Hancock DVD Review B-

Will Smith is the title character,the quintessential anti-superhero. He just seems to mess up every time he tries to be heroic. A pretty good example would be the beached whale that he tries to return to the ocean, and ends up sinking a boat. One might say he’s just not that good at being a super hero. And he’s lonely. He’s the only one of his kind and half the city gets mad at him whenever he tries to do something, so, well, he’s a little bit of an asshole.

Justin Bateman plays Ray, a PR guru whose life Hancock saves. Ray decides to make it his mission to turn Hancock around, and give the world the kind of superhero that they’d always imagined. Charlize Theron is Ray’s wife, who, like most of LA does not like Hancock. But Will Smith is playing him and who can hate Will Smith, right? Although he does grouch his way through every scene!

The Pros:
It’s actually refreshing to see superheroes that aren’t perfect, and still have problems. It’s very subversive. As Ray gets Hancock to try and shape up, the results are even more hilarious. When this movie is fun, it’s fun. It’s doesn’t try to have these noble, grandiose ideas. It does a good job of asking “what if these superheroes are just as messed up as the rest of us?”

The Cons:
However, as the story progresses and we learn more about Hancock’s background the plot falters. At times, it felt like I didn’t quite know what kind of movie I was watching. Was it supposed to be just stupid fun, or were we supposed to get behind the ideas in the movie? We’re given just enough information about his background for it to not really make a whole lot of sense. The information we were given seems like a mish mash of ideas from a dozen other stories, not quite fitting together. And I’m not entirely satisfied with the ending either. It felt too abrupt to me.

Still, the FX were brilliant, and the entire cast did a great job in their roles. Uneven storytelling aside, this is a fun movie. The kind that I don’t necessarily need to see again, but I’d definitely watch a few minutes of it on TV. That said, if you are interested in the two disc unrated edition, you will find both cuts of the film. The differences in the films are fairly minor, however, and only make for an additional ten minutes. Extras are okay enough: Superhumans: The Making of Hancock is a standard “making of” documentary; Building a Better Hero looks at the work of effects master John Dykstra; while Mere Mortals: Behind the Scenes with Dirty Pete features an interview with director Peter Berg.

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