Hancock is an uneven mess, made even more so with a constantly shaking camera, that often reminded me on Battlefield Earth (2000), confused with itself as a genre film, taking itself too seriously – not knowing if it is an adventure, comedy, thriller, romance or a superhero movie. The concept of a bum superhero who needs to improve his public image is cool, but the movie unfortunately is a dud.
Hancock (Will Smith) has supernatural powers, he can fly faster than a speeding bullet, is stronger than any other substance, but is a bum who wrecks stuff while catching crooks. He causes more damage than the criminals he catches. People are not happy about that and want him in jail. He happens to save the life of Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) a grateful P.R. man who suggests that Hancock should go to jail and just wait until the city needs him again. Crime rises in the city and Hancock is back, but now an improved man after some jail time.
Hancock doesn’t know who he is or where he came from, the only thing he knows is that he woke up in Miami 80 years ago with two movie tickets in his pocket for the new Frankenstein movie. Hancock gets interested in Ray’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron). She’s basically playing human kryptonite.
The big problem Hancock has to face is himself. He’s an alcoholic superhero that needs to find his footing in life. His redemption will be from being a hero, – or will it?
Are you still reading? If so, you are probably getting more out of the movie than I did.
Hancock stores no surprises for anyone who has seen the trailer, the scenes actually look less interesting as they are cut in the movie than as they are cut in the trailers. The CGI is overused and becomes tedious and boring with time. Unfortunately the movie is more about destroying stuff for the heck of it, than about character, since none of the characters are believable.
Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman are abysmal in their roles, but Will Smith keeps his cool as usual, and will probably not get hurt from making this movie, since some people might actually think it to be cool, even though you will probably find it in the bargain bins unusually fast after the first DVD release later this year, I assume. You can probably buy it cheap next summer, but I recommend against it.
There is a twist in the story, involving another being with super strength, but I’m not going to spoil that surprise, since some people might get annoyed.
Will Smith has made many sub-par sci-fi movies, and even though this is more a superhero movie than sci-fi, it reminded me of movies he has made that I found promising, but disappointing as well. Hancock is even on a lower standard than Independence Day (1996), I Robot (2004), and I am Legend (2007) – movies I was slightly disappointed with, but found to have some redeeming qualities, – it’s more like Wild Wild West (1999), that abysmal movie almost forgotten. It’s of the same quality. I mentioned to my friend as we were leaving the theatre that the very bad Pathfinder (2007) was even more enjoyable. He nodded his head in amused agreement, since we never even expected that one to be any good.
One thing Hancock helped me appreciate that I have my own mind and can separate my ideas from the stuff that I watch.
Questions:
1. Why didn’t the filmmakers attempt to fulfill the promise in the trailer?
2. Why did they have to go psycho babbling with sentimentality in a superhero movie?
3. Are filmmakers sometimes so afraid of getting stuck in one genre that they ruin their own films by avoiding clichés?
Quote:
Ray Embrey: People don’t like you, Hancock.
Hancock: Do I look like I care what people think?
Director: Peter Berg
Rating: 4
Hancock is an uneven mess, made even more so with a constantly shaking camera, that often reminded me on Battlefield Earth (2000), confused with itself as a genre film, taking itself too seriously – not knowing if it is an adventure, comedy, thriller, romance or a superhero movie. The concept of a bum superhero who needs to improve his public image is cool, but the movie unfortunately is a dud.
Hancock (Will Smith) has supernatural powers, he can fly faster than a speeding bullet, is stronger than any other substance, but is a bum who wrecks stuff while catching crooks. He causes more damage than the criminals he catches. People are not happy about that and want him in jail. He happens to save the life of Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) a grateful P.R. man who suggests that Hancock should go to jail and just wait until the city needs him again. Crime rises in the city and Hancock is back, but now an improved man after some jail time.
Hancock doesn’t know who he is or where he came from, the only thing he knows is that he woke up in Miami 80 years ago with two movie tickets in his pocket for the new Frankenstein movie. Hancock gets interested in Ray’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron). She’s basically playing human kryptonite.
The big problem Hancock has to face is himself. He’s an alcoholic superhero that needs to find his footing in life. His redemption will be from being a hero, – or will it?
Are you still reading? If so, you are probably getting more out of the movie than I did.
Hancock stores no surprises for anyone who has seen the trailer, the scenes actually look less interesting as they are cut in the movie than as they are cut in the trailers. The CGI is overused and becomes tedious and boring with time. Unfortunately the movie is more about destroying stuff for the heck of it, than about character, since none of the characters are believable.
Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman are abysmal in their roles, but Will Smith keeps his cool as usual, and will probably not get hurt from making this movie, since some people might actually think it to be cool, even though you will probably find it in the bargain bins unusually fast after the first DVD release later this year, I assume. You can probably buy it cheap next summer, but I recommend against it.
There is a twist in the story, involving another being with super strength, but I’m not going to spoil that surprise, since some people might get annoyed.
Will Smith has made many sub-par sci-fi movies, and even though this is more a superhero movie than sci-fi, it reminded me of movies he has made that I found promising, but disappointing as well. Hancock is even on a lower standard than Independence Day (1996), I Robot (2004), and I am Legend (2007) – movies I was slightly disappointed with, but found to have some redeeming qualities, – it’s more like Wild Wild West (1999), that abysmal movie almost forgotten. It’s of the same quality. I mentioned to my friend as we were leaving the theatre that the very bad Pathfinder (2007) was even more enjoyable. He nodded his head in amused agreement, since we never even expected that one to be any good.
One thing Hancock helped me appreciate that I have my own mind and can separate my ideas from the stuff that I watch.
Questions:
1. Why didn’t the filmmakers attempt to fulfill the promise in the trailer?
2. Why did they have to go psycho babbling with sentimentality in a superhero movie?
3. Are filmmakers sometimes so afraid of getting stuck in one genre that they ruin their own films by avoiding clichés?
Quote:
Ray Embrey: People don’t like you, Hancock.
Hancock: Do I look like I care what people think?
Director: Peter Berg