Just another big-budget summer release

Hulk

Director: Ang Lee

Cast: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Josh Lucas, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Paul Kersey

Cert: 12.

The Beast is abroad.

Pity he didn't take a decent script with him for those moments when he gets miffed, turns green and ruins another decent shirt. Hulk he is - for the film the definite article from the original cult TV series has been dropped. University courses are being prepared to discuss - and blockbuster feature film it just about is.

Bruce Banner, a mild-mannered professor (Bana) is conducting experiments, as mild-mannered professors are wont to do, when it all goes wrong. He is turned, thanks to previous experiments on him by his father, into the large green gentleman - well, leave aside the gentle - who appears when Banner gets into a tizzy. He is accompanied by his girlfriend, Betty Ross (Connelly, standing about with the look of an actress who wonders when she'll be called upon to make her contribution), and Nolte as Banner, the Elder.

The TV series was much better for at least it provided us with passable storylines we could get engaged in and possibly even enjoy. Here, Lee - he who brought us Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Ride With the Devil (all wonderful and classy films) - goes back to the origins of the Marvel Comics, which spawned the Hulk, and there are times when we prepare ourselves for something more interesting, more challenging, than we ultimately get. Hulk promises much and delivers so little.

Well, it has its moments, as it should, but somehow they turn out to be less gripping than we had hoped. Elliott, the pursuer of the Hulk, is at his best OTT form and Nolte; well, Nolte walks off with the film.

Bana, a largely unknown actor, is a disappointment as Banner, largely because he lacks any emotional depth.

Still, it's only another big-budget summer release and it will do well. It's just that it could have done so much better.

Star Rating: 2/5