Hulk
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 20, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
16
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
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. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerKaren Heller
A heady stew of psychological disorders and classic tragedies, borrowing from Shakespeare, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the Greeks. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
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. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
The result is perhaps the most elegantly shot, and certainly the most disturbing, of the recent fantasy films. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
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. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Hits on all cylinders -- a smart blend of acting, direction, editing, design, costumes and effects. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
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. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The Hulk has a split personality: Two-thirds come from director Ang Lee, one-third from '60s comic book creator Stan Lee. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
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. Read full review
75
PremierePeter Debruge
Lee’s use of split-screens and dynamic transitions makes the process of actively interpreting his monstrous vision a fresh and unrivaled experience. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
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. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Always energetic and sometimes cockamamie enough to be genuinely fun, Hulk is the blockbuster to beat this season. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
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. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
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. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The Hulk is a beautiful movie, but it's unlikely to win points as a monster flick -- it's too elegant, too whimsical. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
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. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
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. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
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." Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
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. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
However nifty, Lee's Cubist gambit fails to capture the graphic tension that makes great comic-book art jump off the page and great pop movies jump off the screen with pow, zap and wow! Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
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. Read full review
60
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Structurally a mess and unevenly made, but the first forty minutes or so are quite beautiful. [7 July 2003, p. 84]
60
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Some Marvel fans and die-hard devotees of Lou Ferrigno, the bodybuilder who played The Hulk on television (and who does a brief walk-on here), may find Ang Lee's whole enterprise grandiose and, given its not-always-successful attempt to fuse brains and brawn, a little bit silly. Read full review
60
Film ThreatClint Morris
Folks read comics for enjoyment, not to admire how well the pictures are drawn, and the same axiom can be directed here with audiences likely to admire the work that’s gone into this film -- rather than joyously enjoying the film itself. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
As this all plays out -- and basically segues into "King Kong" -- the movie wins its biggest gamble: its entirely computer-generated monster works. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The main problem with The Hulk, really, is that there isn't enough Hulk in it. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
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. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
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. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
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. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
There's a fine line between darkness and glumness, one that "Spider-Man" bounced off buildings to avoid. The Hulk lumbers across it. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
To answer your first question: like a cross between Shrek, the Frankenstein monster, and a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
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. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
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. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
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.
40
TimeRichard Schickel
Lee must have thought he could work a similar magic on this clunking, clanking machine. But despite a few witty wipes and split-screen tricks, he fails. Hulk is no better than hulking. Read full review
38
New York PostLou Lumenick
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." Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Belabored, ostentatious, overlong behemoth. Read full review
30
SalonCharles Taylor
The Hulk goes on for two hours and 20 minutes and there's not a stirring or exciting moment in it...At last, a comic-book movie that National Public Radio listeners can be proud to take their kids to see. Read full review
20
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The movie is bulky and inarticulate, leaving behind a trail of wreckage and incoherence. Read full review
0
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
In future Lee can best serve his versatility by never doing anything like this again. Read full review
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