Hancock Movie Review
By Jason Revill
When it comes to comic books, the ones that really get my attention generally have a deconstructionist slant to them. That is to say, I like it when you take what people expect from your typical super hero and spin it around on me. So when I heard that Hancock was about a super powered drunk who’s a bit of a prick, well my interest was piqued. Unfortunately, it may not be as strong a film as it could have been, but as far as Will Smith Fourth of July summer blockbusters go, it isn’t terrible.
Being the only super powered person on the planet can be a bit of a burden and Hancock (Will Smith) hasn’t handled it so well. Spending most of his time coping by living in a drunken stupor he isn’t exactly in the best mindset anytime he’s roused from sleeping one off to save the less fortunate. Consequently, he’s racked up millions of dollars in property damage and has hundreds of lawsuits pending against him. To put it mildly people don’t like him and he doesn’t care much for people. Of course, that changes after he saves struggling PR man Ray Embry (Jason Bateman) from getting hit by a train. In return, Ray goes against his wife Mary’s (Charlize Theron) wishes and promises to clean up Hancock’s image by righting the wrongs he’s responsible for due to his drunken negligence. But when a criminal he put away comes back for revenge just as his past starts to be revealed, Hancock may have more to worry about than a hangover.
Hancock simply doesn’t work without Will Smith, plain and simple. He occasionally has the tendency to overplay a character for laughs, but here he does a great job of not only using his own charm, but making Hancock just enough of a sullen curmudgeon that you like him even when you’re not supposed to. As the second banana, Jason Bateman uses his comic chops to subtly slide in on-liners and handles Hancock with the same sort of patient exasperation as he did the Bluth family. And as far as Charlize Theron goes, well, without giving too much away, it would appear that she’s just a pretty face with a mean stink eye for the reluctant hero, but there’s more going on there than you think.
Admittedly, I’m not director Peter Berg’s biggest fan and his work here is hit and miss, but when he’s on he’s on. The thing that makes Hancock good is the fact that it is portrayed with a bit of realism so that his actions have consequences, but shaky hand held close-ups of the stars’ faces really over sells it, especially when he’s trying to hint at future plot developments. Tonally, there are elements as well that Berg should have left out. You can’t have Hancock cartoonishly shove one man’s head up another man’s rectum and also play up the gritty realism. There are either repercussions to the things Hancock does or there aren’t. You can’t have it both ways. Also on the note of tone, this is not a super hero for kids. The language alone is enough to make parents with younger ones uncomfortable. Being called an a-hole is almost Hancock’s catchphrase.
I’m not going to sit here and act like Hancock is a great movie. It’s nowhere near the best comic book movie of the summer. In fact, it’s probably the worst, but Iron Man was arguably the best of the genre and The Incredible Hulk was pretty entertaining in and of itself. There’s a good chance this movie is going to take an undeserved beating from the critics, but this may be a situation where they've given good reviews to the other comic films this summer and knowing they've got to slap praise on Batman in a couple weeks they'll all dog pile on Hancock. It’s definitely pretty front heavy with its weak climax that could have benefited from a longer run time, but Smith’s super charisma carries it to the finish line.
The Grade
- Story: C+
- Acting: B
- Visuals: B-
- Originality: B
- Enjoyability: B
- Overall: B-
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