To celebrate the release of the Avengers Infinity War trailer i think it’s time i fixed another film. Another superhero film, and keeping on topic, a Marvel film.
It’s 2003 and Ang Lee has just been given the reigns to an Incredible Hulk movie! By all accounts this should have been awesome, The director of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was bringing the big green guy to the big screen. Unfortunately, awesome is probably the last word you would use to describe to describe “Hulk”. The weird transitions and awkward melodrama left fans wanting more, and i think i can deliver. As with my last movie fix this is going to be a long read so be warned. This is how i would fix 2003’s “Hulk”
Much like my Suicide Squad fix (which if you want to read is here: https://aguycalledpeg.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/fixing-suicide-squad-inspired-by-rfixingmovies/) i’m going to focus on major aspects of the film that need addressing and then write a new plot summary. One of the major problems that this film had that it was kind of breaking new ground. Superhero movies (outside of Superman and Batman) weren’t really seen as the most marketable in the early 2000’s, only with the release of Spider man did this start to change. It was with Spider man that the superhero trend really started to take off. But without much to take note from, Hulk seemed to be a casualty of the trend taking off. Now, the world of superhero movies has been well tread and we know what works and what doesn’t, so one of the major issues of “Hulk” is already fixed. That being said, it being a part of a new genre was far from it’s only problem.
GENRE
As i have already mentioned, the family melodrama seemed so out of place, and i feel like tone was something that this film struggled with a lot, in fact i feel like this superhero film was trying to be more “grown up”, and hide the fact that it was based on a comic book for fear that it was not serious enough. This is shooting the film in the foot straight away so to speak, ignoring its roots will not make for a good film, and it certainly didn’t, so the first thing i would change would be genre.
If the director didn’t want to play the movie as a straight superhero film, there are a number of other routes it could have taken. One direction i feel that would be fantastic for a character like the Incredible Hulk, is Horror. Part of the Hulk’s appeal is the fear that he might do something horrible, the uncertainty of what he is capable of,it is something the Avengers did really well, teasing the hulk for much of the film before finally letting him loose to cause some havoc. I feel this fear and uncertainty lend themselves to the horror genre so well and hearkens back to the original Jekyll and Hyde story that inspired the character.
When i say horror though, i don’t want to be mistaken. I do not mean jump scares and gore, that is the last thing a popcorn superhero movie needs, what i mean by horror is utilizing the fear of the unknown and the threat of self destruction, two of the Hulk’s key themes.
With the major issue dealt with, we can move on to the minor issue.
EDITING
So, if you watched the film you can remember those god awful superhero screen wipe transitions, the comic book panel moves which is just another reminder of how uncharted Superhero movies were at the time and how disparaging the tone was. so no stupid editing, just good suspenseful editing with a lot of darkness and a lot of low humming soundtracks.
From these key points i will try and craft a better story for the Hulk, something that has not been managed on the big screen thus far. Maybe this could have been the movie that started the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
THE NEW PLOT SUMMARY
Dr Robert Bruce Banner is a renowned scientist praised for his studies in physics and Gamma Radiation. He has a strong relationship with the military although many of his peers keep him at arms length due to his troubled past, a past that we will learn about later on.
The films starts with Banner overseeing a project to see a “potential end to terrorism”. He’s developing a drone that carries small Gamma radiation bombs to known terrorist sites. During the development, Banner is approached by the head of the project, General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. He’s asked to speed up the process due to the potential loss of the military contract. This sees Bruce start struggling and the stress starts getting to him. This stress sees him blow up at fellow scientist and former lover, Betty Ross, thunderbolt’s daughter. Struggling with his outburst, Bruce makes a call to his cousin, Jennifer to explain that he feels like he’s losing control again. Jennifer calms him down while stating another outburst could set his progress back years. While Bruce is talking to Jennifer, Betty heads to speak to her Father about him, explaining that he is losing it again and putting the project at risk. She explains that although she loves Bruce she doesn’t want him blowing up again.
Days later, Bruce seems back in control taking Betty aside to apologize. He understands the concern people have but assures Betty that he can keep his cool; that it won’t be another high school incident. Nearby scientists hear the conversation when one of them asks what the high school incident was. The other explains that when Bruce was younger he had a mental break and set a bomb in his school, the reason it wasn’t bigger news was because the bomb was a dud.
