Hancock

The thing that might be the most telling of the movie Hancock was my reaction when the first end movie credit popped up. I hadn't done a whole lot of researching of the movie before hand and so was not aware of the director as I watched it. Then when the credit for Peter Berg appeared I immediately thought to myself, "yeah, that makes a lot of sense." The camera tends to move a bit too fast, there are far too many close ups of people and the comic timing is disastrously off when he attempts to more vulgar humor.

Hancock (Will Smith) is a drunken, depressed hero with powers virtually identical to Superman but with none of the Midwest instilled ideals. He spends his days drinking too much and when he can be motivated to stop the bad guys the damage he causes is often in the millions and all this frequently for a stolen car or some other smaller crime. Hated by the public with prosecutors wanting to put him in jail but being unable to do so, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) who was recently saved by Hancock decides to help re-build Hancock's image. This involves him voluntarily going to jail and seeking anger counseling. There is more to the story which includes more proper super hero saves and a villain and the hero being put in grave danger by his one weakness but I'm not going to mention them because I knew one of the secrets of the movie due to a poorly edited trailer that gave it all away and one of the big reveals was just kind of boring as a result.

I'll try to avoid ranting about the state of movie previews these days and how they usually spoil everything about the movie or show all of the scenes that are good but you see them a thousand times before the movie opens and thus they lose their impact. The idea of Hancock was really good. A super hero who is truly fighting inner demons of loneliness and not knowing who he is and who succumbs to real world problems like alcohol is a pretty damn good idea in theory. The fact that the collateral damage caused by the hero saving the day is addressed is also pretty interesting.

Sadly much like My Super Ex-Girlfriend from a while back, this movie just loses itself in the familiar cliches of a super hero film. Apparently trying to fool us with an incomprehensible back story and inane character development, the film pretty much falls into the rut of all super hero films by the middle of the movie. Because we all know anger issues and alcoholism can be wrapped up neatly in a few weeks. Smith does what he can with the role but without his trademark jokes and smile that make him the popular blockbuster draw that he is. Instead we get a more morose character which is certainly different but I'm not sure I buy into. Bateman plays the same character he always plays which some people like but frankly I'm tired of it. His quirky funny man routine works in some things such as "Arrested Development" or as an adult who hasn't grown up yet in Juno but here it just comes off as goofy and unconvincing.

When the movie isn't being mediocre its being down right terrible. The sequence when Hancock goes to prison includes a tasteless variation on prison rape that just made me sigh in sadness that it had to go down that road. Not to mention that the song that plays when Hancock enters the prison is the absolute wrong song to be playing. It doesn't fit the tone of the movie or the scene and is just pointless. This was worse than most regular super hero movies and they frequently don't make any sense at all.