littlefield
Security NCO
Lorenzo Callender
Soldier
Todd Lee Coralli
Soldier
Johnny Kastl
Soldier
Eric Ware
Soldier
Jesse Corti
Colonel
Rob Swanson
Colonel
Mark Atteberry
Technician
Eva Burkley
Technician
Rondda Holeman
Technician
John A. Maraffi
Technician
Michael Papajohn
Technician
David St. Pierre
Technician
Boni Yanagisawa
Technician
David Sutherland
Tank Commander
Sean Mahon
Comanche Pilot
Brett Thacher
Comanche Pilot
Kirk B.R. Woller
Comanche Pilot
Randy Neville
F-22 Pilot
John Prosky
Atheon Technician
Amir Faraj
Boy
Ricardo Aguilar
Boy's Father
Victor Rivers
Paramilitary
Lyndon Karp
Davey
Rick Avery
Soldier (uncredited)
Thomas Rosales Jr.
Rebel Militant (uncredited)
Ray Buffer
Atheon Captain (uncredited)
Andy Arness
Soldier (uncredited)
Rory J. Aylward
Second Tank Commander (uncredited)
Cougar Zank
Army Military / SWAT (uncredited)
Hulk Ratings & Reviews
Tanalien
February 15, 2025
What happens when an established auteur takes on a big-budget comic book movie? In 2003, Universal Pictures owned the film rights for the Hulk character. For their first film with the green monster, they bet on a Taiwanese director Ang Lee, who was famous for excellent dramas and had just captivated audiences with a martial-arts film in 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Before the box-office-dominating Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) established a winning template with 2008’s Iron Man, comic book films were more experimental. In the early 2000s, no one had mixed the right components together yet. Perhaps, the studio thought, Lee could repeat his success and make us a huge return on our money. As an experiment, Hulk is a fascinating film to view. How often is an auteur allowed to exert complete control on a superhero story? This is much rarer in the age of the Marvel Studio machine, which has centralized creative control away from the director, yet still produced many, multi-billion-dollar-successes. The title sequence of 2003’s Hulk sets a wildly different tone than any film in the MCU. When the Universal logo glides across the screen, composer Danny Elfman commands the sound stage with a complex musical rendition combining Eastern instruments, a female voice, throat singing, and a traditional Hollywood symphony orchestra. For a superhero film, it is incredibly bold and unexpected. With Hulk, Lee’s passion for exploring drama is evident in the first thirty minutes of the film. The story begins with a Freudian analysis of Bruce Banner, documenting his formational days as a child living with his birth parents. His father (Nick Nolte) is a military researcher, trying to generate advanced bio-soldiers. In his quest for a working prototype, he mutates his genes and passes the mutations hereditarily onto Bruce. For a time, the father experiments on his own son. But when Bruce’s father realizes his mistake, he descends even further into the moral abyss: he tries to kill his own son. This is the harrowing incident that defines Bruce. Using this event as a story pillar, Hulk veers into more evil territory than most MCU films. The visual style feels compelling - adapting the look of comic book panels on a page to the frame of a movie. Divided by lines, multiple camera shots take up sections of the frame. Lee extends these sequences to let us be our own editor, picking which perspective to focus on. Moreover, the montage editing of some sequences is brilliant - delivering information about multiple characters in a way that feels effortless to watch. But that was not what generated the negative reactions from fans. To this day, what audiences disliked about Hulk is the verboseness and the tone. For a comic-book film, Hulk is unusually talky. Lee spends the first thirty minutes of the film establishing character - all the chess pieces that he will orchestrate. There are two fathers, two adult children, and one, very annoying Department of Defense (DoD) advisor. The fathers hate each other, while their two adult children love each other and have daddy issues. I am convinced that the DoD advisor was only in the script so Bruce Banner could say the line, “You’re making me angry,” and become the Hulk. The lovers, Bruce and Betty, are portrayed by Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly. The actors have a chemistry that is off-the-charts, as their characters would say. When they first meet onscreen in a research lab, my heart was pumping! For his part, Lee seems intent on making Hulk into modern-day Shakespeare - a twisted version of Romeo and Juliet where Romeo is a misunderstood superhuman monster. Sadly, the potential between these two gets smothered in a