In fact, Hulk's story here is very close to what is seen in comics, especially Crossroads. Child abuse is very present in Bruce Banner's infancy.

I learned this is actually more accurate to the comics than other interpretations

Ang Lee had said that he was trying to convert a comic book into a movie quite literally. Hence the black borders, and the funky transitions. He was taking comic book pages and "animating" them.

“I took everything that was dear to me and transformed it into nothing more than a memory” is a fucking banger of a line

“You think you can live with it!? Take it! TAKE IT ALLLLLL!” That part was fucking epic

I think some of the writing and performances in this are highly underrated ngl. The film has its problems but it’s very emotionally impactful. Bruce’s childhood trauma from the comics and general psychology is represented really well here

I grew up watching this Hulk, the one we have today is nothing compared to this one! If you missed it at the end, his father died when that missile hit the water bubble. This is the closest we have to the comic version.

I love Danny Elfmans score for Hulk it's so epic and unsettling

I hate that everyone else skips this masterpiece 😤

It’s a shame the MCU never had the guts to tackle Banner’s awful childhood. Wouldn’t that mean, going forward in the MCU as more Hulks are created, there would be a huge plot hole regarding why Banner was the only one who lost control when he turned into Hulk? As the comics and this movie indicate, the Hulk persona was always there; the gamma radiation accident just gave it form. I know the MCU has some ownership problems regarding the Hulk character, but I still think the tragic aspect of his origin could have still been neatly depicted. Instead of resolving Banner’s conflict with the Hulk offscreen, why not make it a subplot in Endgame? Why not make this childhood trauma the key to how Banner finally makes peace with the Hulk? And the end result, imo, should have been a new version of Hulk that was neither Banner nor Hulk. Professor Hulk should have had all the brains and coherence of Banner while possessing Hulk’s love of smashing and fighting when necessary.

Story wise this version of Bruce Banner /Hulk is most comic accurate Hulk was not created during the Gamma Radiation, Hulk was with Bruce Banner since childhood his angry split personality(like Moon Knight) created due to his abusive Father , That Gamma accident just made that hidden personality which is Hulk out And That's why Bruce Banner's Hulk can't control himself when he turns but other Hulk like She Hulk and more can control themselves , In the MCU, I think this same story is applied to Hulk. It's just that they hadn't shown it or I think the same incident had happened in the past with Bruce Banner in the MCU

hulk from 2003 was for people who read comics, if someone know hulk from mcu they will not understand this movie. and this reaction showed this

Fun fact: originally Incredible Hulk was meant to be a sequel to this, that's why he starts out in self exile. Except Edward Norton rewrote the script (as he does). If that didn't happen, this movie would be in the MCU.

I love the part when bruce is screaming in agony before he first turns, like we get the visions of his past childhood trauma and the acting is sooooo good i cant even begin to explain it.

I enjoyed how Hulk's speed and leaping abilities are highlighted in this film. Plus, Jennifer Conley, who played Betty, played the voice of "Suit Lady" in Peter Parker's Iron Spider suit in Spiderman: Homecoming. She's also married to the actor who plays Vision. 😉

I LOVE THIS VERSION OF HULK😭

His Dad takes the role in this movie as the absorbing man, simplest way to explain it is that he absorbed too much energy and what not and destroyed himself.

25:12 now that's impressive, that jump covered an entire mile but he was in the air for a mere 8 seconds,so he basically travelled over 450 miles an hour, that part where you see him run at full sprint, you were right to say that he's fast coz he's literally running at 300 miles an hour

I have always loved this movie. It’s my favorite live action Hulk film. It’s a deep art house character study with a Hulk skin.

