Metascore
54 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 40 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 40
  2. Negative: 5 out of 40
  1. 75
    Ang Lee has boldly taken the broad outlines of a comic book story and transformed them to his own purposes; this is a comic book movie for people who wouldn't be caught dead at a comic book movie.
  2. 88
    Hulk represents the most involving superhero motion picture since "Superman" soared skywards in 1978. By taking its time to develop characters and situations, Hulk does what so many action/adventure movies fail to do -- allow us to really feel for the protagonists.
  3. 38
    This messy, disappointing, self-important and utterly humorless version of the Marvel comic book character may be the toughest flick with a green protagonist to sit through since "The Grinch."
  4. 75
    Lee's technique is impeccable, but he's chasing more inner demons than one creature feature can handle. No wonder the audience cheers when TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno shows up for a cameo. It's a reminder of a time when it was easier being green and a Hulk could just get pissed off and bust shit up.
  5. More thoughtful and pleasing to the eye than any blockbuster in recent memory, but its epic length comes without an epic reward. It's a slow ride to the same old place, nonstop action, accelerating in scale, culminating in the smirking promise of a sequel.
  6. Always energetic and sometimes cockamamie enough to be genuinely fun, Hulk is the blockbuster to beat this season.
  7. A comic-book superhero has seldom squandered so much screen time being conflicted about his heritage and destiny -- and I don't mean conflicted in a sexy, Wolverine-y, ''X-Men'' way, either; a big-budget comic-book adaptation has rarely felt so humorless and intellectually defensive about its own pulpy roots.
  8. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    50
    The entirely computer-generated Hulk is a surprisingly expressive creation — it certainly gives a better performance than Connelly — but the action is late in coming and feels like a long set-up for the inevitable sequel.
  9. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    50
    To answer your first question: like a cross between Shrek, the Frankenstein monster, and a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot.
  10. The movie's real locus of anger must have been the director, Ang Lee, once he realized what an epic clod his computer wizards had wrought.
  11. In the end, we don't know what we're watching, an art-house superhero film or a computer-generated "King Kong." By trying to please both sensibilities, the filmmakers have pleased neither.
  12. 78
    No one has ever succeeded with anything approximating the sheer energetic brilliance of what Lee has managed here. For all intents and purposes, this is a comic-book movie in the very truest and most vibrant sense of the phrase.
  13. 70
    The real star is the splendid computer-generated Hulk, though his King Kong-like story is compromised by the need to keep him around for the inevitable sequel.
  14. 50
    The main problem with The Hulk, really, is that there isn't enough Hulk in it.
  15. I wanted more. I expected more. The filmmakers said it was going to be smart - really smart - like all of Lee's movies. Instead, it's big, dumb and fun.
  16. The Hulk has a split personality: Two-thirds come from director Ang Lee, one-third from '60s comic book creator Stan Lee.
  17. 67
    Director Ang Lee displays enormous verve and flair. He creates ingenious transitions between scenes, deploying split-screens in a clever variation on comic book panels and, as ever, drawing coolly impassioned performances from the cast.
  18. 70
    Takes the form of a wounded behemoth, battling to negotiate a compromise between a strong artistic vision and franchise expectations. It doesn't fully succeed on either count, but its integrity and substance stand out like an oasis in a field of cotton candy.
  19. Whereas the psychology is surreal and wonderfully fluid, the action is too real and surprisingly listless, displaying little of the kinetic zip, or the sheer lyricism, that Lee brought with such memorable effect to "Crouching Tiger."
  20. Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    70
    This impeccably crafted piece of megabuck fantasy storytelling aims to pull off the tricky feat of significantly reworking the superhero format while still providing the expected tentpole-type entertainment thrills for the international masses.
  21. A movie likely to rally huge audiences who want to take another roller coaster ride. And though it may disappoint a few of them, it's also a film that gives you something to think and feel sad about. It smashes you -- gently.
  22. As this all plays out -- and basically segues into "King Kong" -- the movie wins its biggest gamble: its entirely computer-generated monster works.
  23. Hits on all cylinders -- a smart blend of acting, direction, editing, design, costumes and effects.
  24. 30
    Belabored, ostentatious, overlong behemoth.
  25. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    50
    There's a fine line between darkness and glumness, one that "Spider-Man" bounced off buildings to avoid. The Hulk lumbers across it.
  26. The movie is bulky and inarticulate, leaving behind a trail of wreckage and incoherence.
  27. 70
    The Hulk is a beautiful movie, but it's unlikely to win points as a monster flick -- it's too elegant, too whimsical.
  28. Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    50
    Unlike your average comic-book blockbuster, The Hulk isn't a bad cartoon. It's a bad modern Greek tragedy. It's a swing at the moon that looks (and smells) like green cheese.
  29. Reviewed by: David Ansen
    80
    Where so many comic-book movies feel as disposable as Kleenex, the passionate, uncynical Hulk stamps itself into your memory. Lee’s movies are built to last.
  30. Nolte's exploding patriarch jacks up the story's antisocial wish fulfillment into a Nietzschean-anarchist's wet dream, but one can only vainly hope that the preordained sequel will head in that dastardly direction.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 198 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 123
  2. Negative: 53 out of 123
  1. Ang Lee's version of "Hulk" is different from those dreamy western versions. It has a prominent morale that is appropriate for its name with splendid acting. Don't criticize, but realize. Full Review »
  2. PaulL.
    2
    This is far the worst superhero movie ever yet. Dear Ang lee, please i forbid to stop making those American superhero comic strip or else you continued to ruin them. Here the mistakes. You turned this Superhero movie into a more of a drama. Plus the action scenes wasn't that great eiter. Kid might like those. But for older people it is boring.Way Way Way too much talking man. you don't know any action that well and so does you partner name James sclamcus. do you know any actions that well? Guess not! You should study more action appealing to American Audiences. OR even better, they should hired John woo, another Chinese Director who know more action better. He directed Face off. the story and the action in Faceoff is beautifully crafted. Full Review »
  3. AaronF.
    9
    This movie was great. It had a good storyline, good action, good drama, good everything. The dog fight scene could have been a liitle better but overall it was Great! Full Review »