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Review by Jeremy Welsch

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With the exception of the title, I have been staring at a blank word document for the last half an hour. In my head, this film has been rated from 1 star to 4 stars and back down to 1 again. Even now, I have no idea how it’s going to end up.

Hancock (Will Smith) is the anti-superhero. When he’s not saving peoples' lives he is passed out drunk on a street corner somewhere or drinking himself into a stupor on his way to being passed out drunk. He is a mess. When he isn’t drunk, he is “helping” to save the city from random low-end thugs. I use the term “helping” loosely because his nonchalant approach to property damage mid-rescue seems to be a source of great displeasure to those he is trying to help. His antics finally become too much of a cross to bear and the city turns against him. It is curious that he doesn’t seem at all fazed by the fact that people in general seem to despise his existence: he just keeps coming to their rescue.

When he saves the life of a fledgling PR executive, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), Hancock is given an interesting proposal: allow Ray to help him clean up his image so the town can realize that they really do need him around, thereby giving him renewed purpose in life. Sounds like a win-win situation, but Ray’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), has her doubts. The interactions between Hancock and Ray are some of the best parts of the movie. As for Hancock himself, I liked him more when he was being the bitter asshole that nobody liked more than when he was being the “corporate” superhero they tried to turn him in to. Story-wise, it would have been an interesting concept to allow Hancock to continue to being the sarcastic jerk he always was and instead to make the city change their approach in dealing with him. After all, they were the ones who stood to gain the most from his abilities.

But as upbeat and silly as the movie seems to be, there is something very dark lying just below the surface - and that is part of the problem with Hancock. There were traces of really interesting angles on the superhero cliché, but always just out of reach. The premise itself is intriguing but it’s almost as if they weren’t sure how to play it out. The beginning of the movie had some fascinating story elements but the CGI was distractingly bad; the middle had some great starting points for plot advances, but they went nowhere to make room for more action, and the end was just a sloppy, shameless pile of sappy Legend of Bagger Vance-type sentiment. Mixed bag doesn’t begin to describe how I felt watching this. Every time it felt like they were heading in a direction that could get things back on track, something stupid happened that made me shake my head in shame. It’s like watching Deal or No Deal and seeing some moron piss away offer after offer from the banker that would change their life forever on the slim chance that they had the million dollar case, until you finally get so frustrated with their ignorance and arrogance that you hope they walk out of there with the penny just to prove a point.

But for all of its problems, Hancock wasn’t a complete waste - more like a fistful of wasted opportunity. There is something to be said for watching the story of a superhero that isn’t based on material we are all familiar with beforehand. There are inherent risks to this approach, but the originality is refreshing. If only they could have figured out how to harness those ideas into a movie worthy of its intentions.

Film Rating: ** ½ out of ****

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Comments (5)

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limp noodle
written by Freelance, July 03, 2008

Great review!
I agree completely about the ending! They had the possibility about half way through the film to turn it around and make a pretty decent picture. But, nope, it ended very limp noodle-esque. I also hurt my eyes for how many times I winced at the awful CGI.

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written by torasham, July 07, 2008

i am just ask. which one is better from new will smith movie..?
hancock or i am legend. i do a little disappointed with i am legend.

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written by moviedotnet, July 08, 2008

The special effects guys didn't pay much respect to the laws of physics did they?

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written by Esther, July 21, 2008

I thing that Hancock was the worst movie evr!
It stinks! how did he live??

Hancock had potential
written by FilmBookdotCom, August 19, 2008

Don't even bring up I Am Legend Torasham. Do yourself a favor and read the book instead.

I felt the same way about Hancock Jeremy. Wasted potential. I did like the first act of the film though.

I was so disappointed with the second half of the film that I actually re-wrote it in my review. Let me know what you think of it: http://film-book.com/review-hancock/

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