Nice reaction - IMO this is one of the very best superhero movies - first of all, it avoids this adolescent cartoon good vs evil dynamic completely; everything is shades of grey - also, the movie isn’t tied down by its genre packaging - it’s like an arthouse movie more interested in exploring its themes than in serving its plot packaging - it explores how Bruce and Betty have been shaped by the trauma of being born to these warring Storm Giant fathers, who are framed on a mythic scale, and Nolte is one of the greatest comic book villains - his David Banner has a Shakespearean power and complexity - and Betty has HUGE agency here - she’s actually the film’s real protagonist, and the film is shaped by her own changing relationship w her father as she reacts to Bruce; Connelly is actually the one carrying this film, and everything is framed in her perspective, so I think it’s ahead of its time in terms of female characters - the film is about Betty, not Bruce - we’re so used to the world of comic books that we forget that Betty’s reaction here is exactly how someone would react in real life - any sane person encountering a Hulk like this would obviously realize they’re out of their depth and contact some kind of authority - Betty also cares about Bruce, so she wants some kind of assurance that Bruce would be cared for, so she’s forced to contact her father, as a high placed insider who’d have at least some control over how Bruce’s case is handled - this is how such a scenario would play out in the real world - yes, the film examines each character closely, but there’s no obvious point of identification for us - the film leaves us free to respond to each character in our own way, again, more like an arthouse drama than a commercial tent-pole spectacle - IMO Bana is the best Bruce - remember, at that point he was only known for being a comedian, and for his explosive role in Chopper - Lee casts him in this role and asks him to play the opposite - someone so repressed that he’s disconnected from his own emotional reactions, and he does this brilliantly - the film really takes this idea of his repression seriously; it feeds into the notion of how trauma works in the psyche - - and notice how the Hulk reality of the film is based on the perspective of the 4-year old Bruce - this Hulk even looks and thinks like he’s 4 years old, and we even see an aspect of this in Bana’s own appearance and performance - and the cartoon comic book aspect of the film, with this big green monster fighting these Hulk poodles in this fantasy forest, or throwing tanks and spitting out the heads of missiles - Lee envisions this as like us watching a version of the small child playing with his stuffed toys, so it’s intentionally presented in a weird, hyper-real way, exaggerated and cartoonish - the film is an amazing experiment in bridging these outlandish childlike cartoon aspects with deep psychological explorations and Greek tragedy (I think Nolte’s bizarre and fascinating performance embodies this synthesis) - and IMO the film is very successful in these terms, envisioning this comic book genre as an art form, albeit a pop art form, but these are very different terms than what the DCU and MCU are seeking with their billion dollar box office goals - in those early days, Blade and X-men were setting the new template for the superhero genre, and Raimi’s Spider-man perfected and cemented this template - but with this film Lee developed an alternative template, a more ambitious approach to this material that would allow such films to embrace their cartoonishness while also pursuing the more adult ambitions and philosophical open-endedness of serious cinema

I do understand the confusion of not knowing what exactly happened to Bruce's father but it was my understanding that Dr. David Banner had established upon exposing himself to the gamma radiation, that although he experienced a similar transformation as Bruce his cells were becoming unstable and were bound to lose cohesion which would ultimately lead to his death; this is what inspired David to seek out his son because the difference between Bruce and his father was Bruce had naturally acquired his mutation through inheritance of his father's genetics but David's mutation was a result of artificial manipulation of his own DNA which didn't necessarily permit his genetics to stabilize the mutation that he inflicted upon himself.

his dad died, he exploded like the frog in the beginning it was too much radiation for him to handle

The reason why alot of people didn't understand the plot was because alot of people don't even know about Bruce's comic origins. He was abused by his father but in this one it makes it more of his father inevitably becoming something he never wanted. It takes the original story and makes it better in some ways and even adds his youth with his personality/anger issues that he's always had. Something that was always inside just....waiting to come out (in the comics Bruce came up with Hulk without knowing it as a defense mechanism towards all his trauma)

To those wondering what happened to Bruce's father, he died trying to absorb the gamma radiation or power from the hulk and it was too much for him to handle. Which is why you can hear him say "it's too much, take it back... TAKE IT BACK"

40:04 Jaby: "Still better than She-Hulk!" 😆😆 I agree on this with Jaby!

This version of hulk gets bigger for more protection. Love that detail.

The Incredible Hulk is supposed to be a spiritual sequel to this movie. Bruce is in South America in the beginning, the snippets of his origin are very similar and Thunderbolt Ross is already looking for him.

Fun fact, the official cause for Bruce Banner's split personality is due to his Father having abused both himself and his Mother throughout his childhood, as well as her eventual murder. The gama mutation was what led to the manifestation of that other persona(s) into a physical form.

A lot of people complain about the CGI in this film but in reality this is more like how the hulk looks in comics and the hulk does get bigger as he gets angrier in the comics too

this is still easily the best hulk movie to date.

This version of hulk is very accurate to the comics both in his powers and his story......!!!