The day ends with people leaving the office and Banner heading to see his psychiatrist, Dr Leonard Skivorski. Skivorski notes he was surprised to hear from Bruce after so long. Bruce comments that it was Jennifer that had him get in touch. after a brief conversation about his relationship with Jennifer, Bruce feels he has made a mistake coming to see the doctor and decides to leave. As he gets up to go, Skivorski asks if he has had any problems with the other Bruce lately. Bruce freezes in place, unsure how to respond.
Back at the laboratory, the only member of staff still in the building is the janitor, going about his cleaning duties. The door to the lab is broken by a shadowy figure who infiltrates the building without being seen. As the Figure makes his way through the building He runs into the Janitor before knocking him unconscious. Bruce then returns to the lab, unable to rest after visiting the psychiatrist. Upon arrival he finds the lock on the door broken. Rushing inside he finds the experimental bombs rigged to blow. With radiation flooding the lab and alarms sounding, Bruce wakes the janitor who has been stuck in the radiation and tells him to get word out to people to evacuate the base. The janitor flees as Bruce considers the same before he realizes the bombs blowing up will take out the base killing dozens of people including Betty. Bruce works frantically to get a message out waking people up to get them to flee the the base while he works to try and contain the explosion. His work ultimately fails and the bombs explode albeit he manages to contain the explosion with some crafty science work.
Luckily the people at the base manage to escape with only minor scrapes and bruises. Bruce is found alive and placed under quarantine in intensive care after having absorbed massive amounts of radiation. While in quarantine suspicions are raised about Bruce and whether or not he set the bombs off himself after his recent struggles, this theory begins to gain traction and soon the theory reaches Ross. Ross asks Betty if she thinks it’s possible. She said if he had another psychiatric break it was all too possible and in response to this Ross decides to go and see Banner whilst he is in intensive care. Upon his arrival he is shocked to see Banner in perfect physical health with no ill effects of the the radiation. In fact whilst running routine medical checks, Bruce seems to be stronger than ever.
Being taken a back by Bruce’s remarkable recovery Ross decides not to confront Banner, instead he asks the nearby doctors to run some tests on him to see how he recovered so quickly and to keep an eye on him. Bruce seems confused as to why Ross chooses not to talk to him and he heads over to see if Betty made it out alright, she explains to Bruce that he was the only person who was really hurt in the blast, him and the janitor. Bruce asks to see the janitor and is told that he was not as fortunate as Bruce. When they get to see him it’s through a screen as he’s in quarantine much like Bruce was. Bruce is saddened to see the janitor sitting in bed with an enormous swollen head. The skin of the man also has a green tinge to it. Bruce starts to blame himself for what happened as he continues to look at the janitor, this blame quickly turns to anger and veins start to protrude from Banner’s skin and his skin starts to exhibit the same green tinge as the janitors. But Betty, still unsure of what is going on tells Bruce as much. Upon hearing they have no idea what happened Banner begins to calm down but Betty is all too observant of the strange physical changes in Bruce and asks to speak to him in private.
Bruce and Betty find their way to a temporary office set up for Betty where they start to discuss what happened, Bruce says he can’t remember but Betty does not drop it, pressing him further as she was spurred on by her father’s suspicions. He starts to get irritated by the questioning and becomes suspicious of Betty, growing angry he tells her he has had enough of the questioning and wants to go home. As he steps out into the night, he finds himself a lift and sets off to the city, to his apartment. On the travels home he cannot shake his anger, the more he dwells on the situation the angrier he gets, he begins to grow sick, writhing in pain in the back of the car. The driver pulls over to check what is wrong when Bruce suddenly cries out in pain before bursting out of the car as the Hulk for the first time.
We do not get a clear sight of the Hulk as he immediately starts diving through buildings roaring in pain. Debris goes flying as the shadowy figure starts to rip through walls and demolish cars. people start to flee from the path of destruction that initially starts in heading toward the center of the city to cause as much damage as possible. From here we get typical monster movie fare with people fleeing from the monster and destruction happening all around as the police and military get news of the chaos. Following the path of destruction the police decide to set up a blockade in order to try and stop the creature. it’s at this blockade that we get the first real sight of the hulk, he stops briefly in front of the police, shrouded in shadow. All we see at this point is a faint green hue on a hulking mass crouched low to the ground. The police begin to issue their warnings and demands when suddenly the hulk steps out of the shadow leaving the police officer speechless. The Hulk roars at the police officers, the sound echoing through the night sky shaking the ground below them, one police officer fires his gun, the bullet ricocheting of the hulks skin into a nearby wall. This immediately enrages the hulk, breaking his momentary, calm, he flips one of the cars away before falling to the ground, seemingly in pain. At this point the Hulk flees jumping hundreds off feet into the air and off into the distance. Leaving the police to deal with their wounded.
