Hulk

by Jonathan Shearon   ·    July 8, 2003

Danny Elfman’s controversial new score for Ang Lee’s $150 million mega-film Hulk has the same problem as the film itself: a terrific first act, a passable second act and a third that had no idea how to conclude the story. But how could they possibly stay true to the art film Lee seemed to be trying to make and also deliver the blockbuster franchise the studio undoubtedly wanted? Apparently Ang Lee and Danny Elfman didn’t know either.

It’s too bad they failed to find a better way to develop and conclude the story, because there is some great material on screen and the soundtrack. Though the trailers for the film did their best to convince you this was nothing more than a big, dumb action movie, Elfman’s score and the above par acting (for this kind of film anyway) added a layer of emotional complexity not usually found in the comic book genre. The Hulk is not a traditional comic book creation; he has more to do with Frankenstein than with Batman, Superman or any of the other legions of do-gooders in tights and a cape. With this in mind, the music wisely opts to score the emotions rather than attach leitmotifs to the characters.

“Main Titles,” which appeared over the film’s terrific opening credit sequence, introduces two of the major elements of the score. The first is a plunging staccato six-note motif which is heard repeatedly throughout the film. Elfman described this ominous bit as “Herrmannesque,” and indeed he uses this idea to represent Bruce Banner’s descent into the repressed psychological terrain of his childhood, much as Herrmann used the Vertigo theme to musically depict Scottie Ferguson’s trauma-induced fear of heights. The second, contrasting section is based on a bubbling ostinato for low strings (a “rage” theme) that is the musical counterpart to the Hulk’s Jungian, explosive rage. These two ideas play off of each other nicely, and give us a good aural representation of the more intangible elements of the story.

In “Betty’s Dream,” Elfman produces an ethereal and poignant theme for the shared childhood tragedies of Bruce and Betty, scored for two violins. The sensitive ambience of the playing here reminded me of Gabriel Yared’s underappreciated score for City of Angels. There is also a sad, mysterioso love theme for the adult Betty and Bruce in the woodwinds, which parallels the “childhood” music (there is a great sense of duality in the Hulk score which is indicative of the emergent nature of the main character).

“Prologue” and “Captured” are two of the film’s most surprising and effective cues. In “Prologue” Elfman employs the use of microtonal harmony in the orchestra (whereby the scale is divided into twenty-four or more tones rather than the traditional twelve of western harmony) and a vocalist singing in the traditional makam-based style of the Middle East and northern Africa in “Captured.” I can’t ascertain why this sort of music is here, other than perhaps because much of the action takes place in the desert. However, since it is the desert of New Mexico, it would seem that Native American music might have offered the same kind of effect and been more appropriate. This is likely the kind of score that Mychael Danna was writing before his score was rejected by the studio heads, so perhaps it was something Ang Lee simply couldn’t part with. Even though it is wildly out of place amongst the rest of Elfman’s music, it works surprisingly well, and adds a seriousness and gravity to the film that it sorely needs. The rhythmic propulsion of makam-based music makes it ideal as pseudo-action music and adds some heft and interest to the rather boring “transport” desert scenes.

Unfortunately, the last half of the album doesn’t live up to the promise of the first. Many of the cues like “Hulk Out!”, “Hounds of Hell” and “The Lake Battle” drift off into aimless, routine action music. The “Herrmannesque” motif and the “rage” theme from “Prologue” have worn out their welcome by this point, as Elfman makes no attempt to vary or develop them. “The Aftermath” and the penultimate track “The Phone Call”, return to the reflective love and childhood themes from the beginning of the film, and would have been a better note to end on than the brief main title rehash “End Credits”, which at just over a minute seems to be in a huge hurry to get out of the way of the obligatory rock song “Set Me Free.” I don’t know for whom “Set Me Free” was included. Latent Stone Temple Pilots/Guns N’ Roses fans? It doesn’t work as the musical finale for this film, and it’s just a terrible and severely dated rock song in any case.

As good as some parts of Hulk are, the last half of the film is essentially a mess, and the same goes for the score. There is still much to like, however, both for diehard fans of Danny Elfman and for the casual listener, and this score seems to be a sign of Elfman’s increasing maturity as a composer. The depth and creativity he shows at the beginning of the album only makes me wish he had been allowed to develop it into something great instead of merely good.