Hancock

Hancock (2008)


Directed by: Peter Berg

Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman

Plot: A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional who's trying to repair his image. Taken from www.imdb.com.

"Wow this looks so much better on me than it did on Anna Paquin!"

Upon seeing previews of "Hancock" I was struck with a powerful sense of indifference and said "That's probably going to be shit." But the fact that "The Dark Knight" was sold out, and "Get Smart" wasn't going to be playing for another hour, and "Journey of the Center of the Earth" wasn't playing in 3-D lowered my standards enough to go see it!

The story is simple. Will Smith is John Hancock, a homeless alcoholic asshole with super powers who ends up doing more harm than good when he does good deeds. But when he saves the publicist Ray Embrey, played by Jason Bateman, Ray decides to give Hancock a better public image and help him get the praise that he deserves. Meanwhile Ray's wife Mary, played by Charlize Theron, is a total bitch. Lets get on with the review!

Hey look! It's "Teen Wolf Too" star Jason Bateman!

Will Smith plays the homeless apathetic drunken superhero wonderfully and is quite funny in the role. Smith's performance becomes weak about the same time the plot of the movie does, particularly when it gets more serious. The tonal shift kills Smith's performance dead at the 50 minute mark.

Jason Bateman... welll... he's Jason Bateman. He plays a quirky everyman with a nervous tick and an awkward somewhat nerdy disposition. But hey, he's great.

Charlize Theron plays one of the bitchiest women in the history of bitchy female characters in motion pictures. I can see why many people point to her as the villain of the piece though she tries to make up for it in the last 30 minutes but the damage has already been done.

Will Smith during the time in his career between "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Men in Black."

The special effects are fairly well done, about as well as in "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," but they all seem a bit gimmicky. Like they're just there to justify the budget.

The story is okay. It's big problem is it starts out a comedy and ends a drama and the two don't mix at all, there is a very bold dividing line between the two opposite acts of the movie and there's no crossover.

However while this change is definitely confusing it doesn't ruin the movie, the story is good just not particularly well put together.

We need an excuse to do another special effect!

"Hancock" is a pretty okay superhero movie that just doesn't quite know what it wants to do with itself.

I give "Hancock" a 3 out of 5. Rent it.