10 Movies That Tried To Subvert Expectations (But Still Sucked)
4. Hulk
2008's Iron Man was technically the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and yet, weirdly enough, there is an earlier movie that sort of starts the whole thing off. That is 2003's Hulk, directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana as the titular superhero; 2008's The Incredible Hulk, part of the MCU, was conceived as a follow-up to this and indeed starts with Bruce Banner hiding out in South America, which is where he is at the end of the 2003 film.
Hulk (2003) was rejected by most fans and has been largely forgotten now, which is probably for the best. Lee approached the film differently to many superhero blockbusters, describing it as a Greek Tragedy, and while this was a great idea, this was ultimately an artistic failure. A noble failure, sure, but a failure all the same.
Hulk lacks the good storytelling to realize the movie's emotional potential, and it's also another picture that seems to be at war with itself. It can't decide if it wants to be serious or a more light-hearted work a la Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and it fails at both.
The character drama is tedious, there's little in the way of warmth or humour, and on the rare occasions that the film does actually decide to deliver on some action, these set-pieces are forgettable and undermined by awful CGI. In the end, this movie is just... really, really boring.