Back at the temporary military base, Ross and his men get news of the monster that had been ripping through the city and are given word to deploy on to the streets in case this monster ever makes a comeback. Ross grows suspicious thinking Banner has had something to do with the damage, though he does not believe the stories of a monster. Upon hearing this news Betty tries to get in touch with Bruce, calling him repeatedly to no avail at this point she gets in touch with Jennifer, the two do not get along and it’s evident from the phone call. Jennifer asks why she is looking for Bruce and Betty explains that he has been missing all night and Ross is suspicious.
Focus then shifts to a forest, with sun peeking above the trees, in the depth of the forest trees have been torn up and broken in a path leading towards a crater. Crawling out of the crater is Bruce, naked and afraid, unsure of what has happened. He shuffles backwards into a tree to shield himself in someway while he thinks of how to find his way home.
Attention now shifts to Jennifer who is frantically trying to get in touch with Bruce. She heads to his apartment and searches for any sign of his whereabouts. She spots a business card for Dr Skivorski. However while there, she also spots designs for the bombs Bruce had recently been building. At this moment Betty enters and the two women face off, “why are you here? i’m family why are you here?…” they eventually stop squabbling and agree that calling Bruce’s psychiatrist may be the best course of action, However before Betty can make the call she receives one from her father. Stating that the military have tracked the so called monster to the woods and that they may need a scientist on hand to examine it.
She leaves the apartment in a hurry with Jennifer following her. Jenifer asks about a monster and Betty responds she has no idea what it is and assumes it may be something else entirely but she needs to go, Jennifer, stays behind to continue looking for Bruce. she decides to call the Doctor in order to find a way of finding Bruce. Before the call starts we return to Bruce.
Still naked and afraid, he has managed to find his way to a small wooden hut, seemingly abandoned in recent times, He roots through the hut to find some old clothing before he looks to find some marker of where he may be. a small television explains of the damage that happened the night before at which point Bruce starts to have flashbacks. Before too long though he hears the rumbling of cars and the military close in on the crater from earlier on, Bruce decides to give chase to find out where he is. He finds his way to the military officers and asks to know whats going on. the soldiers do not recognize Bruce on sight and simply tell him to leave. Ross recognizes him and brings him over asking why he is near the bomb and asking why he did not answer any of his calls. Bruce has more flashbacks to the night before coming to the realization he is the Hulk, he then grows nervous, unable to answer Ross’s questions. Ross grows more suspicious and asks if Bruce is willing to come with him to answer some questions. As he says this soldiers start to surround Bruce with some guns. He says he’ll answer any questions they have he just asks them to drop the guns. Ross refuses to drop the weapons and begins to ask his questions.
As his questions start Bruce starts to panic, when asked where he was last night he cannot answer, Ross asks again but receives o answer Bruce’s skin starts to turn green. as the questions continue Bruce gets further on edge before ultimately “hulking out again, throwing soldiers into trees and ripping vehicles in half, Ross flees in his own vehicle but not before losing some of his men. Betty stops in front of the Hulk momentarily quelling his rage before Ross starts shooting at Hulk. Hulk shields Betty from the gunfire taking her in his arm as he seems to be in control enough not to hurt Betty. Ross takes advantage and uses it to pin Hulk down and subdue him. He does not react due to Betty being so close, he looks almsot like a captured animal with sadness in his eyes, almost desperate to escape. As the Hulk starts to be restrained he looks into betty’s eyes before she is pulled away and the two share a moment. Betty is pulled away and the Hulk rips his restraints up from the ground pulling the soldiers with him, gunfire starts again and Betty cries for her father to stop though he does not. Hearing betty’s cries the hulk grows more enraged and begins ripping the remaining vehicles apart. He gives chase to the now fleeing Ross through the streets jumping ahead of his car on the edge of the city. Ross and hulk are now face to face on a large freeway when multiple attack helicopters close in. Jennifer watching television in Bruce’s apartment sees the hulk on TV and panics, and tries to call Bruce’s phone once more.
