Starring: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron
Director: Peter Berg
Screenplay: Vincent Ngo, Vincent Gilligan
Cinematography: Tobias A. Schleissler
Running Time: 92 mins.
On watching the trailer for Hancock you may well go in to the cinema expecting to be seeing a parody of a superhero film. Now whilst this is 50% true it is also 50% misleading, Hancock is very much a film of two halves, and at the halfway point the weaker part of the story seems to take over, meaning what started as very promising ends up being, quite frankly, a bit of a mess where the bad seems to outweigh the good. In a nutshell John Hancock (Will Smith) is a reluctant superhero, more interested in getting drunk (he’s an alcoholic see) than saving people, and when he does save people he causes great damage at huge cost to the city meaning that citizens despise rather than embrace him. Enter Jason Bateman’s failing PR guy, saved by Hancock, prompted into helping save Hancock’s image making him into a true hero a la Superman. What ensues is Hancocks transition, and very funny it is too, the problem is the film makers clearly decided that this alone did not a movie make! So we have a shoe-in Lex Luthor style bad guy, and a very dramatic plot involving a secret held by Charlize Theron, Ray’s (Bateman’s) wife.
Its on revelation of said secret that the film takes a turn from what was a pretty stupid, but entertainingly funny, comedy to a dramatic superhero film thats dull enough to rival Ang Lee’s Hulk. The saving grace through it all are two fantastic performances, Will Smith finally gets to play an actual superhero, something thats been called for in Hollywood for a long long time. His early scenes of drunken ‘rescues’ are very funny and do so well what My Super Ex-Girlfriend failed to in making fun of the superhero genre while being clever and making an actual superhero in the process. The way Hancock flies drunk is inspired and despite what many reviews have stated the effects are brilliant as hancock crashes into numerous buildings and throws cars as if they were feathers. Smith also deals with the dramatic transition well, despite the story itself being poor. The other strength is Bateman, playing the almost thankless everyman, he has an inspired scene towards the end that very much turns the genre on its head.
The script for Hancock has been in development for years with it initially called Tonight, He Comes! this will give you an idea of how the saturation of the script has turned what was once a very adult film, allegedly a scene of superhero sex was included, into a family friendly Will Smith vehicle. Yes Hancock’s an alcoholic but this is not hammered home, and is about the only darkness that seems to have remained from the original script. Rounding out the main cast is Charlize Theron who can be amazing (In The Valley Of Elah), but equally she can be very poor, as she is here, whilst not entirely her fault, she barely features in the films earlier stages then takes on a massive role that she seems uncomfortable with later on, and the emotional pull the film needs to carry off its dramatic ‘twist’ is severly lacking. The other weakness served on the film is the almost obligatory need to introduce a ’super-villain’, but this plot strand is so tacked-on it feels redundant and only serves to hinder the plot, which is a great problem when a 90 minute film feels long.
VERDICT
There are two films within Hancock, one very funny adn the other a very poor dramatic effort. It’s just a great shame that the poor latter half outweighs what was good in the first. Not a complete disaster and well worth watching for the excellent special effects and two good performances, but overall it’s frustrating at what could have been if I were reviewing Tonight, He Comes….not the saturated Hancock.
