Kicking off like a government advert for drinking responsibly, Will Smith's alcohol-soaked hobo, John Hancock, staggers erratically through Los Angeles, wreaking mayhem as he goes. Setting him apart from the usual Friday night, red-eyed, chip throwing, lager lout though is the fact that Hancock is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (probably). Welcome to a new breed of super-hero, more "Superman in the Hood" than "Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly."
Not only flawed but also dislikeable, Hancock is seen as a misanthropic scourge by many Los Angeleans, and his approach to saving lives is, at best, irreverent. With his do-good shenanigans undermined by both his attitude and the booze, his popularity plummets and he finds himself at the mercy of LA's bureaucrats, who are intent on arresting him for criminal damage.
Befriending Hancock, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman's PR idealist) decides that the titular super-bum requires a celebrity makeover, which brings Ray's wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), and some jail time into the equation. At first reluctant and full of whip-crack putdowns, Hancock gradually begins to accept the responsibility that his power brings and, as his popularity rises, so does his humanity.
Having paid his dues to society and dressed to thrill in a body-armoured cat-suit, Hancock bags and tags the City of Angel's evildoers whilst being impulsively drawn towards Mary. Initially this leads to some amusing slapstick, but also a shift in tone, and the film begins to lose its way.
The first half of Hancock is an interesting take on the super-hero theme, with Smith's alcoholic loner slowly coming to terms with the nature of his celebrity status, but the dramatic twist halfway through is pretty much signposted. Hancock and Mary's relationship becomes overly complicated and feels misplaced, and also pushes Bateman's weedy Ray into underwritten obscurity.
As anyone who has seen Peter Berg's The Kingdom will testify, the director knows how to shoot action, and there are some well-constructed set pieces on offer. If you are a fan of Will Smith then, as always, he's endearing and watchable, but he can be a far better actor than this picture requires. The film definitely lacks a super-nemesis, even though some groundwork had been made on a Lex Luthor-esque criminal mastermind, but mainly, in trying to be cleverer than it needs to be, Hancock loses its focus and a little bit of its charm. Not a disaster, but incohesive.
Not only flawed but also dislikeable, Hancock is seen as a misanthropic scourge by many Los Angeleans, and his approach to saving lives is, at best, irreverent. With his do-good shenanigans undermined by both his attitude and the booze, his popularity plummets and he finds himself at the mercy of LA's bureaucrats, who are intent on arresting him for criminal damage.
Befriending Hancock, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman's PR idealist) decides that the titular super-bum requires a celebrity makeover, which brings Ray's wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), and some jail time into the equation. At first reluctant and full of whip-crack putdowns, Hancock gradually begins to accept the responsibility that his power brings and, as his popularity rises, so does his humanity.
Having paid his dues to society and dressed to thrill in a body-armoured cat-suit, Hancock bags and tags the City of Angel's evildoers whilst being impulsively drawn towards Mary. Initially this leads to some amusing slapstick, but also a shift in tone, and the film begins to lose its way.
The first half of Hancock is an interesting take on the super-hero theme, with Smith's alcoholic loner slowly coming to terms with the nature of his celebrity status, but the dramatic twist halfway through is pretty much signposted. Hancock and Mary's relationship becomes overly complicated and feels misplaced, and also pushes Bateman's weedy Ray into underwritten obscurity.
As anyone who has seen Peter Berg's The Kingdom will testify, the director knows how to shoot action, and there are some well-constructed set pieces on offer. If you are a fan of Will Smith then, as always, he's endearing and watchable, but he can be a far better actor than this picture requires. The film definitely lacks a super-nemesis, even though some groundwork had been made on a Lex Luthor-esque criminal mastermind, but mainly, in trying to be cleverer than it needs to be, Hancock loses its focus and a little bit of its charm. Not a disaster, but incohesive.