Hulk – The Incredible Sulk

Ang Lee's Hulk is ponderous—absurdly so—and mostly revolves around the gruesome father/son relationship between Bruce (Eric Bana) and David Banner (Nick Nolte). Reportedly, Lee wanted the film to evoke the weighty emotions of a Greek tragedy.

It certainly does generate a palpable response, but it's apathy. For a movie whose title character is a big, green, rage monster, the Hulk is seldom seen for the first hour. When he does show up, he's relegated to fighting mutant poodles with a penchant for crotch attacks.

Now, I'm not saying this movie wasn't ambitious because it certainly was. Unfortunately, all its aspirations are for naught; and it all amounts to little more than odd familial drama and nonsensical CGI fisticuffs. General audiences were just as confused. After winning its opening weekend with $62+ million, it dropped a stunning 69.7% in its second.

That is the steepest decline on record for a film that opened at number one. The Hulk does fight his evil father as a cloud, though, so there's that.

Now, sit back, crush a couple of Voodoo Ranger Captain Dynamite Hazy IPAs from New Belgium Brewing, and try not to fall asleep from boredom! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Capt. Cash, Chumpzilla, and Mayor McCheese are wrestling some mutant dogs!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – Despite his Oscar pedigree, Ang Lee struggled to find the proper balance between art and excitement. (00:00) 
• Lingering Questions – After a word from our pals at The Double Turn Podcast, we determine what could have livened this film up. (42:31)
• The "Hulk Smashed" Trivia Challenge – We hear from our beer bros. at Hop Nation USA, and then Chumpzilla challenges the field to a series of trivia questions about the movie. (1:24:50)
• Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week; and next up: It's the second of our HBO Max specials, Godzilla vs Kong. (1:38:28)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—the comedy stylings of Eric Bana and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, and Amazon Music!

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