36:12 I think this is a perfect example of "to each their own". For starters, the effects and split-screens are meant to be like a comic book (which it accomplished very well imo). I figured that you two are just not fans of the comicy-feel or just comic books in general. Lol Another thing I love about it, is the fact that it shows us from separate angles, as to what is going on in the same scene; like seeing the expression of 2 different actors simultaneously. This filming technique was uniquely done and something you just don't see all that often. I guess you guys are just far too accustomed to the same old repetitive/cliche methods of filming, methods of which I personally find quite bland and unoriginal--the polar opposite of what this movie was going for. It makes sense that you'd be confused and dislike those parts about it, because everyone is too used to the crap that we have today. I for one really miss these old films. Those _unique_ comic-like shots were one of my *favorite* parts of the film! I wish today's movies were more like this--a lot of them would've been so much better off. Lol I totally understood what they were going for, and it just instantly clicked for me. I feel like not many people can understand gems like this film, not these days anyway. If you guys had watched this movie your entire life (in the era it was BEST in), instead of literally just yesterday, perhaps you could've truly appreciated and understood it a lot more I think. Times have changed A LOT since 2003, and so have people's views and expectations of what's considered a good or bad film/video game. My views on this film and other classics like it, have stayed consistent throughout the years, and I can still proudly say what I've been saying my whole life: *Hulk (2003) was ONE of the best Marvel films of its time, and THE best Hulk film for me personally.* 😎👍

Bruce Banner was NEVER meant to be a comedic character. He’s a man with Tragic backgrounds made of Anger, Trauma and Resentment. Growing up, Ang Lee’s incarnation of Hulk really Spoke to me. (Victim of ACEs myself)

24:32 is a comic panel and my favorite part, the idea is pushed to the limit there and is awesome, for me at least 😂

This movie was in development hell for ages so a lot of the oddities are from early drafts. Who knows why at some point someone liked the idea of Hulk dogs and that made through several versions until the final film. Absorving Man from comics was meant to be a villain at some point but they ended up meshing him with the Bruce's father character. Ang Lee inherited this mash of a dozen different scripts to work with so maybe he can be partially forgiven for it but his decisions from what he had only made it even weirder. The split screen was a misguided attempt to mimic a comic book age. Maybe that could have worked in better hands but here it only adds to the awkwardness. Ang Lee once finished said he was proud of the film. Good for him I guess.

This movie is very close to it's comics. And one of reason why people hated She-Hulk. Hulk tried to help help Her cuz he gone thrw so much.

I bought this at Wal-Mart for $6 on VHS. I ended up watching this a lot, just wishing that Marvel was able to make good movies at a steady pace. It's nice how that finally worked out.

I like the camera cuts,transitions, the music choice and direction of the film was so good. This was the best origin story and focused on Bruce's behaviour all in general and the anger was on point and how he increases in size the angrier he gets. How he gets calmer when he meets Betty. The whole depiction was good. It would have been better if the climax was written a bit better. Everything else was on point

I respect this film because they WENT for something. They went for the comic book look. It was not great for sure, but I respect the attempt.

From childhood bias to my refined taste in writing as I've gotten older, this is still my favorite movie. That opening theme is one of the best of all time

32:05 You two's expressions to this scene is priceless 😂

I agree with Jaby on this and find this movie much better than She Hulk. Hell if I'm being honest, it's probably one of my favorite renditions of Hulk. It takes that psychological trauma and tragedy that's present in the comics but also remembers it's based off a comic which is why we get the fancy scene transitions

I remember seeing this in theaters as a kid and thinking it was the coldest shit ever.

I think the splitscreens/visible frames was a callback to comicbook panels.

The Hulk movie. When i was a kid i thought for the longest time that the incredible Hulk was the sequel for that movie. It should've.

This was always the real Hulk to me. Mark Ruffalo did a good job but Marvel imo gutted Hulk too much and turned him into Comedy Relief instead of his full power and character.

The panel inserts were supposed to represent the way a comic book appears to readers. I like this movie more than the following ones because the acting was far superior and the Hulk does have the ability to change his size and strength in later comic book issues so it's not out of the Marvel universe realm at all. The only revised part was how Banner became infected with radiation from a nuclear blast trying to save a friend at a blast test site instead of his father being in the same research as Banner ended up being part of. Glad you both had the guts to watch this one.