The Hulk launches himself into one of the attack copters an rips it apart when the other one flies into him, The second copter flies as high and far as possible to get the hulk away from the city and those within. The copter and hulk ultimately crash to the ground, far enough away for Ross to flee with Betty. Upon the return to the base it is revealed that another group have gained the contract on the gamma project and will be performing a demonstration in a few days time. Ross is furious about losing the contract but more conern with banner and his wear abouts. He tasks some of his men with tracking him down.
As this happens we are introduced to the other party that got in the military contract. One of the sliders form earlier was working as a double agent to feed information to them and now explains that their meddling with the bombs had some unexpected side effects, he explains that the bombs they rigged somehow ended up creating the hulk. one of the scientists suggest trying to capture the hulk when the shadowy figure who rigged the bombs in the first places suggest they just make another, if they can create another hulk they will have a super soldier far more effective than bombs. somehow Betty finds out about this (not figured that bit out yet) and tries to warn her father but he is too preoccupied with trying to find the hulk.
Bruce alone in the wilderness struggles with what he has become and contemplates suicide to stop any more destruction. But as he is about to jump off of a cliff he is approach by a mountain man. a kindly stranger talks him down from the edge and takes him home to eat some food and recuperate before making any irrational decisions. He decides to wander the wilderness away from civilization, away from even the mountain man, to protect people, having see the destruction he has caused he cannot bear to be around it, before he leaves though he asks the mountain man if he has a phone, he decides to call Betty to say goodbye and apologize for what he has done. During this phone call she explains the plan of the other contractors and asks for Bruce’s help. She claims he did this so he would know how to fix it. Bruce then explains himself saying he didn’t do it, in actual fact he tried to stop the bombs. he suddenly comes to the realization that if they try to recreate the experiment they will simply let off a bunch of bombs and ultimately kill all attendees. Bruce decides to head back to try and stop the experiment asking for the mountain man’s car.
At the test site Ross stands in the crowd with an infuriated look on his face as the leaders of the other project make their way to a stage to explain their plan. They explain that they have the means to create a super solider far more effective than a bomb. they then proceed to place the shadowy figure in the rig they have set up at the site. As the experiment starts everybody realizes that the experiment is not going correctly and they start to fell the scientists have no idea whats going on as they assume everything is under the same conditions.
Bruce then arrives telling people to get out of the way and leave. Ross confronts him but Bruce explains that now is not the time as the bombs that were set to blow that created the hulk were contained albeit briefly which stopped the explosion from dealing more damage. He says if the other scientists are recreating the what happened, they can’t have known that Bruce contained the bomb, as such a huge explosion is about to take place. Bruce realizes he needs to go inside the experiment to stop the bombs and save everybody.
Upon entry to the site he grows sick but struggles to the bomb, he finds the shadowy figure hooked up to a machine keeping him in place who begins to scream at him to stop. Banner manages to minimise the damage again but before the bombs blow the shadowy figure breaks out from his restraints and begins to morph into an abomination. he strikes Banner away from the control panel but Banner tries to keep his cool instead focusing on stopping the bombs. Upon realizing that if he doesn’t act, the super soldier will in fact be complete and the bombs will go off, he unleashes the Hulk and the two duke it out. Abomination and hulk begin to fight in the cloud of radiation that is slowly forming around them. they are initially matched as the abominations transformation has not yet finished. This is something Hulk realizes at which point strangles abomination to death before he is fully transformed. In an effort to save everyone else, he then grabs the bomb and leaps into the distance. The bomb ultimately explodes but everyone is safe and Hulk is not seen again, Bruce is given a private funeral attended by Jennifer Betty and Ross to end the film.
In a post credits scene Bruce is seen working in Mexico on a farm.
So that is my version of 2003’s Hulk there are some similarities but that’s the point of fixing a movie, to to completely change it. I’m not sure if the horror theme came across in my summary but it was quite rushed, nonetheless i hope you liked it. Who’s your favorite Marvel character? Do they have a Movie yet? and if not why should they? i’d love to talk movies with you all, but for now…Peg out.
A Guy Called Peg 