Seeing how my wife and I attended an advanced screening of Hancock before it opened, I am going to be careful not to reveal too much in my review. I felt like it was a great honor to write about a movie BEFORE it opened so I could truly inform my readers about whether or not to see it. Before I go any further, I want you to know that it is my opinion that this movie is worth seeing…but just don’t rush out in a hurry.
Now that we have the legalities out of the way, let me just tell you that whatever you have seen in the trailers and whatever sense you get about the story of Hancock, you are going to be very much surprised by the actual movie. Going into Hancock, I was expecting to see a totally different movie than what I did. Granted, I only chose to watch the opening teaser trailer and then one other trailer afterwards; I intentionally chose not to immerse myself in plot-revealing trailers that movies debut these days. I wanted to walk into Hancock with as little information as I could so as to not over-expect and end up being let down. Armed with an expectation of a summer superhero movie with a twist (the twist being that the superhero doesn’t actually want to be a superhero), I walked into Hancock expecting as much and left the movie feeling a lot more emotionally spent than what I thought I would.
The film stumbles a bit as it appears to be a comedy at first, then moves quickly to being dark, but then slides a little downhill towards a “take-it-serious” film. From the outset, a drunk hero with an attitude, who goes around saving people sounds pretty laughable and funny, but then it suddenly and quickly turns to a dark movie. The character of John Hancock (Will Smith) is not a likable guy. He is rough, and not just comically rough like you’d expect out of lovable Smith, he is a straight up jerk. Will Smith fans will have a hard time with this one. His distrust and general indifference towards human beings really pervades everything that he is about, so much so that for most of the movie I was finding myself rooting against him. I don’t root against Will Smith. I love Will Smith.
As strong as his performance is though, there are quite a few things about this movie that are just plain corny. There appears to be a few sequencing errors that left my wife and I wondering why they were filmed in that order…scenes that don’t make sense in the setting of the story. There is also a multitude of back story that we weren’t given yet had to make guesswork about because without it, the story doesn’t connect correctly. Let’s just say that the majority of my friends didn’t even know Charlize Theron is in the movie, and towards the middle of the film when she is heavily involved in another storyline (which is the storyline that eventually took over the movie) it was apparent that the movie shifted into more of a melodrama than a “summer blockbuster superhero movie.”
The first half of the movie is really exciting and engaging, the special effects and action sequences are spectacular and I love the ride that the film takes you on. One of the more subtle characteristics of Hancock that I find really interesting is that when he flies, he looks awkward. His arms flail about to his sides like he doesn’t really know how to fly like “Superman” because he’s not! He’s just a regular guy who happens to be indestructible and immortal and who also happens to fly. I was glad to see the director keep Hancock as human as he could because the story, I felt, would suffer if he was “more than life” or over-the-top superhero.
I really think Jason Bateman is a perfect cast in this movie. I have always liked him as an actor, fell in love with him in Arrested Development, and think that his role in Hancock is one of the more endearing and “saving” characters of the film. His character is humble and wise, trusting in Hancock when he’s too screwed up for anyone else to give him a chance. His discernment in Hancock’s situation truly serves as a cornerstone for how heartfelt and caring Bateman’s character is. He added that much needed laugh when the movie tried too hard to engage your emotional core, it was like his character was telling us, “Look, this is about a guy who is immortal like Superman but who drinks and cusses, let’s not get too carried away with reality.” Besides the humor he adds to his roles, I also think, as an actor, he adds a comical class and charm to the films he makes.
It was a very enjoyable film regardless, it just needed to pick a direction that it wanted to go in and stay the course. It’s not one of Will Smith’s best films and it won’t be remembered as his strongest, but it will make a lot of money and be at the top…for about a month, until The Dark Knight comes out of course.
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johnny thunders
i really really loved the first half of the film, it’s really fun and has some exceptionally great moments.
the second half kinda fizzles out. i understand what they were going for as the climax of the movie, but it just didn’t build to what the story needed. there needed to be a much bigger scene at the end with bigger stakes, something for him to stand up against. it just kinda fell flat at the end.
i loved that jason bateman’s part was so big, as he doesn’t have much in the trailers and i wasn’t expecting all of that. and i really liked the idea of the origin of the characters and that it’s not ever fully explained. it gives a lot to think about and i’d like to see it explored more, even if not in the film medium. it’s a great concept.
i thought smith’s character was great the whole time and was never rooting against him.
also, i’m kinda confused by this statement. “There appears to be a few sequencing errors that left my wife and I wondering why they were filmed in that order…scenes that don’t make sense in the setting of the story.”
i don’t really know what specifically you are talking about, as i had no problems like that.
