Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Hulk (2003)

1/22/2022

Hulk (2003) - Lee's fantastic comics adaptation drama

♥♥♥♥

+ Best San Francisco Movie of the Year + Best Superhero Movie of the Year + Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 38.92 mil. $ range

The green giant dominates this poster for Ang Lee's Hulk

Bruce Banner is a scientist who in a failed experiment is exposed to gamma radiation, which triggers a latent mutant gene in his body, put there by his crazed scientist father, so that the result is mad green giant persona the Hulk!

Hulk is written by John Turman (Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)), Michael France (The Punisher (2004)) and James Schamus (Pushing Hands/Tui shou (1991)), based on the Hulk comics (1962-) created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and directed by Taiwanese master filmmaker Ang Lee (Pushing Hands).

Lee makes an ambitious leap with Hulk, one of the most memorable of the modern superhero movies. Banner/Hulk is no conventional hero; rather a tragic hero if a hero at all. Lee thematizes the rage through several characters, - at least four, - and has success with a comics-inspired editing scheme, using split screen, among other things, as well as an impressive fusion of CGI and practical special effects.

The good performances from Eric Bana (Eric (1997, TV-series)) and Nick Nolte (Teachers (1984)) culminate in a father-son fight in the end, which underscores the film's drama, which is of Shakespearean heights. Hulk is ravishing entertainment.

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Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 137 mil. $

Box office: 245.2 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.78 times its cost)

[Hulk premiered 17 June (USA) and runs 138 minutes. Development of the film began in 1990. In 1998 Universal Pictures put the film in hiatus with reportedly 20 mil. $ already spent on numerous scripts as well as computer animation and prosthetics work. Jennifer Connelly (Little Children (2006)) was paid 1.5 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from March - August 2002 in Utah, Arizona, California, including in San Francisco, and in Hawaii. 2.1 mil. $ were spent on a 30 second TV ad during the Super Bowl. The film opened #1 to a 62.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#5) and grossed 132.1 mil. $ (53.9 % of the total gross.) The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 13.9 mil. $ (5.7 %) and Mexico with 11.6 mil. $ (4.7 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It earned an additional 61.2 mil. $ in DVD sales in 2003 in North America. Sequel plans were snuffed out due to the film's disappointing performance; a reboot was instead made with The Incredible Hulk (2008). Lee returned with The Hire (2003, segment) and theatrically with Brokeback Mountain (2005). Bana returned in Troy (2004). Hulk is fresh at 62 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

1/22/2022

Hulk (2003) - Lee's fantastic comics adaptation drama

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

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