Hancock (2008)

My buddy had told me that this was a terrible movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. I always wonder how these movies would do if they didn't have Will Smith in them. He carries with him a genuine "likeability" that really makes it hard not to pull me into his ridiculous action movies. It's funny, then, to see him go out and be a bad guy (for a bit) as he says and does some ridiculous things. I know the movie was originally supposed to be called Tonight, He Comes, which, in all honesty, seems more interesting. Imagine a hero who is frustrated with his superpowers. When he has sex with a woman, his orgasm literally kills her. I guess great power does require great responsibility.

Peter Berg's film, however, is noble in at least trying to fit that in to the PG-13 rating; I wonder what parents thought during that trailer scene. I'd attribute it to bad sewage. Needless to say, it was scenes like that one that really made the first hour of this movie shine. Smith rampages through the city as he "saves the world" by breaking as much as possible. Ebert has always wondered what the bodycount and damage calculations were in the films with the incredible car chases. Think of the Matrix Reloaded; imagine the phone calls that insurance companies received that day. This movie, then, actually considers how people might react to the damage. I know if I was in my office building and someone flew by and ripped out the wall, I'd be perturbed.

Once the film picks up on its plot, it does start to lose a little steam. You could tell they were having way too much fun at the beginning, but knew they had to go on and reel this into typical summer fare. The story is just mediocre, and not very well-developed. Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron do their best to have fun with it, but I don't think we ever really care too much about the outcome. I think Theron knew this, because she was looking way too good for me to worry about anything she was saying for the last half of the movie. The climax was also disappointing, as I didn't feel threatened at all by Eddie Marsan's thug character. But as I said, I think this is one of those movies where we can feel the winks of the actors and the people who made it. Yeah yeah, they know this is corny; might as well have fun while they're doing it then, right? For proof of this, listen to Smith talk to the frustrated citizens at during the train track scene. What a talent.