Incredible Hitchcock in the Hulk

 Alfred Hitchcock said that suspense is better than surprise in cinema.  The analogy he used was that surprise is a scene where a man sits on a chair, and then a bomb explodes, giving the audience a sudden jolt; meanwhile, suspense is the audience being told that there is a ticking time bomb under the man’s seat, and the audience is anticipating the explosion.  The master said that suspense is much, much better.

It was probably over 20 minutes into the movie before we see the Hulk, and in that scene where Bruce Banner transforms into the Hulk, we don’t see the Hulk, we just see what the Hulk does (like throw people fifty feet across the room flying at 50mph; or throw forklifts, destroy factory machinery, you know, Hulk-stuff).  That anticipation, that letting the audience wait and wait, is what makes this movie great.

And when we finally see the green behomoth, we are shown his face in close up!  You’d think we’d be shown how big and green he is.  No, we are given a close up.  That’s an excellent choice by Louis Leterrier, the film’s director.  This says two important things:  1)  The Hulk is a real character and not just a cartoon hero; and 2) We are primed to feel what goes on inside his rampaging consciousness, again instead of being primed just to watch destruction and mayhem summer action-movie style.  And thanks to Edward Norton’s outstanding performace, we feel there is no difference between Bruce Banner and the big, green guy.  That’s important because we want to know the Hulk, follow him, and not be numbed by special effects.

It’s great to learn that Edward Norton did the motion-capture movements of the Hulk that the CGI-SFX team then transformed into the CGI Hulk that we see on the big screen.  I really wonder why Ang Lee decided to do the motion-capture for his Hulk, rather than let Eric Bana do the studio work.  With Edward Norton doing the motion capture, again we can feel it’s the same character.  I was never a fan of the comic book version primarily because I didn’t like the idea that Bruce Banner is so meek and smart, then the Hulk was just growling and smashing all the time, speaking like Tarzan.  Who can relate to a superhero like that, and why would you want to?  But here, I could connect the two personalities, and I could believe Bruce is the Hulk, but bigger, stronger, meaner, and greener.  I want to relate to a superhero like that because the Hulk wants to be heroic. 

I want to write something about the latest (please say it’s the last) Indiana Jones movie.  It sucked!  Mr. Spielberg, you know I am one of your biggest fans, and I can write a book about you one day that says you are a brilliant brilliant movie director, but after watching the “Incredible Hulk,” I was wishing the Hulk would smash and stomp and chew and throw and rip and pulverise and destroy any evidence that INDY 4 ever existed.