Watching Hancock is like riding a children’s slide at the playground. You climb up with anticipation at the start, gathering some momentum to reach its peak, then let go with a thrill and then descend, at high speed, to a big thud. That’s not to say there isn’t greatness along the way, as there are plenty of good things here to keep the excitement surging for awhile. Yet here’s a movie that doesn’t seem to understand just how special its main character is, instead its makers clearly distracted by the shiny things of what traditional superhero movies were becoming at the time, and so, bludgeon their potential in needless chaos. Let’s discuss.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Hancock (Will Smith) is an unhappy guy. He’s a drunk. He’s mangy. He sleeps on city benches and doesn’t have a care about a thing. He’s also bullet proof and can fly so you know, it ain’t all bad. That makes him unique of course, and while he’s bumming around Los Angeles, has taken it upon himself to step in when police need a hand. And while warm fuzzies and a collective “aw, you’re great Mr. Hancock!” might be the knee-jerk reaction, unfortunately, his methods are, shall we say, creative, causing a wee bit of damage in his wake, with “wee bit” defined as apocalyptic. Like godzilla versus mothra. Engineers and construction contractors are a thriving source of employment is what I’m saying. Naturally, his antics have earned him a terrible reputation as taxpayers are footed the bill in cleaning up the enormous mess he always leaves behind. Not that he cares. He’s spiteful, angry, and clearly depressed. But there’s goodness in him, somewhere. That’s something Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), a public relations specialist sees in him after Hancock rescues him from getting run over by a freight train (subsequently derailing it). He offers Hancock his services in turning his public image around and making him the true hero he really ought to be. But there’s a snag. It seems Ray’s wife Mary (Charlize Theron) knows this mysterious Hancock, even though Hancock himself has no memory of her at all. It’s about to get weird.
REVIEW: Released in 2008 from director Peter Berg, Hancock has everything in place when it starts up, most especially in its lead. Smith is well cast and while he sticks to his schtick of wiseacre comments and flippant one liners, he layers in a deeply affecting weight of sorrow that burdons Hancock in just the right ways. This is a really good performance and makes this ‘superhero’ something to get invested in. Smith somehow balances a figure gifted with godlike powers laden with almost backbreaking agony in very emotional ways, giving this story its heart. However, this setup is tossed right out the proverbial window, or, in terms of the film itself, throw clear of a house, as we learn that Hancock is not alone in the world. This in itself isn’t bad, and in fact is loaded with all new avenues of discovery, or at least the potential for, but what a misstep the movie makes in handling it, unable to free itself of the trend in movies to go big with CGI city destruction and inconsequential violence. It’s deeply frustrating to see everything Smith creates in establishing what Hancock is, only to have the story yank it out from under him in service of mindless beat ’em ups and a bad guy that that is given all of three minutes in developing his motivation for revenge. Unforgivable.
THE BAD: While plenty is wrong with the where the story goes in the second half, and it’s all wrong, there are other problems that don’t quite fit with the world the filmmakers are building. The tonal ups and downs of Hancock make much of the ride hard to keep up with as Ray is played mostly for comedy (as are most of the anctics in establishing Hancock’s abilities) across from a main character soaked in pain and frustration. Hancock spends a lot of time getting drunk, finding the numbing qualities of inebriation better than dealing with his unknown past, and while this is not a bad thing, is left wholly unexplored and entirely dropped in the second act. It simply goes away. The story also tries too hard for laughs as well, including with a couple of inmates who are humiliated by an off camera act of body manipulation that would no doubt kill at least one of them but instead is left to be funny, and then with a local child bully (of course), who gets his comeuppance in ways that maybe fit Hancock’s disposition but serves no purpose in its blink or you’ll miss wedging into the story.
Then there’s poor Theron, who does what can she can with the role as she emerges as central to the last half, but her motivation and backstory are so simplified and watered down to give her action rather than genuine words, it’s almost cartoony. She’s a great talent, and her pairing with Smith is surprisingly potent, but the film caters to a more mindless thread of sequential punchouts instead of more deeply developing their real relationship. It’s maddening.
THE GOOD: Everything Smith does with Hancock is impressive. And you might not even realize how much so because the movie is constantly afraid to be about the humanity, throwing at the audience steady beats of pop and bang action sequences that gloss over the urgency of Hancock’s distress. The best part of this movie is when the film tries to deal with his emotions, putting him in a mandatory group therapy session with men who are dealing with their own pain. Watch what Smith does in these series of short blurbs as he saddles Hancock with a crippling need to let go while absolutely caged in fear of doing so. It’s good stuff. So good that it earns the film some forgiveness simply in how strong Smith’s efforts were in trying to give his character depth. You get a sense that he’s making a different movie sometimes. Later that same year, he would star in a movie called Seven Pounds, where that pain gets a better platform and Smith a chance to be taken seriously.
HEADING FOR THE DOOR: Let’s leave this on a positive note. Hancock is a solid movie and works hard to please everyone, which is near impossible to do. Perg’s direction isn’t exactly innovative, but he knows how to deliver a big studio title. The film was a huge financial success as the resurgence of superhero movies was building energy for the Marvel takeover, and many of the better moments are earned by the chemistry among the cast. It’s ain’t perfect, but you take the good with the bad.