#96 The Hulk

Let's get this out of the way right now; The Hulk isn't a superhero movie, it's a monster movie and a damn good one at that. Ang Lee and James Shamus inject this summer action film with an unexpectedly rich personal story. At heart, The Hulk is about Bruce Banners' attempts to deal with his past, come to terms with his father and learn to open up to the love of his life, Betty Ross. It just so happens that Bruce Banner turns into a humungous, rampaging green beast when the weight of his troubles become too much to bear. I love The Hulk because it's not afraid to "slow down" the story with vital personal narrative. The action is invigorating and inventive, particularly a sequence that takes the Hulk to the "top of the world," then punctuates his fall with a flash into Banner's subconscious. A fascinating, muliti-image editing technique evokes not only the rigid panel form of the traditional comic book, but also the unrestrained form of cartoon innovator Will Eisner and those he inspired like Paul Chadwick. Only a filmmaker as sharp as Ang Lee could pull off an action film this well. Don't listen to the criticisms of The Hulk's effects; they are spectacular and nearly seamless. Only the beast's menacing, green figure sticks out like a sore thumb - and that because it is supposed to.