Mindless action films get a bad rep in the world of cinema, but there are a number of ways they can be good. It's particularly helpful, for example, if the action is original, varied, or presented in some way that appeals to a primordial desire for destruction. The Hulk would seem to be precisely the character to deliver on such levels. Unfortunately, his latest movie, Planet Hulk, is yet another entry in a line of Hulk films that don't quite work. In this one, the writers sacrificed story and character depth in order to pack the film with action, but they did little to make that action fun.

Since Hulk has become too destructive for Earth to handle, a team of superheroes has sent him away on a spaceship to a planet with plant life and wild game to live off of but no intelligent life to harm. When Hulk wakes up mid-flight and discovers what is going on, he has one of his tantrums, which knocks the ship off-course, into a wormhole, and onto Sakaar, a planet ruled by a repressive king called the Red King. The prophets of this world believe the Hulk is a savior, but the king, naturally, does not, so he forces him to fight as a gladiator. If Hulk and his team of a handful of other political prisoners can survive three rounds of fighting, they go free.

Planet Hulk's creators made the mistake of thinking that all an action film needs in order to be successful is loads and loads of fighting. Practically the entire film is one long string of fight scenes - something that most movies with similar aims cannot say for themselves. However, in this all-out effort to provide action in great quantity, the filmmakers sacrificed the action's quality. The fights consist almost solely of swinging swords, pounding fists, and abnormally high jumps. Most of the Hulk's enemies aren't interesting or cool-looking, either, and the few awesome ones that are there are dispatched too quickly for their design to be fully appreciated. Oddly, the film spends more time on the mundane foes, like rock monsters and humanoid warriors. I appreciate the attempt to go all-out with the action, but this action is not dynamic enough to warrant such a heavy focus.

There are potentially rewarding story elements here, but they all exist to steer the plot into more action scenes. One of Hulk's fellow prisoners was arrested because he disagreed with the elders who believe that the Red King is Sakaar's prophesied savior. This plot point is used not as a way to build a story about religious persecution but to provide another heroic character that is forced to fight as a gladiator. There is a villain who has devoted herself to the protection of the king because he saved her from a biological attack on her village. Instead of using this character to create a story about loyalty and personal obligation, the writers use her background to put her toe-to-toe with the Hulk. Every element of this movie exists to serve the action. Since the action is not that good, this is a huge problem.

The film's most flawed element, though, is its characterization of the Hulk. To begin with, there is no Bruce Banner here, only Hulk - a fatal omission. The very premise of the character, the thing that allows us to relate to him, is the fact that he is a human who cannot control his anger. Banner's unwanted Hulk-side is a metaphor for that uncontrolled (and perhaps uncontrollable) rage. This is all lost in Planet Hulk. He has been downgraded to a green monster with big muscles. Upon this flaw, more flaws build. There are plenty of moments at which the Hulk calms down - even to levels of placidity - so why doesn't he change back into his human self? Creating even more inconsistency is the fact that Iron Man sends Hulk a message on his ship, explaining that they had to send him away because the Hulk could not control himself (nor could anyone else control him) and was too destructive for Earth. Yet, at multiple points in the movie, this big green id somehow demonstrates not just self-control but masterful self-control. Twice, for example, he refuses the chance to kill the king who has forced him into these gladiatorial contests. At other times, he calmly rests in his dungeon-like cell even as his fellow prisoners scheme to excape. And Earth couldn't handle him?

Ironically, the film's epilogue accidentally sums up this inconsistency more precisely than I can. (Spoilers) At the end of the movie, as the Hulk walks off victorious with the other good guys, a narrator says:

He came from a place called earth, exiled by the creatures who lived there. They feared his power, but here that power was used to strike down evil, to unite the kingdoms, to restore life to all of Sakaar. And through him may we finally find peace.

So, he went from being an agent of chaos to a bringer of order. But why? Did their forcing him to fight for his life just wear him down? Is that what we should have done to him on Earth? One character tells him upon his arrival on the planet that the wormhole temporarily drains his strength, so was his strength and energy just diminished throughout the whole movie? Too many parts of this film do not make sense.

It is clear that Planet Hulk did not have lofty aims. The direct-to-home-video animated comic book movie ignored all potential for story in order to provide action, action, action. Unfortunately, that action is of the most generic sort. On top of that, the fact that the character's one trait that would have provided viewers a way to relate to him has been removed, and the character that's left is treated so flexibly that it becomes nonsensical. Usually films like these can at least be enjoyed by fans of comic books and fans of the main character in particular. In the case of Planet Hulk the fans are the ones receiving the most disservice.