Review of "Hancock" starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, and Charlize Theron

Review of "Hancock"
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I adore Will Smith almost to the point of homosexual love that's why it pains me to admit he is mortal and often his movies are not so good. As a child growing up watching Smith movies it was very easy to gloss over (or more likely, not even notice) the plot holes and other chicanery which I now so easily observe. "Hancock," which opened July 2nd, 2008 is a decidedly uneven film.


The movie offers a new and refreshing look at the superhero. Smith plays John Hancock a drunken, rude hero of the superman type who stops crime while creating an unbelievable amount of unnecessary property damage. The city he protects, Los Angeles, hates his drunken heroics and moreover the fact that no one can hold him accountable for his belligerent actions. Into this situation steps Jason Bateman playing Ray, a LA public relations man who can't get his idea to change the world off the ground. When Ray is saved from an oncoming train by Hancock he befriends the beleaguered superhero and offers him his services in an effort to boost his image. The rest of the movie, which stems from this initial setup begins well enough but then takes some crucial wrong turns.

It seems like this movie had a chance to develop into worthwhile fiction but something went terribly wrong in the Hollywood movie making machine. Traditionally, superhero films always have a villain that acts as a foil to the protagonist. In "Hancock" Smith, Bateman, and Theron are the main focus but they decided to tack on a villain anyways. However, they do it in such a stupid, absolutely nonsensical way that it totally derails the film. The villain, who has no superpowers except being termed a "criminal mastermind" and a "psychology major" is a one armed man (If Smith's old buddy Tommy Lee Jones had joined him in this picture it could have been Fugitive 3/US Marshalls 2) whose role in the movie seem so bogus its incredible.


Overall, the first half the movie presents an interesting character and situation; Hancock's destructive acts beg the viewer to consider how they would behave with godlike abilities and no one able to restrain them. Smith, Bateman, and Theron all perform wonderfully and that does help hold the movie together. Bateman especially gives Ray some real depth, traditionally in films PR men are looked upon in a negative light. However Bateman doesn't make Ray a vomit inducing do-gooder but rather plays him as a regular person, with good intentions, who sees Hancock as his opportunity to boost his career and maybe help him achieve his relateable desire to have some type of positive impact on the world.

The running time of the film is woefully short at 92 minutes and at the end of the first two acts the whole movie seems to be finished, with a resolution completely reached. This is where the film veers off in a weird and mystical direction in which we are told certain facts point blank and forced to accept them, the flow of the story is changed very quickly for the worse. Luckily, some good direction in the last sequences of the film makes it watchable but in the back of the mind you will always be thinking about how strange the story has become. The story in the 3rd act is just not that compelling, it felt stiff and the vague answers we are given to the mystery of Hancock's origin are incredibly unsatisfying. Maybe if the last act had more depth and there was more emotional interaction (i.e. dialogue not slow motion cries of anguish) between the 3 characters it could have worked better.

Lastly, it is a shame that even in 2008 a kiss between a white and black character has to be masked or hidden from the audience, I don't know why movie executives still feel mainstream America cannot handle such a ho hum occurrence. It either reflects badly on us or their perception of us. One final note, the epilogue of the film, which could have been sweet and touching is instead totally cornball and lame.