REVIEW With due respect, 'Hulk' works on all levels

The film's got a love story, great special effects and an illustrious cast.
By MILAN PAURICH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
One of the brainiest and most ambitious comics-derived feature films to date, "Hulk" makes a suitably spectacular showcase for director Ang Lee's unparalleled range and versatility.
The Taiwanese-born Lee, who previously triumphed in such far-flung locations as Victorian England ("Sense and Sensibility"), Civil War-era America ("Ride With the Devil"), 1970s Long Island ("The Ice Storm"), and imperial China ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), certainly wasn't the most obvious choice to tackle Stan Lee's legendary Marvel Comics creation.
Would Lee -- used to working on penny-pinching budgets and with prestigious literary properties -- get swallowed up by the heavy computer-generated imagery demands of a $100 million-plus Hollywood mega-movie, or rise to the occasion by incorporating his indie savvy into the mix?
Why it works
The major reason that "Hulk" works as well as it does is because nobody involved with the production condescends to (or winks at) their pulpy source material. Not Lee, not longtime collaborator James Schamus, and certainly not the illustrious cast who treat the material as though it were Jane Austen or Rick Moody. Lee and Schamus find enough psychological and philosophical meat on their superhero's bones to launch a thousand Ph.D dissertations.
Fortunately, deep-dish themes, copious introspection and unexpectedly thoughtful characterizations don't prevent "Hulk" from being a popcorn-friendly, all-ages entertainment. While the movie's primary demographic remains male comic book fans from ages 8 to 88, a "King Kong"-like love story at the center could make this summer's hottest date bait as well.
Bruce Banner (Aussie Eric Bana), a rising young scientist in Berkeley's nuclear biotechnology department, is on the verge of a breakthrough -- and in the throes of a break-up -- as the film opens. Just as Bruce's experiments in immediate animal cell regeneration are finally hitting pay dirt, his comely research partner, Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly), gives the emotionally distant hunk his walking papers.
After a deadly lab accident and the unwelcome reappearance of his long-absent and possibly psychotic dad (Nick Nolte), Bruce soon discovers that he can assume the form of a ferocious green giant if suitably provoked. The first to experience Bruce's new alter ego in full-throttle wrath is corporate slimeball Glenn Talbot (Josh Lucas from "Sweet Home Alabama") who's been sniffing around the biotech facilities. Soon, the Hulk is running amok, and it's up to the military, led by Betty's trigger-happy five-star General father (Sam Elliot), to take him down.
Memorable moment
I got a particular kick out of watching Bruce's feet expand when he "Hulks" out, and the sequence where Hulk leapfrogs, "Crouching Tiger"-like, across the majestic rock formations of southern Utah could become the new standard-bearer for computer-generated imagery.
As terrific as the Industrial Light and Magic effects' work is, it's the performances that seal the deal. Bana deserves to catapult to the Russell Crowe-Mel Gibson league of Down Under superstars; veterans Nolte and Elliott outdo each other in the thespian fireworks department; and Lucas makes a terrifically hissable Yuppie villain. Even the usually wooden Connelly (playing the Fay Wray role to Bruce/Hulk's Kong) managed to erase my painful memories of her frightening Demi Moore impersonation in "A Beautiful Mind."
Of course, the biggest round of applause goes to Lee himself. Lee's dazzling, truly innovative use of split-screen techniques -- with moving frames to simulate actual comic-book panels -- should earn him invitations to every sci-fi convention around the world.
Speaking as a long-time Lee admirer, I can't wait to see where this remarkably prolific filmmaker takes us next.
XWrite Milan Paurich at milanpaurich@aol.com.