Hancock [12A]
Clumsy superhero needs PR work. |
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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. Stephen Jones, 25/07/08 HORRIFIED that i took my 11 year old to see this film!!! I found it absolutely hilariously funny BUT.... should NOT really be a 12A certificate, I didn't appreciate him listening to the language and the behaviour (head up the a*** bit), but other than that GREAT film for adults!!! Kate, 17/07/08 If you've seen the trailer for Hancock, I've bad news; you've seen most of the best bits of the film already. What could have been a really fun, anti-superhero movie is let down by a lack of clarity about what the film is about. At the start, we see the pains and pranks that Hancock, the drunk superhero who can fly just as well as any Superman, gets up to. If the film had stayed with this theme, it would have worked I'm sure, but somehow, it gets terribly mixed up with relationship history between Hancock and the wife of his PR guru, that simply doesn't ring true, plus some cosmic tishtosh to make the end half hour or so really a bit painful. Will Smith as Hancock is watchable; Charlize Theron miscast as the love interest. Still, it was memorable for the way the superhero threw a nasty 12 year old bully into the air supersonically and scared the bejesus out of him. If only all bullies could be dealt with in this way, the world would undoubtedly....Go if you want very, very light entertainment. And don't take kids; it was quite violent for a 12A. Roz, 13/07/08 Excuse me, but what are you lot like? I totally wet myself laughing. The bit with the whale was hilarious. That said it was a bit crap really but what do you expect from shonkywood anyway...class? Go and see it just for the larfs. C. Hickens, 09/07/08 Absolute Hollywood tripe of the worst kind. Super-Hero turns anti-hero and undergoes public rehabilitation. A concept which could have been developed into a funny and touching film has been turned into yet another piece of cinematographic garbage with all the appeal of a smelly old gym sock. A terrible script, appalling special effects, and a non existent plot make this a quite painful movie to sit through. There is no wit, no warmth at all to this movie and any attempt at giving the characters any humanity at all end up in saccharine triteness of gigantic proportions. I found myself losing patience with Will Smith within minutes of the opening sequence and would have left had there not been an entire row of people watching. There is nothing, absolutely nothing to redeem this utterly stupid, badly written film, it does not engage the viewer in any way, and left me completely cold. Actually no, it left me angry, wishing I could get those 2 hours of my life back and my hard earned money too. Other people seemed to enjoy it so maybe if you are a Will Smith Fan anything goes ? Pamplemousse, 06/07/08 |
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