story that is less about romance - and more about resolving horrible fatherly relationships. Hulk’s script has a heavy emphasis on character dynamics: the lovers try to resist the pull of their fathers, while the fathers try to enforce boundaries between them. Most of the film’s dramatic impulses come from scenes when these characters meet for the first time - and talk. Every conversation is filled with conflict and seriousness; there’s hardly a moment of leisure. After so much, it begins to feel stale. Moreover, all this talking sidelines the reason people bought a ticket: to see “Hulk Smash!” The initial, thirty-minute set-up of character drama makes the moments when the Hulk appears somewhat out-of-place. In drama, we are conditioned to the idea that when conflicts begin with words, they are resolved with words. When the Hulk starts to fight genetically-mutated dogs, destroy a government installation, and jump through Arches National Park, it is initially fun - but structurally out-of-sync with what we should expect. As movie clips, those sequences are cool to show off. As scenes in a larger story, they are merely showcases of computer generated imagery that are peripheral to the story that Lee cares about. It feels like Ang Lee wanted to explore the torment of the Hulk - the blessing and the curse that comes with having your identity split between a man and a green monster. To do that, he also had to include the climactic superhero versus supervillain battle to conclude the film, which has become a comic-book film tradition. The final confrontation is spectacular in how much it condenses what people hate about Hulk and what makes it interesting. All four main characters are finally in the same room, making eye contact. The fathers feel true hatred for each other. Betty is trying to repair her fatherly relationship, while Bruce has given up on his own. Years ago, when Bruce’s father tried to kill him with a knife, his mother tried to save him. To protect him, she fell on the knife herself. This is the first time that father and son have met since Bruce learned this. As we have come to expect in Hulk, the face-off between Bruce and his father begins with an extended conversation. Bruce curses at his father, who is fascinated by the monster inside of his son. His father, mutated by the same serum, wants to absorb the Hulk - and replace the military that sidelined him and take over the world. “Excuse me,” you may have said out loud. Yes, that dramatic turn came out of left field in the film. Throughout Hulk, there is an extended commentary on the post-9/11 United States of America - with all of the tanks, choppers, and missiles sent at the Hulk, the Eastern instruments and female voice in Elfman’s score, and a desert setting for much of the film. The neighborhood where Bruce grew up is abandoned and crumbling. When the Hulk visits it later, it is blown up in a missile attack - making him angrier. The final dialogue by Bruce’s father makes this intention explicit. The filmmakers allude to an idea that American militarization in the Middle East will create uncontrollable monsters like the Hulk. 2008’s Iron Man used this Middle East insurgency idea as a key piece of Tony Stark’s character arc when Stark, a weapons manufacturer, is attacked by his own weapons. In the climactic conversation, Bruce cries, repeatedly refuses his father’s touch, and screams after listening to his father’s diatribe. The whole ordeal is uncomfortable and melodramatic - and a wild scene for any comic-book film. If I was a parent at the time of release, I’d think twice before taking my kids to a screening. When the dialogue fails to deliver a conclusion, Bruce’s father shrugs his shoulders (like Ang Lee probably did watching the edit), says, “All right, I’ll go,” and bites an electrical cable. He is squirming while he absorbs the heavy electrical current. Then, Bruce lets out a massive “AHHHH!” and becomes the Hulk, while his Father has mutated into an electrical beast. Thus the battle begins. In many ways, Hulk is the antithesis of the superhero template that the MCU developed. There is no camaraderie between the characters; they are constantly in conflict. The only positivity in the film is a romance with too little screen time. When the film is so irritatingly self-serious, the audience can sense that they won’t get the emotional catharsis they want. I found myself getting impatient with the dialogue. The Hulk is one of the hardest comic-book characters to adapt to a solo-film because Bruce’s inner battle with the Hulk is hard to depict in a compelling way. Bruce is a reactive protagonist, not a man in control