Hulk

Unquestionably, Hulk is the most ambitious super-hero movie made yet, who else has a nine- to15-foot (depending on rage) green, muscle-bound CGI monster wreaking havoc on all he comes in contact with? But as far as Hulk pushes the limits of what its titular CGI monstrosity can accomplish on-screen (pretty damn far, actually) while looking realistic, acclaimed director Ang Lee attempts to do the same dramatically and visually. And as much as he generally succeeds, there are some misses. Hulk's origin story gets updated and comes off alright: mild-mannered becomes repressed, instead of a nuclear bomb dosing Bruce Banner it's now a scientific experiment involving nanobots and the trusty gamma radiation, plus Bruce's father experimented on himself and passed on the latent genes for the Hulk's unleashing to his son, not to mention severe emotional trauma. But the flaws that were minor on the big screen (the insane amount of inventive split-screen editing/transitions, Nick Nolte as a super-villain, the dragging first third, the attempts to make it look like a comic book) become more pronounced on the small screen, plus Hulk, who looked pretty awesome huge, looks, at times, less realistic on DVD. However, you have to admire Ang and his cast and crew's attempts to bring some depth to the superhero genre and its CGI advances, the latter of which is focused on in the DVD's extras. And watching Ang and crew shoot Hulk rampages minus the Hulk (who's added later), only makes the accomplishment more impressive. Ang also provides an acceptable if unspectacular commentary track, quickly touching on the father/sibling subtext of the movie, the not so subtle "unchecked rage" metaphor of the Hulk, and some of the shooting difficulties, but Ang offers few anecdotes and pauses to watch the movie often. More impressive are some of the others extras, which show Ang in a motion-capture suit beating the shit out of a mock tank or demonstrating Hulk's rage and movements. Dose him with gamma rays and no army could stop him. Plus: deleted scenes, featurettes, more. (Universal)