Hancock Wasted?

It is tough to ignore the obvious jokes that would go with writing review about Hancock. I could say that this movie "Sucked Hancock" or it was just too much "Hancock for Me to Handle." The play on words are limitless unlike this movie. Hancock is bound by its own tepid screen writing and for some reason limits itself to being an okay film. Director Peter Berg has an opportunity here to take a character that is so interesting and create a new kind of superhero epic. Instead, we get a movie that relies soley on the star power of Will Smith. Smith plays the drunken, foul mouthed, Hancock with stlyle and for the first half of this movie I was enthralled and hoping that the script would continue in this direction. Hancock does not like the people that he saves and they do not return much love for him either. Hancock causes the city of Los Angeles millions of dollars in damage everytime he puts forth any heroic effort. He is bogged down in his own self-pity until he saves the life of Ray Embery played by Jason Bateman. Embery is an idealists with a Public Relations background and proposes to change Hancocks image. Embery's wife, Mary, played by Charlize Theron, is less than taken with Hancock. This creates what may be an intersting dynamic to the film, but for some reason the script gets far away from this thought and folds onto itself. We do get an explanation of who Hancock is, but in so many ways it is flimsy. It is all tied into ancient mythology and the path of a true hero. This is a big mistake because Hancock is the antithesis of a true hero and that is what could have made this movie a winner. Its inability to seperate itself from just another superhero movie was detremantal to the second half of the film.

There are things to like about Hancock. The character curses at children and drinks whiskey by the bottle. He is self-loathing and hates the fact that people have expectations for him. He could easily abuse his power and doesn't because in some way is looking for acceptance. Hancock is different and this movie could have been too. It is hard to write a glowing review of this movie even though all the elements are in place for something totally refreshing. The biggest problem with Hancock is there isn't one moment in the movie where you are in awe of anything that happens on screen. There are no "goosebump" moments. By the end, you might wish you had a bottle of whiskey to wipe away the memory of this subtle summer fare.