June 29, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Dan
I don’t want to speak in specifics until the movie has come out so I don’t reveal any spoilers…
June 30, 2008 at 7:00 am
Donna
I appreciate not saying too much about specifics as we are definetely going to see the movie (big Will Smith fan) and don’t really want to know a lot about it yet…
June 30, 2008 at 7:11 am
johnny thunders
oh, come on. clearly the people that haven’t seen it yet just haven’t tried hard enough if we’ve both already seen it.
anyway, facebook it to me or something. i wanna know what you’re talking about.
June 30, 2008 at 7:58 am
Troy Sims
Alright I think I still want to go see it. I love Will Smith too Dan! And I thank you also for not spoiling too much. I’m still looking forward to the movie, I think I just need to tone down my excitement for it.
June 30, 2008 at 8:39 am
Dan
I think that’s a great way to look at it Troy. It was a good movie and I am glad that I didn’t walk into it expecting too much.
June 30, 2008 at 8:45 am
Troy Sims
ok now that I’ve seen it. I really enjoyed it. I thought Will Smith did a great job with the character. I must say that Charlize Theron totally shocked me (don’t want to say too much more
)
I think my only problem with the whole movie was that I thought the language was pretty rough for a PG-13.
Ok Dan I want you to email me with the “sequence errors” also, cause I didn’t see anything that seemed out of sorts.
Anyways I recommend the movie with a warning about the language.
July 2, 2008 at 7:55 am
patrick
Hancock looks like interesting spin on the latest superhero movie craze… if nothing else at least Will Smith tends to be pretty funny
July 3, 2008 at 4:23 am
Dan
Thanks for your comment Patrick. It definitely was an interesting twist on the latest superhero craze, which tends to make for some pretty great films.
Smith, though, wasn’t as funny as you’re probably used to him being. His humor comes in the form of not caring, like dropping a car on another car and saying something like, “Oh, my bad.”
July 3, 2008 at 6:23 am
Scotto
Well, well, well…the Mrs and I went to go and check out Hancock for ourselves. We were somewhat impressed. Not the greatest Will Smith movie, but certainly not the worst! After reading all of the previous comments, I was skeptical about seeing it, and that helped.
Great part for me was that I thought that the concept for the Superhero angle was original. And you know how I love original (most of the time anyway). Already though, I can see prequels/sequels/or even a mini-series spin off! But I am a visionary…just kidding! But it was refreshing to have a new hero…even a reluctant one!
Overall this was good and I that I got my $8.25 worth, but there are a couple of detractions from the film.
Like you Dan, I felt there were too many storylines. Even the climatic moments had like three stories thrust together just so you’d have a “traditional” movie. Seemed that they tried to make a 4 hour movie into what the movie was. Cause really…with all that was going, you could have had a 4 hour movie!
On that note: I think that I noticed the out of sequence part Dan was referring to, but I could be wrong. Email me Danno! I’d love to compare notes! Ha ha!
Other than that, I wish they’d given us a better villain. I think side of the movie gets lost! Nothing stuck out to me on that side of things. They tried, but they failed on that!
Overall, if you havent seen it, I believe it’s worth it! This is definitely a movie that you have to make your own judgment.
On to The Dark Night!!! Pew, Pew!! Pew, Pew!! (for JThunder!)
July 5, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Donna
We went to see it this weekend and we really liked it. I truly enjoy movies that surprise me and this one did. Thanks for not letting anything out about it. It was a very entertaining movie and we had fun watching it!!!
July 6, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Claire Moviepilot
Ok well i didn’t enjoy the movie too much but i think it was because i saw it when i was in kenya working in an orphanage where we were starving from the lack of food, so to me it was just a really superficial, hollywood movie with no depth to it whatsoever.
However i’ve seen it again recently, and now that i’ve fully re-intergrated in the western way of life (!), i must say it wasnt as bad as i first thought.
It is still a silly, hollywood entertainment movie, but it’s different from the usual, there is a lot of cynisim and dark humor about human existence, which i quite enjoyed. And Will Smith’s performance as the drunk bast**d who doesn’t give a damm is just great!
August 5, 2009 at 2:23 am