Hancock Review
by tom elce (dr-pepperite AT hotmail DOT com)July 6th, 2008
Hancock (2008)
2.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Tom Elce
Director: Peter Berg
Cast: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron, Darrell Foster, Daeg Faerch, Valerie Azlynn, Lauren Hill, David Mattey, Kate Clarke, Shea Curry, Lily Mariye, Rio Ahn, Trieu Tran, Adam Del Rio, Alexandra Nowak, Sumalee Montano, Kyla Dang, Atticus Shaffer
Rated: PG-13 (MPAA), 12A (BBFC)
Hancock (Will Smith) is the superhero everybody in his city seems to hate. Everytime he tries to use his powers for good, he messes it up somehow, usually costing the city millions of dollars in damage, and he never cares. He's halfway towards fulfilling the requirements set out by Spider-Man's uncle, having the power but none of the responsibility. Enter public relations guy Ray (Jason Bateman), who come up with some ideas to transform Hancock's image when the alcoholic superhero saves him from a train-collision death. Obviously, it won't be easy transforming a superhero as rude as Hancock.
The latest superhero flick to come swooping in, "Hancock" wants to think itself original by having a superhero who isn't immediately likeable and whose personal problems stretch beyond simply having that girl next door he always loves. Once the main plot sets in, however, the film begins to reveal itself, eventually conforming to the demands of formulaic plotting. Aside from that, it simply isn't as entertaining as the better superhero films to have come out in recent years, like the underrated "Hulk," the "Spider-Man" movies or the soon- to-be sequelized "Batman Begins."
For a film also considered to be a comedy, "Hancock" isn't nearly as funny as it seems to think itself. Too many of the jokes, for example, go the homophobic route (as in an opening scene in which Hancock makes suggestive comments about three guys in a car, and another in which he refers to various comic-book heroes as homos), distasteful and disheartening in the way they seem to appear in every studio blockbuster. Better is a scene in which Hancock has a run-in with the taunting Michel (Daeg Faerch), though even this was given away in the marketing campaign.
One thing that the marketing campaign didn't give away is the storyline involving Ray's wife Mary (Charlize Theron), one of "Hancock"'s few refreshing elements. The way in which a connection between herself and Hancock is revealed shouldn't really be given away. Simply put, it's one of the film's most worthwhile elements, though the dullness of Mary in general cannot be totally put to the back of the mind.
Will Smith, having recently been in a couple of good films with 2006's "The Pursuit of Happyness" and 2007's "I Am Legend," takes a step down with his latest role. Whereas Hancock is supposed to be difficult to like, it's impossible to commit to disliking him simply because of Will Smith's natural, familiar charm. The way he performs as Hancock, too, is more deadpan-humorous than believably mean. In supporting parts, Charlize Theron (taking a much-needed break from dirtying herself up for the camera) and Jason Bateman don't stretch themselves whatsoever, instead being overshadowed by a few of the film's smaller parts, notably Daeg Faerch's excellent appearance as Michel.
Opening with a car chase in which Hancock costs the city millions of dollars through his "heroics," director Peter Berg (he of 2007's ham- fisted "The Kingdom") and screenwriters Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan introduce the title character as an appropriately inept crimefighter but don't appear to know where to go from there. His inevitable transformation into a more capable superhero achieved with little surprise or inspiration along the way, reliant more on cheap emotional moments and even cheaper humour than on forward-moving plot
developments.
In a summer that has already scene the good, if overpraised, "Iron Man" and looks forward to the upcoming "The Dark Knight" and "Hellboy II," "Hancock" is destined to disappear from the memory upon visitation of these more promising films. The supposed victim of several script re-writes, it would have been interesting to see what the initial finished product would have looked like. As is, however, the film is consistent with far too many hollow summer films, nowhere near as bad as last year's "Transformers" but, as I said, nowhere near the level of a "Batman Begins" or "Spider-Man 2."
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