
Superman
1978
Bruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, suffers massive radiation exposure in his laboratory that causes him to transform into a raging green monster when he gets angry.
Jayne-Ann Tenggren
Betty Ross
Bruce Banner
Ross
Father
Talbot
Young David Banner
8/4/2025
5/10
Given the huge success of Lou Ferrigno on the telly, this ought to have been a no-brainer for Ang Lee, but what on earth possessed him to cast Eric Bana(l)? He’s as wooden as a spatula as the scientist “Banner” who finds himself on the wrong end of some radioactive experiments. As a result, now when he gets a bit of a strop on, he turns bright green, breaks free from (most of) his clothing and goes on a rampage that even a battle tank cannot stop. There are a few enjoyable enough action scenes, but far too much of this film focuses on the antics of his loyal girlfriend “Betty” (Jennifer Connolly) who is trying to stop her dad “Gen. Ross” (Sam Elliott) from eradicating this increasingly dangerous monster in ripped jeans. As if that wasn’t enough on the melodrama front, we also have his own duplicitous father (Nick Nolte), with whom he has had little to do throughout his life, trying to find some way of cloning his quirk for his own nefarious purposes. This probably looked ok on a storyboard. There are threads to the plot that present an enigmatic backstory, that explain the current predicament and then we cut to the present chase, but none of it really gels. There isn’t a scintilla of chemistry between Bana and Connolly; Nolte is simply going through the motions unchallenged by the part or the script and Elliott should have auditioned for the “A-Team” instead. As you’d expect with Marvel, it tees everything up for a sequel but that really ought, even then, to have been more in hope than expectation. The production values aren’t really that much better than it’s television equivalent and though it’s not terrible, it tries to simplistically psycho-analyse a little too much and forgets to entertain.
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