Movie Review: Hancock

    

Hancock
2008, 92mins, PG-13
Director: Peter Berg
Writer (s): Vincent Ngo, Vince Gilligan
Cast includes: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron, Eddie Marsan, Jae Head
Release Date: 2nd July 2008

Hancock is probably going to end up as one of this summer seasons more forgettable blockbusters, after a successful return from Indiana Jones and the promise of The Dark Knight it’s hard to see how this could be considered one of the year’s stronger event movies. All the same the production is enjoyable and well paced with good performances from all three of its leading names, despite a set of frustrating flaws.

The story is almost like a mix up of The Incredibles and Superman, John Hancock (Will Smith) is the local superhero but despite occasionally preventing the odd accident and stopping a bank robbery every so often he’s not a particularly liked man in LA. That’s because he acts like a boozed out bum most of the time, sarcastic and unconcerned with peoples negative image of him. Enter Ray (Jason Bateman) a man saved in one of Hancocks clumsy rescues, and who in return decides to offer the hero a chance at reinventing his image. Hancock whilst initially full of cynicism eventually agrees and ends up serving minor jail time along with having to improve his social skills. Ray is chuffed as the man shows slow progress but Ray’s wife Mary (Charlize Theron) is wary of Hancock, and seems distrusting of his nature. One thing leads to another and quickly the trio become involved in a hefty and secretive situation, which several of Hancock’s enemies quickly look to exploit.

The pictures biggest pull both in a promotional and actual sense are the leading trio of performers who motor Berg’s film almost totally. As the flawed superhero Will Smith is as watchable and charismatic as always, in the wake of more dramatic turns with I Am Legend and 2006’s The Pursuit Of Happyness his performance here is much lighter but he has fun with it and ensures the audience does to. Whenever on screen Smith has the ability to dominate and grant the deadest sequences a lease of life. This is of the upmost importance to Hancock, without a lead of Smith’s caliber it would be a far less enjoyable watch.

Jason Bateman is goofy and pretty effective as the PR trying to reinvent the heroes image, whilst both his improv skill and the script allow for a few moments in which his comic timing shines. As his wife Charlize Theron is underwritten in the story’s first half but along with Smith drives the slightly inferior second. Theron is an actress of some quality and whilst she could do better than her inconsistent part in Hancock, there is no denying she adds an extra dose of gravitas.
One of the films key problems is a lack of any other performers to really access, the film was subject to last minute editing so as to achieve a PG-13 rating and it shows. The bad guy played by Eddie Marsan gets suspiciously little screentime and thus remains totally unmemorable probably as a result of the cuts. The couple’s son played by Jae Head also seems to appear to sporadically to be acting as the original script dictated. I expect these performers will have some screentime returned via an unrated DVD but in theatrical format they’re distractingly infrequent in their presence.

The script for Hancock is clearly treading the action/comedy route and for the first 60 minutes at least it’s very successful. A barrage of good one liners and an enjoyably played action scene at the beginning get the movie off to a good start, and it must be said for the best part it maintains the momentum for a good hour. Things start to cripple a little when the script makes surprising turn and suddenly alot of moral dilemmas and mythology are tossed at the audience. This slows the film down until the so-so finale, but also draws up my biggest concern. You see for me there appears enough content in Hancock to fill out two 90 minute movies, but Berg has rushed it all into one. This means that some genuinely interesting ideas are wasted and left unexplored whilst most of the time the narrative seems to be getting ahead of itself. Again this could have been a flaw exaggerated by the MPAA enforced cuts, but at the same time the original R version couldn’t have run for longer than two hours, and I strongly believe there is two good films in this script.
The CGI is well done as most would expect from a July blockbuster, but alot of the best and most exciting action occurs well before the wrap up. The opening moments and a faceoff between Hancock and another whose identity won’t be spoiled are cool, but the finish is run of the mill and would seem more at home as a films middle action piece rather than the big kiss off. Overall this aspect of the movie should keep punters entertained but far from enthralled, I preferred the films comic elements to its more traditional Hollywood ones.
So Hancock does manage some decent action and has good dialogue and casting, but it’s hard to forgive the films rushed nature and the fact the bad guy (usually essential to this genre) is so woefully forgettable. This means the film is overall indeed better than the majority of its counterparts but those handful of flaws mean that it does just gun above average, not exactly what the previews had hinted at. I’ll admit I never expected Hancock to own the summer of 2008, but despite providing ample fun it’s seems to largely underachieve.