So I managed to get a hold of advanced screening tickets to Hancock and I think I’m gonna call it the first real blockbuster of this summer. That isn’t to say that it’s a bad movie, it’s just a typical action comedy with not much substance.
Like usual, there be SPOILERS ahead:
If you’ve watched TV recently, you’ve seen a Hancock trailer here or there and you know that he’s a superhero, a jerk, and more or less the only one of his kind. After saving Jason Bateman’s character’s life, this starts to change. Bateman is a publicist, so he decides that he is going to make Hancock a hero and fix his publicity problem. Once he starts visiting Bateman’s house, he is very suspiciously greeted and interacted with by Charlize Theron. I’d like to take offense with this right away. Yeah, this is a summer blockbuster not meant to make you have to think, but let’s make the plot twists a bit harder to spot, no? Anyway, Hancock goes to jail for his property damage crimes, gets called back out to the real world to fight crime, and finds out that Charlize is also a superhero like him (what a shocker!). The official spiel is that they’re immortal god-like beings who lose their powers whenever they are physically near each other. Who cares, really?
That’s the real problem with this movie. Nothing really happens. Hancock (Will Smith, btw) battles Charlize once, but she’s not the bad guy. The bad guy is some guy Hancock puts in jail who manages to escape and attack him when he’s weakened and without his power. This is why the movie stinks. The conflict is non-existent, the “final enemy” is lame, the explanation for his powers is also lame, and the acting is just too ham-fisted because they’re trying to make it non-complicated.
END SPOILERS
Final verdict on Hancock: worth a rental, at most. The movies are too expensive to pay for a ticket. Watch WALL-E instead, it’s awesome. Basically, the acting is too forced due to poor writing and directing and the “lowest common denominator” syndrome. At the end of the day, the story just isn’t that interesting either. You can add turn it into a “see in the theaters” movie if you think Charlize Theron is a hottie (which she is) and you don’t mind paying ~$10 to go see her on the silver screen (and you’re a chump).
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