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Hancock (2008)

Director: Peter Berg

Time Out rating

Average user rating

142 reviews

Synopsis

Will Smith stars in this action comedy as a Superman-like hero who, due to a series of high-profile blunders, has fallen out of favour with the public (and not, alas, a biopic of one of Britain’s best loved comedy curmudgeons). Add to all of this the storming rows he has with his wife Charlize Theron and an awkward relationship with wisecracking PR guy, Jason Bateman.

Movie review

From Time Out London

If you can remember the seismic upheaval in the superhero order that was ‘Superman III’, during which the square-jawed one grew stubble, hit the whisky bottle and flicked peanuts at barmen, you may get flashbacks when watching Will Smith’s Hancock. But the big difference between Christopher Reeve’s trad hero and this latest lazy, drunken member of the caped fraternity is that Hancock was never a Samaritan in the first place. He looks like a tramp, he kips on benches, and he leaves behind him a trail of destruction wherever he tries to lend a hand. He doesn’t even
own a cape.

He’s a selfish layabout in need of some old-fashioned movie redemption. Which is exactly what we get. Oddly, it takes a suburban PR executive called Ray – played with charm by Jason Bateman – to correct Hancock’s behaviour, even if Ray’s wife Mary (Charlize Theron) is strangely wary of their friendship. As Ray gets to work on Hancock’s image, the film offers some humour and Smith, as ever, is fairly charismatic.

For the first half, there’s a laidback, knowing vibe to the script and Smith has some fun with the whole bizarre idea while director Peter Berg swings his camera about as he did for ‘The Kingdom’. It’s a very modern conceit: that behind every successful man lies an even better publicist. And it’s no coincidence that Hollywood, with its reliance on a well-oiled PR machine, has come up with a fictional publicist who’s more angel than svengali. But then the rest of the film – after an hour – flops spectacularly.

The big problem is that the script tries to have its cake and eat it, first ribbing us with nods and winks emanating from this sideways view of a superhero and then abandoning this detachment in favour of a traditional comic-book showdown that feels out of place, rushed and squeezed into the film’s remaining minutes. Put simply, the filmmakers bottle it.

Hancock’s reinvention as a good guy coincides with the emergence of a super-criminal played by Brit actor Eddie Marsan, who in the facial hair department looks like he’s stepped off the set of ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’. He’s a lame villain. There’s an unexpected twist that throws some weird, distracting logic into the mix, followed by a crisis, a fight, a spurt of apocalyptic digital larks – and it’s over. The film bows out not as a wink-wink pastiche but as a straightforward superhero movie – and a bad one at that.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2008-07-01 12:52:18

Time Out London Issue 1976, July 3 - 9 2008

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User reviews of this film

Sophia said...

Posted on Jun 09 2009 19:15 i think everyone thought this movie would be amazing and then they went to the cinema and it was a big let down. that is certainly what happened to me, but now i ma growing on it and i am writing a review on this as a piece of coursework

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ben said...

Posted on May 17 2009 16:49 it has great effects i would give it 7 and a half out of 10 it has some sad and happy bits its about two superpeople who meet each other and when they do they lose there powers and they get shoot because when they had powers they didnt get killed or didnt age in the end it was a good ending and good film.

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ben said...

Posted on Mar 17 2009 18:07 this is a great film with a unexpected twist. Ignor the negative comment cuz this movie is well acted by smith and bateman

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Keith M Warwick said...

Posted on Mar 06 2009 05:13 Hancock, with it's subtextual gay love interest between Smith and Bateman, along with a few homophobic comments (pointing to the closseted to hell Smith, and that homoerotic frission going on in the bedroom with Smith tempted to strip his love interest naked (think about this!). Yea, they fell in love!
Apart from that interesting plot issue, Hancock remains a self-indulgent, confused, gratuitously violent cyphre and just one heap of pretty boring pointless mayhem.
The plot has more holes than a strainer and the actors are woefully wasted in this plethora of cinematic sludge.
How they can throw so many actors about, witht the ade of such bad TGI, as well as copious millions of wasted dollars, is extravagantly unclear, undefinable and undeniably crazy.
I thought this movie was mostly a dud. Bateman and Smith's attractiveness along with Thuron's elctric screen presence save it from being a nil out of ten production.

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laura xxxx said...

Posted on Feb 26 2009 14:25 watch the movie !!!!!!!!!!!!! its mint :)

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laura xxx said...

Posted on Feb 26 2009 14:08 people who say that the movie is a waste of time are a waste of time their selfs. dont listen to any of them. the movie is FAB and i enjoyed it... watch it if you want its your choice... honestly its funny lol ha

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karen said...

Posted on Feb 09 2009 10:10 it was absoulutely amazing i loved it

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Elio said...

Posted on Jan 30 2009 20:55 This has to be one of the greatest films i have ever seen it is amazing i have watched it in the cinema and thought it was so good i now have doanloaded it onto my ipod touch even thought it took up nearly 1gb of my space simply great movie will smith is a awsome actor.

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i like 2 pwn noobs said...

Posted on Nov 30 2008 19:38 teh moovie r wuz gud so evry1 shud watch it i rate it 349823076528735327095724876666623085702478597982735874832057483720348572/10
good moovie lulz kthx bai

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chris said...

Posted on Oct 19 2008 21:37 Watched it on a plane so luckily I didn't have to pay for it. The worst Will Smith movie, & one of the worst films I've seen in a long time...it's boring.

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simon said...

Posted on Oct 15 2008 12:02 DO NOT LISTEN TO NEGATIVE REVIEWS THIS IS A GREAT FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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TRUTH TELLER said...

Posted on Oct 07 2008 10:26 This movie is crap. Looks like the studio has people giving great reviews because the DVD is coming out. Don't be fooled. It's awaste of your money and two hours of your life. Watching paint dry is more interesting.

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shannon said...

Posted on Oct 04 2008 14:58 i saw Hancock in the cinemas and i thought it was excellent. GO HANCOCK GO!!!!

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kevin said...

Posted on Sep 16 2008 13:14 hahahah oyu are soo funny its insane

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gilly said...

Posted on Aug 23 2008 09:39 fantastic lots of enjoyment and full of action

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