Saturday, July 05, 2008
Movie Reviews: HANCOCK
IN THEATERS
HANCOCK
There are heroes... there are superheroes... and then there's Hancock (Will Smith). With great power comes great responsibility -- everyone knows that -- everyone, that is, but Hancock. Edgy, conflicted, sarcastic, and misunderstood, Hancock's well-intentioned heroics might get the job done and save countless lives, but always seem to leave jaw-dropping damage in their wake. The public has finally had enough -- as grateful as they are to have their local hero, the good citizens of Los Angeles.... are wondering what they ever did to deserve this guy. Hancock isn't the kind of man who cares what other people think -- until the day that he saves the life of PR executive Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), and the sardonic superhero begins to realize that he may have a vulnerable side after all. Facing that will be Hancock's greatest challenge yet -- and a task that may prove impossible as Ray's wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), insists that he's a lost cause.
Opened .July 2, 2008
Runtime: 1 hr. 32 min.
Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.
Cast: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Eddie Marsan, Johnny Galecki .
Director: Peter Berg .
Genres: Action Comedy, Comic-Book Superhero Film, Comedy....
Review:
There is a long list of films that's had great concepts but failed miserably to deliver and sadly Hancock is just another example of this far too common occurrence. Peter Berg's lifeless and spectacularly uneven film feels like a joke that never has a punch line. Hancock can't quite figure out what it wants it wants to be, does it want to be a superhero satire? A drama? A comedy? It never knows and it never picks a direction either, hence you end up with massive tonal shifts throughout making it extremely difficult to ever be engaged by the story. I can't say I'm all that surprised to be honest, stories of the film being re-cut and re-shot are hardly ever a sign of good things to come, unless you're Tombstone. Watching this film feels just as jumbled and messy as it troubled production and makes you wonder if just maybe there was a good film in there before it got torn apart. Will Smith does was he always does and provides his typical charm. He does well when he's delivering goofy if mildly funny one liners, most of which come very early on, but he seems just as befuddled as his character. Jason Bateman, being a big fan of Arrested Development I'm always happy to see him in big films, is mostly wasted as Hancock's PR man and he given some just horrid dialogue to utter which is a real shame. Charlize Theron is there and seems about as motivated as a lazy mule. Her character is central to a big plot twist but it's handled so sloppily that by the time it comes you're just glad your not being beat over the head by the film insistence that something is not what it seems. It shouldn't come as a shock that the plot is muddled and filled with enough plot holes to make Michael Bay blush. There is superhero action here as well and much like the rest of the film it's lazy and uninspired. It never helps when the action reminds you more of My Super Ex Girlfriend, which as least intended to be silly, than any of the big cape franchises. Hancock much like the titular character is a bit of a train wreck but I guess it'd been a while since Wild Wild West and Will Smith was due for another major dud.
D
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