of his destiny. Stuff happens to him, not because of him. When the guy gets angry, he breaks stuff. What is dramatically interesting about that? There is one thing: how could Bruce eradicate the virus in his cells and truly destroy the Hulk? What if Bruce and the Hulk are not friends - who wins that battle of identity? That may have been the sequel to this film, which Universal Studios did not bet on. Luckily, Hulk was not the last word on the film version of the character. Nine years later, the MCU cracked the code on the Hulk in 2012’s The Avengers: Surround him with a superhero ensemble like in the best comic-book storylines. When the Hulk has the push and pull of other superheroes who make him truly vulnerable, that is the space where his character thrives. Shown only as a ensemble member, Mark Ruffalo’s version of the Hulk has a compelling arc, even though he never had a solo film. Hulk was a huge swing that resulted in an uneven film. The visual style was excellent, but the serious script felt odd in the universe it needed to create. Given its clear departures from established comic-book film traditions, it is hard to be extremely disappointed. Ang Lee’s film was an prototype, trying to bridge an Oscar-winning drama with superhero-sized action. The clashing elements showed future filmmakers what not to do with the comic-book genre - since no one has attempted to follow in the dramatic footsteps of Hulk. Can you imagine if 2008’s Iron Man had the same tone? Neither can I.
Common Sense Media
Nell Minow
The Hulk lacks personality; not a great movie.
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
A comic-book movie for adults, that, while it finally flies wide of its intended 'classic' mark, is shockingly ambitious in nearly everything it attempts, whether it actually succeeds or not.
Decent Films
Steven D. Greydanus
Not the best or most exciting of comic-book movies, but the most thoughtful and one of the most interesting virtuoso split-screen work evokes comic-book panel layouts.
Premiere Magazine
Peter Debruge
Where The Hulk excels is in Schamus and Lee's almost academic attempt to reinvent the superhero movie according to the rules of its source material.
In These Times
Joshua Rothkopf
I ask you: Is this not the correct way, the honorable way, for a studio to spend $150 million of its summer capital? Universal said The Hulk, and Lee heard something else, perhaps a story of dysfunctional families torn apart by ambition.
Newsweek
David Ansen
Where so many comic-book movies feel as disposable as Kleenex, the passionate, uncynical "Hulk" stamps itself into your memory. Lee's movies are built to last.
UGO
Keith Uhlich
Lee and Schamus try on film genres like The Silence of the Lambs' Buffalo Bill tries on human skin.
Chicago Reader
J. R. Jones
[An] enjoyable summer behemoth.
Observer
Andrew Sarris
An interesting effort to give one of the staples of mass entertainment something extra in the way of insight and feeling.
Observer
Rex Reed
Big, dopey and crammed with special effects that take the breath away.
New York Magazine/Vulture
Peter Rainer
Despite the profusion of computer-generated effects, which rousingly bring the green guy to life, I often felt, for better and for worse, that I was watching a comic-book movie reconceived as a piece of serious mythmaking.
Slate
David Edelstein
Unlike your average comic-book blockbuster, The Hulk isn't a bad cartoon. It's a bad modern Greek tragedy.
Orlando Sentinel
Jay Boyar
A fascinating, if flawed, extravaganza.
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Are comic books art? Maybe, but this leaden, pretentious flick about Marvel Comics' big green id, from the overrated Ang Lee, is just schlock art for the NPR set.
USA Today
Mike Clark
Lee tries to spruce it all up with heavy use of split-screen, which is sometimes clever and sometimes distracting. But nothing can distract us from the overriding reality that too much of Hulk is a sulk.
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
A thinking person's movie with precious little for anyone to think about, except for a green giant smashing things.
Seattle Times
Mark Rahner
An arty-farty super-hero flick.
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
The filmmakers said it was going to be smart -- really smart -- like all of Lee's movies. Instead, it's big, dumb and fun.
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
This messy, disappointing, self-important and utterly humorless version of the Marvel comic book character may be the toughest flick with a green protagonist to sit through since The Grinch.
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