Bruce banner’s/The Hulk’s story is tragic. They got that part right in this movie. His father used to abuse his mom. And bruce/hulk always been two different people

The cause & power of the Hulk is his father. The Hulk is a split personality inside Bruce, holding all his childhood trauma & lifetime of repressed anger. This is the limitless source of the Hulk's strength. His father tried to take that strength for himself, but he took Bruce's childhood trauma as well. With his father overloaded with power & gamma radiation, the gamma charge the jet shot them with destroyed him. Hulk, being depleted of gamma radiation, was able to absorb more & survived. Good reaction. The movie isn't perfect by any means but I'd take endless experimental films like this over the boring, repetitive Marvel movies

I love watching shows/ movies with you two. I typically can’t stand watching along with channels but ever since you two started the Daredevil series I’ve enjoyed these. Hope you do more movies/shows! Have a great day and enjoy your holidays 😊

This is such a good movie. And the very first time that I saw this movie The Incredible Hulk was when it came out on DVD. And you two are a lot of fun to watch movies with. And I really enjoy ya’ll reactions to this movie. And you two are a lot of fun to watch this movie with. This is such a good movie. And this movie was first released 20 years ago in theaters. And Jennifer Connelly really did a job in this movie too.

As much as this movie had some very strange choices in editing but there are some editing choices that were very poetic.

This is the best Hulk. The story is too dark and arguably incomprehensible but it helped explain the fact that the Hulk is really a depressing super power. And the design of this Hulk felt more powerful and more closely related to a big angry human more than a generic monster like later iterations did

This Hulk is very underrated. Glad you guys react to this.

Jaby showed no mercy on she hulk 🤣🤣😂

I love the editing in this movie idk I completely understood what it was saying even as a child would watch this on repeat all day the one scene that always stood out in my mind is Bruce playing with his toys and the door the god damn door I loved that it was a symbol for his trauma throughout the movie

This film was definitely committed to interesting choices.

This Hulk movie went hard growing up

His dad died he had too much power and was feeling Bruce’s rage trauma pain and in the comics Absorption Man was hulks enemy. In the comics he wasn’t always trying to act like some monster all of the time and wasn’t focused on fighting all of the time even refusing. They were trying to show hulk’s powers from the comics. When hulk said puny human he basically said I’m taking over (Sorry it’s a lot 😅my dad told me all of this)

How in the hell does Jennifer Connelly still look so young she looks the same now in top gun maverick

They experimented with some effects and camera shots to make things like comic panels. As it turned out, they decided not to use them in future films.

And to think that MCU says she hulk is better because she controls her anger after she gets cat called everyday while this man went through child abuse

I can see the MCU kinda ruined people's expectation of what kind of character Hulk is, since they all expect him to be the comic relief on films now. Hulk's story is sad and fucked up that's what makes him a super interesting character, he has cool powers but Bruce hates them and it causes him physical and emotional pain. Also this is the most true to character Hulk we have in cinema I really wish people would look at the comics to see the best iteration of Hulk instead of the cheap MCU films.

This movie was awesome and underrated.

it's meant to be a comic panel format/visual, this is a very arty symbolic interpretation of the Hulk story, and it works, to use this approach to a simplistic character like this one doesnt seem possible BUT it does, as much because of the Directing as for the clever detailed writing. The fact that you have so many questions & early in the film confirms that, I much prefure this to the sequel/re-imagining

In some ways, this is a pretty faithful adaptation of the source material. Bruce's fractured mind is the product of an abusive father. It was a bit of a stretch to have his father become Absorbing Man though. Absorbing Man (Creel) is one of the Hulk's major villains but he's not as popular as Abomination or the Leader.

So, interestingly enough Ryan from Screencrush made a great video about how this is the first entry in the MCU and not Iron Man, worth a watch if you like theory videos. The biggest link being Eric's character was in Amazon's jungles, and by the time Incredible Hulk came he had moved to live in Brazil, iirc.

It IS better than She-Hulk. At least there were characters with some competent writing backing them and the CGI was better too. She-Hulk was a total $hitshow in all departments.

Steph and Achara should watch the Ben Affleck's Daredevil movie after completing Daredevil Season 3. That would be fun.

best hulk movie imo

This enterpretation of the Hulk lands differently in retrospect. When it came out this was THE major motion picture movie we had at the time for Hulk. I was excited at the time and enjoyed the experience in the theater. But I came to prefer the 2nd Hulk movie at this point even more than the Avengers version because of Marvel's inclination to make everyone more lighthearted and funny.

