Hancock (2008)

Director: Peter Berg

Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: There are heroes. There are superheroes. And then there's...

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.



My Rating: 6/10

Would I watch it again? Unlikely, unless a REALLY extended director's cut comes out that fixes it's main problems.

I like Will. I LOVES me some Charlize and Jason kills me (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT is one of the best shows EVER). I went in not expecting much of anything and I left pleasantly surprised and somewhat entertained.

HANCOCK (a criminal during the end credits hilariously calls him Handjob) starts with showing us that H is in a bad way. He's gruff, careless (though he succeeds, it's to the detriment of those around him) and in a slump. When he saves Bateman, Bateman returns the favor by trying to restore his image. Here comes the second part of the story.

He's going through his "rehab" and gets the chance to redeem himself in the public's fickle eyes. Does he fuck it up? I won't tell. He makes the moves on Theron. YOU WILL NOT SEE THIS COMING! It's pretty fucking awesome. This leads us into the final third of the film where we have conflict resolution but not in the way you think.


On the whole I really liked it. I'm shocked by that but it was fun and, most of all, a welcomed different take on the super hero genre. The problem, and this is a biggie, is that it's so obviously divided into three chunks and that they don't give us time to deal with the first third before we're FORCED into the second and again for the third. I couldn't help but feel that there was a lot more filmed and trimmed. It's only 92 minutes and it literally flys by. There's a good 20 minutes or more that feels missing.

In the second act, in H's first moment of good deeds, we're introduced to a bank robber and his thugs. H naturally saves the day and puts these people in prison. They sit there until the third act where they present a major threat to H and everyone else. This was totally unnecessary as the story that was built up to at that point was quite compelling. If it had been a random act of senseless violence caused by a mugging or something that would have been just as good (if not better) than bringing the criminals from the second act into the third. It was so contrived it hurt.

Speaking of hurt, I would have liked them to have dealt more with Bateman's character once the film shifts in tone halfway through. They don't discard him outright but his emotions do get the short end of the stick. Before you know it the movie's over and everyone's (?) on the train to Happysville. I really hope they release an extended cut. I don't mean one of those "throw in some blood and tits" cuts but a LORD OF THE RINGS-type of cut with a lot more character development. Then I'd be satisfied. Otherwise this was just one of those movies that you see while you wait for the new Batman movie, THE DARK KNIGHT on July 18.