Hulk [Soundtrack]

1)He just scored SPIDER-MAN, for cryin' out loud! Anyone else sense a certain lack of originality, here?

2)The Hulk is BIG! Hulk is BAD!! HULK SMASH!!! HULK is the exact type of film/character that needs a booming score full of percussion and . . . . well, BOOMs! And that is exactly why John Williams would be the perfect choice for composer; think about it: STAR WARS, SUPERMAN, INDIANA JONES, E.T. . . . . all Williams, as well as much, much more. Meanwhile, Danny Elfman's style is for the most part the exact opposite: slow, mysterious, eerie, unsettling. In short, anything BUT loud, percussion BOOMS!

3)A THEME! I need a THEME, for cryin' out loud!! One of the most important reasons Williams is the #1 film composer is that he is the king of THEME! Think of all the films I previously stated (as well as the rest of his entire filmography); all had recognizable themes. I can only think of one time which Danny Elfman did this: in BATMAN. And that's another thing . . . . . from the man who gave The Dark Night his ultra-memorable score, I would expect much better! The Hulk has no recognizable theme whatsoever. SPIDER-MAN had the exact same problem. This is utter blasphemy; it is practically a written RULE that a superhero MUST have his/her own good theme that one can easily recognize!

In short, Danny Elfman was simply the wrong person to write the music for HULK. John Williams was, on the other hand, the RIGHT guy.

Allright, you're all probably getting tired of this Williams-Elfman comparison. So I'll just concentrate on the actual music now. Once again, HULK suffers the same problems that SPIDER-MAN did. Both are bland scores overall. But while SPIDER-MAN was just that, HULK is bland AND feels incredibly rushed. It has no direction, and it's all very random.

Okay, enough with the cons. Do not think that I feel HULK's music is necessarily BAD . . . . . . . it's just not that GOOD. Oh, and maybe I was wrong to state that HULK has no theme. It has one, allright. I've got it! The problem is that the theme doesn't match the actual character/movie! If the music were put in another movie it would be another story. Or, another idea would be to have two seperate themes: one for the actual Hulk, and the existing theme (more psychological than BOOM) for Bruce Banner. But alas, such is not so.

Why then, through all these cons and shuns do I give this CD three stars instead of 2 or 1? Well, like I said before, While it ain't terrific, it ain't terrible, either. It's one of those CDs that you just put on for the sake of listening to music that you don't really have to pay attention to/you can dual-task with. John Wiliams writes music that truly captures your entire attention. HULK does not. However, despite the numerous bland tracks, a few actually are pretty good. Just try and not think of Hulk smashing tanks while listening. Instead, try to think of Bruce Banner's psychologically-torn persona. In that case, it actually works very well.