DIRECTOR: PETER BERG
What would happen if a super-hero was lazy and saved people kinda half-assed?
You think he’d laze around all day and get drunk? Naw, I don’t think so, that makes no sens---
You think it’s funny? I guess, but ----
Just because it’s in a film doesn’t mean it’s true!
I don’t’ care if Will Smith (Fresh Prince of Bel Air) is in it! It’s still lazy screenwriting masquerading as a high-concept!
It was made into a movie?
…
John Hancock (Will Smith) can fly, is invisible and super-strong. Don't mention it to him. He just wants to be left alone with his friend Jim Bean. Sure, he saves people every now and then but most of his rescues end up causing more damage in the process. A Publicist (Jason Bateman) sees a public relations dream in the making and sets off to help Hancock become a hero in the eyes of the public, even if it means pissing off his wife (Charlie Theronz) in the process. She just dosen't like the super-hero for some mysterious telegraphed reason. In the end, will Hancock be able to abandon his boozing ways and trade in his hobo clothes for a “homo” costume? I'll give you one guess.
Hancock is too short. Those words almost hurt after a summer full of over-long action films, but there’s no other way to cut it. The many great ideas (Bored Super-Hero, P.R, Forgotten Past) are shoved into the running time like a key in the wrong lock. On a tonal level, the story switches gears with every punch and it never readies itself for the next one. It jumps from a goofy, almost sly, parody of super-hero films to a heavy handed drama, then back again (Sometimes in the same scene!) There’s too many questions that are ignored to further the story instead of actually deconstructing why they exists. Hancock is invincible, yet, he spends his time lying around and drinking…Really?...I realize he’s a nice guy at heart, but it never crossed his mind to rob a few banks to pass the time? Nope. We're just shoved into a hard to swallowreality in which thing are built for a laugh instead of logic. And lets not forget that a hero is only as strong as the villain, which sucks for Hancock, because the villain is thrown in at the last minute as to give us a lame excuse for a 'Climax'
I’d also like to note that *MILD SPOILER* the twist of the film is an interesting direction to go even if it’s telegraphed a mile away for the slow people in the audience. Yet again, it’s swiss cheese like in its presentation. It also leads into one of the most POINTLESS fights I’ve seen in a long time. I cringed as dollars burned on screen because a suit and tie sent out a studio note that said the film needed more “Super-Hero Like Action! The kids loves it!” The end capper to the scene dragged me out of the movie and refused to let me back in. They couldn’t have found a better way to come to the same conclusion?
Will Smith is incredibly watch able on screen, as usual, but it’s the same Big Willy dance we’ve seen before: Lots of whispering and moist eyes as a substitute for emoting. Jason Bateman plays the straight man from the same “straight-man repertoire” Bateman has been living on since Arrested Development. Charlie Theronz is almost an acting non-presence that seems to have stumbled onto the wrong film. Peter Berg’s shaky cam direction (Which can arguably be called Berg like, seeing how he’s used it for four films now) is an interesting way to shoot a super-hero film, almost off the cuff, but it gets tiring when the herky jerky style flows into every
scene. A conversation shot with the heads out of frame isn’t “edgy”, it’s just annoying.
It was incredibly fun to see a bunch super-powers used in an off-handed way, but it's not enough to make up for the laziness on display. They should have either gone semi-serious or completely dark (Supposedly the tone of the original script), because they never reach success here.
P.S: The original title of the film was “Tonight, he comes”. The third title being considered was “The Flying Penis”
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