Review of Hancock (2008) by Ola G — 27 Aug 2015

John Hancock (Will Smith) is an alcoholic indigent with superhuman powers, including supersonic flight, invulnerability, and vast super-strength. Even though he uses his powers to stop criminals in his current residence of Los Angeles, his activity inadvertently causes millions of dollars in property damage due to his constant intoxication. As a result, he is routinely criticized at the scenes of his destructive heroics by Angelenos and condemned by the news media. Hancock also ignores court subpoenas from the city of Los Angeles to address the property damage he has caused. Each additional crime he stops raises the level of enmity the citizenry has for him, and it isn't helped by the fact that they're all aware he cannot be restrained. When public relations consultant Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) departs from an unsuccessful meeting pitching his All-Heart logo for corporations with useful resources that could be donated as charitable acts, he becomes trapped on railroad tracks with an incoming freight train. Hancock saves Ray's life, but he causes the train to derail and nearly injures another driver. Hancock is jeered by the other drivers for causing more damage, but Ray steps in and thanks Hancock for saving his life. Ray offers to improve Hancock's public image, and Hancock grudgingly accepts. Ray convinces the alcoholic superhero to permit himself to be imprisoned for the collateral damage he's caused and the significant outstanding subpoenas he's racked up over the years so they can show Los Angeles how much the city really does need Hancock. When the crime rate rises after Hancock's incarceration, the superhero is contacted by the Chief of Police. With a new actual superheroic costume from Ray, Hancock intervenes in a bank robbery, rescuing an injured police officer, subduing the armed robbers, and stopping the leader and mastermind behind the robbery, Kenneth "Red" Parker (Eddie Marsan), amputating his hand in the process to stop him from releasing the dead-man's switch on a detonator that would trigger the explosive harnesses the hostages are rigged with. After the rescue, Hancock is applauded for saving the hostages lives and preventing the bank robbery. The superhero becomes popular with the public once more, as Ray had predicted. He goes out to dinner with Ray and his wife Mary (Charlize Theron), who has previously shown great disapproval of Hancock, himself and his actions. During dinner Hancock goes into what he knows of his origins, revealing his apparent immortality and amnesia from eighty years ago. After Hancock tucks a drunken Ray in bed, he discovers that Mary also has superhero powers. He threatens to expose her unless she explains their origins. Mary meets Hancock the next day at his motor home on the outskirts of Los Angeles and tells him that they have lived for thousands of years with their powers, having been called gods and angels in their time; now in modern times they are known simply as superheroes. She explains that they are the last of their kind and that their kind are paired. Hancock needs to figure out the real truth and confront Mary about their apparent connection....

The original screenplay was much darker. Apart from being a low-life, Hancock was supposed to be sexually frustrated because he couldn't have sex with a woman without killing her. The MPAA actually cleared a scene involving Hancock's explosive orgasm, but it was removed from the final cut because a test audience didn't find it funny. The tone was lightened considerably for a summer release aimed at a wide audience, but the MPAA gave the film an R twice before language and violence cuts resulted in a PG-13. Todd McCarthy of Variety felt that the film's premise was undermined by the execution. McCarthy believed the concept ensured the film was "amusing and plausible" for its first half, but that the second half was full of illogical story developments and missed opportunities. Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter said that the opening established the premise well, but that the film came undone when it began to alternate between comedy and tragedy, and introduced a backstory for Hancock that did not make sense. He said it rewrote its own internal logic in order to pander to its audience. Stephen Hunter in The Washington Post said it had begun with promise, but that the change in tone partway through was so abrupt that the film did not recover. I agree to all this, as the first hour works about this down and out superhero (Will Smith is not 100% convincing in my book, but good enough as he has the goods to deliver in this sort of comical drama) with several comic scenes and a functional dark undertone plus the chemistry between Smith, Bateman and Theron is truly dynamic, funny and strong. Bateman is perfect as Ray in my eyes. The CGI or effects is not maybe top notch, but ok for being 2008, however as far as I know a second one is in development and I will expect much better effects then as a lot of things has happened on that side since the first one came out. As said the latter part of the movie isn´t fully working, it feels rushed and not thought through. There´s something missing in the climax of the film in my point of view. I reckon "Hancock" had a great original idea, but the end result suffers partly from mediocre execution and a not fully developed script.