STUDIO: Universal
RELEASE DATE: September 16, 2008
STARRING: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, and Nick Nolte
WRITTEN BY: John Turman and Michael France and James Schamus
DIRECTED BY: Ang Lee
FEATURES: Commentary with Director Ang Lee
Deleted Scenes
Evolution of The Hulk
The Dog Fight Scene
The Making of Hulk
The Unique Style of Editing Hulk

It's great that the format war is over and catalog titles are being released on Blu-Ray at a steady clip but I have to admit that the Blu-Ray release of Ang Lee's Hulk feels a little suspicious. As someone who worked in a video store for a large portion of my formative years, I am very, very familiar with how many people out there don't look closely at what's on the shelf. (I used to get calls nearly every Friday from a woman who wanted to rent something that had come out in theaters that day. People are not always aware of the way the home market works.) So, looking at the cover of the new Blu-Ray release of Hulk and even glancing at the back, I would estimate that a large number of people are going to pick up this version of the big green guy thinking that it's the new one with Edward Norton. It's not. There's only one picture on the back and it's a back shot of the Hulk himself and the plot description doesn't make clear which version you're buying or renting - "The larger-than-life Marvel Super Hero The Hulk explodes on the big screen! After a freak lab accident unleashes a genetically enhanced, impossibly strong creature, a terrified world must marshal its forced to stop a being with abilities beyond imagination." That could easily be the same description that Universal uses on the Edward Norton version, which doesn't hit stores until October 21st. Ang Lee and Louis Leterrier's version of Hulk had more in common than they probably should have as films, but do their cases need to be practically identical?

There is one positive to this situation - maybe people will accidentally pick up the Ang Lee version of Hulk and realize that history is going to be much kinder to this film than the newer one. The fact is that, while neither film is a home run, Ang Lee's is just a bit better. It's a tighter, more expertly conceived movie than Leterrier's and perhaps history will start to be rewritten about this unjustly maligned super hero movie that is often the butt of jokes and statements of disappointment that it doesn't deserve. I dare you to watch Ang Lee's Hulk again and tell me with a straight face that it deserves to be included near films like Ghost Rider or Elektra on "worst comic book movie" lists. It doesn't. Yes, the script is weak, but there's a technical element to Ang Lee's Hulk, especially Danny Elfman's score and Tim Squyres spectacular editing, that is notable. Yes, Hulk-Dogs are stupid, but all of you who openly rip on Ang Lee's Hulk should give the film another shot. It's held up better than you might think.

Of course, if you're going to revisit Ang Lee's Hulk, you should definitely do so on Blu-Ray, but I'm going to say something about Hulk that you won't hear often - it almost looks TOO good. The most common complaint about Hulk is the weakness of the special effects and that problem is amplified in 1080p high-definition widescreen 2.35:1. The thing about Blu-Ray is that high definition amplifies both the good and the bad and films that are especially heavy on CGI sometimes look even worse on the next-gen format. If you thought the big green guy looked a little cartoonish on standard definition, he looks even more so in high definition. As a whole, the picture is, of course, better, but the flaws of the design of Hulk are a little more amplified. The sound mix in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is spectacular. As for extras, all of the special features from the previously available two-disc version have been transferred and enhanced with the U-Control system, which allows viewers to watch featurettes picture-in-picture while they view the film. Ang Lee's commentary is particularly interesting. Give Hulk another shot before you check out the reboot next month.