Hulk

I know this review is somewhat dated, but my excuse is that I missed it at the cinema and we didn't buy the DVD until Mrs Dogwood saw it going cheap in Asda, and then it sat on the shelf for a while until last night we finally got around to watching it. I had heard mixed reviews, mainly from people who had been expecting a summer blockbuster popcorn superhero movie. To be fair, there are enough popcorn moments to string a decent trailer together but that would be somewhat misleading. Hulk is an excellent movie, but it's strengths lie in some astonishing cinematography and direction rather than the action sequences. Somebody complained that it takes half an hour before you get to see the eponymous hero (although hero is certainly the wrong word to use), but what a mesmerising half hour it is, telling the story in flashbacks and spectacular dissolves and transitions.

The most notable technique is the use of split screen images. The director, Ang Lee, uses these with panache to highlight areas of the screen and contrast different images lending depth to character reactions. Combined with some of the bright, vivid colours it really is the closest cinema equivalent to capturing the feel of a graphic novel.

The storyline follows the traditional origin of the hulk, but with a far darker twist than the comics ever dared attempt. As I intimated earlier, the hulk is not a hero - he is a monster, and a awesome and frightening one at that. I jumped in fright several times, and the portrayal of unstoppable rage is breathtaking at times. The final half hour seems tacked on and superfluous, as if somebody had read the script and demanded that a humungous fight sequence be added at the end for no particular good reason.

On balance, this is highly recommended, particularly if you have a good surround sound system that you can crank up.