Andrew McMurtryHancock 8/10
July 3rd 2008 12:16
This one was a bit of a surprise. A good one. Will Smith is the very unheroic John Hancock, a man in possession of great power, but still doesn't hold much responsibility for them. He stumbles in drunk and surly into times of need and trashes the city while trying to save the day. He gets the job done one way or another, but no one is impressed at his crazy antics (except for the audience, who were quite entertained by this unorthodox hero). One day, he happens to save the life of a struggling but good hearted PR Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), and for once, someone is grateful that Hancock stepped in. Wanting to repay his debt, Ray offers to become Hancock's publicist, to improve on his image because after all, the people are supposed to love a superhero, not regard him as a big drunken asshole. So Hancock reluctantly agrees, and that's where the action really begins.
In a lot of ways, Hancock is very predictable. Hancock is the angry jaded loner wallowing in self pity, not knowing of his past, or even what he is. It's kind of Wolverine-ish, and it's even addressed in the film cheekily. Ray Embrey is the nice guy who can't help but be nice, even if he gets nothing out of it. And his wife Mary (Charlize Theron) is disapproving but in the end also kind hearted, slowly warming up to Hancock. There are smart mouthed kids and disgruntled bad guys that get their asses kicked in a ridiculously over-the-top manner that was hilarious and Hancock slowly learns and becomes the hero everyone needs him to be.
But, there was a really big twist on the story that really caught me by surprise. Granted, I didn't do that much research into the film before I saw it, but for me it was unexpected and a great new direction for the story, which up until then seemed like a routine superzero-to-superhero story. I loved it, and it had such emotional punch near the end thanks to the cinematography and the amazing performances.
The actors are all charming. Will Smith makes a great change with this character, and he makes Hancock an iconic modern day hero, the grown ups' superhero if you like. Jason Bateman was in his usual goofy but loveable nice guy role which he always does well, Charlize Theron was gorgeous and made what could have been a cliche role very real, the villain was tacky but he wasn't too important in the end, strangely. It was all about Hancock. The camera was shaky (it must be a trend) but used to good effect to heighten a sense of realism and raw human empathy to the characters (plus it didn't make me sick and it was never disorientating) while the action sequences were reminiscent of X-Men but had its own flavour to it. I discovered later that the director was Peter Berg, responsible for 2007's The Kingdom which I didn't particularly like because it overused the handheld camera, but he doesn't make that same mistake here. The effect he wanted for The Kingdom was something he definitely succeeds with in Hancock.
Overall, I was charmed, and greatly entertained. And was it just me, or was I seeing references to Arrested Development?
In a lot of ways, Hancock is very predictable. Hancock is the angry jaded loner wallowing in self pity, not knowing of his past, or even what he is. It's kind of Wolverine-ish, and it's even addressed in the film cheekily. Ray Embrey is the nice guy who can't help but be nice, even if he gets nothing out of it. And his wife Mary (Charlize Theron) is disapproving but in the end also kind hearted, slowly warming up to Hancock. There are smart mouthed kids and disgruntled bad guys that get their asses kicked in a ridiculously over-the-top manner that was hilarious and Hancock slowly learns and becomes the hero everyone needs him to be.
But, there was a really big twist on the story that really caught me by surprise. Granted, I didn't do that much research into the film before I saw it, but for me it was unexpected and a great new direction for the story, which up until then seemed like a routine superzero-to-superhero story. I loved it, and it had such emotional punch near the end thanks to the cinematography and the amazing performances.
The actors are all charming. Will Smith makes a great change with this character, and he makes Hancock an iconic modern day hero, the grown ups' superhero if you like. Jason Bateman was in his usual goofy but loveable nice guy role which he always does well, Charlize Theron was gorgeous and made what could have been a cliche role very real, the villain was tacky but he wasn't too important in the end, strangely. It was all about Hancock. The camera was shaky (it must be a trend) but used to good effect to heighten a sense of realism and raw human empathy to the characters (plus it didn't make me sick and it was never disorientating) while the action sequences were reminiscent of X-Men but had its own flavour to it. I discovered later that the director was Peter Berg, responsible for 2007's The Kingdom which I didn't particularly like because it overused the handheld camera, but he doesn't make that same mistake here. The effect he wanted for The Kingdom was something he definitely succeeds with in Hancock.
Overall, I was charmed, and greatly entertained. And was it just me, or was I seeing references to Arrested Development?
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