The dad was destroyed because he could’ve handle absorbing all the hulk energy.

There's a movie novelization. It helps clear some of the details up. It's not great or anything but it helps.

Since we're doing marvel movies outside of the MCU you should definitely react to 2004 the punisher, a-list actors, definitely worth a watch 😁

This movie is a classic! Do you think you'll end up watching season 3 of daredevil on the channel? It's widely regarded as a return to form and the best season of the show!

I love this movie!!🤩

LOVE!!! LOVE!!! LOVE YOU TWO!!! - Review Everything! Such a fun time every time!

Well obviously his father died in the blast cause he couldn’t take it all and this was more better and more into the hulk and Bruce personality and least they didn’t turn him into Comedy like they did with the new hulk 🙄💯

I had forgotten that Josh Lucas(Glen Talbot) was in this. He played more likeable characters in "Stealth," "Second Hand Lions," and "An Unfinished Life."

It's a slow film but I love it's really mature themes and it's a really tragic father son story I also like that it shows the disturbing psychological horror side of hulks character something the MCU has ignored

I enjoyed this movie. Quite different from the regular action or superhero movie. Quite a trippy movie

The different cuts and ovals were trying to emulate a comic book style. I think they were trying to do the same thing they did with Spiderman, you have some transformation and you don't know how it all works. I can see that self-loathing coming out of the Hulk vs Banner scene, Banner got shuffled about, Banner got pushed around, Banner was the weaker of the two, recognizing that and coming to terms with that was that journey I think. The damsel in distress was at least punching back, knowing she was being monitored and called her father out on it. It was a very,very,very small step in the right direction.

I have my likes and dislikes for this movie, but overall it’s still worth watching. 💚

The Hulk IS essentially a horror story. It gets its’ inspiration from Frankenstein. Bruce was abused by his father. His mother was also abused by him and eventually murdered by him. They(Hulk and Bruce) are not two different people. Bruce developed dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as split personality, due to his childhood experiences. The Hulk that we see that is angry by default and can barely string a sentence together; people assume it’s because he’s stupid. He’s a child. That same child that was under the furniture while his mother was being murdered in the next room. It’s just that with Bruce, his other personalities manifest as Hulks due to gamma exposure.

This is my childhood memorie

Finally y'all react to the OG Hulk

When I was a kid, I hated Ross… and still do to this day. But I don’t hate the actor. He did a good at portraying him

Such an underrated movie. Yes it looked strange at times because they tried making it look like an animated comic book, and it's a very faithful adaptation. It's one of a series of movies released before the first MCU movie, Ironman, that effectively set the stage for it's success. But i think this one is very special because it's the first one that made such an extensive use of CGI. The result at times is bad but most of the time it's pretty good. I mean this was 20 years ago. That's TWO DECADES ago.

24:32 best part of the movie

There is a horror film vibe at times about this INCREDIBLE HULK film.

2:02 It is 😂 I think the director chose these kind of transitions because he was trying to mimic a comicbook page

I remember watching this movie so many times as a kid, I loved the hulk when I was a kid, I was 3 when it came out but i loved it when I finally saw it

Not a fan of the directing style, but loved this version of the HULK wish we got this version in the MCU

This is still my favorite Hulk movie 🤘🏽

Hulk smash... is a whole other kind of smashing... 🤣

His dad took in too much energy and exploded

It is absurdly entertaining to see the reactions because Achara and Steph had NO IDEA how weird this film is lol The comics had a background that Bruce's father was abusive what caused his psychological problems and split personality with the Hulk ( She Hulk didn't have that personality split because she had a way healthier upbringing without the traumatic experiences ). But the whole making experiments on him as a kid who knows where Ang Lee took that from. And the movie keeps meandering on this pseudoscience stuff. When we get to the Hulk it is half comics half the bizarre psychological stuff. My impression is Ang Lee is a great filmmaker but not familiar with comics by any extent of imagination. He made his interpretation of it but reads like trying to describe something complete alien to him.

Huge callback you missed at the beginning. When Stan Lee was walking out of the building, he was walking with a huge security guard. That guard is Lou Farigmo who played the monster version of the Hulk in the television series.

Oooo uuuuu have yall done movie reactions before??? Suhhhh brahhhhhh!! 😘 more please! 🎉

In the comics, the Hulk dogs were called Dogs of war.