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.

This movie was hard to watch. Literally, when it was over I felt exhausted. I felt used up. It was like I had spent every emotional “dollar” that I had and when it was all said and done, I was broke. Every time the scene changed, I almost feared what would happen next, I mean, could it get any worse? How much more can one man go through? Surely something good is about to happen, right? These were all questions I was asking myself during this film, secretly hoping that around the corner would come the bright light that would take Will away to a better place.

What I thought really added to the overall depressing and hopeless feel of the movie was the colors the director chose to use throughout the film. The suits the people wore, the brightness of the lights, the colors of the walls, they were all very boring and dull and monotone, and I really liked that. It really served as a great lens to see the movie through. A great scene to me was when Will’s character was told that he had to paint his apartment walls white to prolong paying his rent, because I thought it was a great metaphor for what kind of bright and pure person Chris Gardner was where ever he went. From his wife leaving, to him being thrown out on the street, to sleeping in a bathroom, to being hit by a car, to going all over town to sell overpriced scanning equipment and getting rejected left and right, through all of that, he had this huge smile on his face. He always said, “It’s going to be alright.”

One of the most touching and haunting scenes in the entire movie is when Will and his son have to spend the night (unbeknownst to his son) in the subway bathroom, and before they get there, Will pretends with his son that they have been transported through time to when the dinosaurs existed. I loved watching them play this scene out, and I loved Jaden’s reactions, where at first he didn’t believe because all he saw was a subway station, but because of his Dad’s belief, his Dad’s enthusiasm, his Dad’s passion, his Dad’s excitement, he came to believe that they were truly in a land with dinosaurs. That was such a high moment in the film that was soon followed by probably the most low point in the film when they are sleeping in the men’s bathroom and Will was holding the door closed with his foot while tears streamed down his face. I about lost it at that scene.

The last 10 minutes of the movie are some of the most emotional minutes in the entire film. The only thing that I was a little bothered by was that there wasn’t enough time to celebrate. [spoiler] The entire movie built up to this point, this critical point where we find out that he got the job he worked SO hard for, and we as the audience were only given about 8 minutes to celebrate with Will and Jaden. I wanted more. I wanted to cry more, and I wanted to see more of Will’s emotions, to see the explosion of joy that was sure to come over him.[/spoiler]

This is definitely a movie that I want to buy and have in my home to remind me that if I am passionate about something, I need to give everything I have in order to pursue it.

Content Warning: This movie is rated PG-13 for some language and it’s not that noticeable and in fact, I actually forgot that it even had any language. I’m not sure why it’s PG-13 for just language, but I can assume that it’s because of the depravity and the degree of depression that Will Smith goes through that may make it a little too much for the little ones.