Some movies were conceived as ideas that seemed exciting and
original when on paper or in a teaser, but for one reason or another
did not come together when fully fleshed out as a film. Other movies
began as fairly bland or simple ideas at first glance, but then turned
out to be fascinating films.
There is a third category of films for which Hancock is the
unfortunate poster-child: those that had a workable concept with a
potential for something fresh, but somewhere along the way the
filmmakers lost faith in the basic premise and decided to go in a
totally different direction, so the film on paper or in the teasers
looks nothing like the film you see on the silver screen.
Hancock should be a movie about Will Smith, the anti-hero turned
hero, and for half of its short running time, it is. We find Hancock on
a park bench sleeping through a high speed chase he should be stopping.
After being nudged awake by a child, he rushes to the "rescue"
tallying nine million dollars in damage in the process. Later Hancock
saves PR man Ray Embrey from a train wreck, and upon seeing the
public's adverse reactions to Hancock, Ray decides to help Hancock with
his image.
After Hancock comes through some rehabilitation in prison, the
public realizes they need him after all, and he goes back to doing hero
work. So at this point I wondered where they were going to go with the
film, because up until then I had seen almost every joke and action
setup in the previews. I was excited to see what came next, but was
disappointed when the film took an unexpected yet cliched turn. I will
not give away what happens next. Suffice it to say that the film does
not respect its main character, but throws an unnecessary curve that
strains credulity and concern for anything the film has attempted to
build up until that point.
Unfortunately, even up to that point the film does not succeed with
any consistency. Hancock is painted as such an overbearing jerk that
you really do not care much for him one way or the other, and his main
one-liner, a PG-13 retread of Marty McFly's "Nobody calls me chicken"
is not as funny or memorable as the writers must think.
Repeatedly, the writers use cuss words to telegraph laughs, but it's
old hat so it falls flat when kid after kid calls Hancock an a--hole.
The writers also think the idea of a guy's head up someone else's rear
is roaringly funny, alluding to it repeatedly, and giving us the image
in a prison scene. If you think that is funny, maybe you will like this
movie.
Much has been made about the "Youtube" videos featured in the film
that depict Hancock's drunken antics. But once again the filmmakers do
not have enough faith or understanding of Youtube to even come close to
simulating the website with any accuracy. When Ray shows Hancock the
Youtube videos, they are widescreen high definition gems with a Youtube
logo in the bottom right corner. Ever heard of pixellation?
But reality is not what the filmmakers are going for here. It
becomes all too clear that the production company had so much faith in
Will Smith's name that they just decided to coast by on his laurels
instead of giving us anything new, believeable or even watchable.
Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.
I am so bummed by this review! I was so excited about this movie and now I don't even think I want to see it because I'm afraid I'll be too disappointed!
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Some movies were conceived as ideas that seemed exciting and
original when on paper or in a teaser, but for one reason or another
did not come together when fully fleshed out as a film. Other movies
began as fairly bland or simple ideas at first glance, but then turned
out to be fascinating films.
