Hancock Review

Overall 4.06 of 5 view all 17 reviews

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LauraBelle
South Elgin, IL

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Not Your Typical Superhero Film

mother of 15 year old son, Movie Reviewer, a storyteller, a believer of fate

Pros

Original first half, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron, Will Smith

Cons

2nd half same ole, same ole

JUL

2008

I'm not a real huge fan of superhero films, but I do get a chance to see a few here and there, just based on the fact that my son is a huge fan of the genre. I'm also a Will Smith fan, so Hancock was a good film to see with my son.

From the very beginning of the film, you could tell Smith's Hancock was a different superhero. He was slovenly and if not an alcoholic, a very heavy drinker. When he flew, he'd fly with his bottle of bourbon, hit birds, and narrowly miss airplanes. When he appeared on the scene, he saved the day, but at a cost. He would cause millions and millions of dollars, to the extent that people weren't always happy to see him.

Hancock saves the "Bono of PR" Ray Embrey's (Jason Bateman) life, and Ray is just beside himself, wanting to pay Hancock back in any way he can. He invites him home for dinner, to the delight of his young son, but the dismay of his protective wife, Mary (Charlize Theron). Just feeding the guy isn't enough for Ray, and he devises a scheme to use his PR talents to change Hancock's life.

Entering prison to pay his debt to society, Hancock finds life there pretty much the same as life on the outside. People still aren't very fond of him, and truthfully, he doesn't do much to help the situation anyway. Once he is finally released, Ray changes Hancock to be a good superhero, getting him to shave, wear a shiny new lycra suit, and make better choices as far as not destroying everything in the process of saving lives.

Once those changes are in place, though, to make Hancock like any other superhero, the film becomes just that, just another superhero movie. Before this, he was so different, that it made it a different type of film. I wouldn't say it's not enjoyable, but it definitely took something away. Adding to this, we find that Hancock isn't alone, but is one of a different type of race, and that takes away much of the superhero mystique as well.

Even with the ending of the film, we have a great moral, and it's left open for a possible Hancock II, just like any other superhero film. I won't say it's not a good film, as it is, but had Ray tried to "fix' him and found he couldn't, that Hancock was just meant to always be like that, otherwise he'd suffer a loss of power, I think it could have been much better.

Hancock is recommended by LauraBelle

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Comments about LauraBelle’s Review

TheBard wrote on Jul 27, 2008 at 11:46AM

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I have heard your sentiments from other reviewer; i.e. that the movie started out entertaining and differant but ended up as the same ole, same ole. Great review!