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Hancock (2008)

Director: Peter Berg

Time Out rating

Average user rating

143 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

chloe said...

Posted on Aug 01 2008 15:36 propa buzzin film. ret enjoyed it. carnt wait till it comes out on dvd i am defo gettin it. would recomend this film to anyone. will smith is a propa legend

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germma x said...

Posted on Jul 31 2008 20:02 OMG, HOW IS IT BULLSHIT?!?!?!
this film was absoulty incredible and you have to see it. Not everyones type but it was certainly mine. It is action-packed; never a dull moment. :)

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leffer said...

Posted on Jul 31 2008 11:21 Not a bad film quite a few funny moments, and quite a nice twist at the end of the film . well worth seeing

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katrinaaa & shivonnn :D said...

Posted on Jul 30 2008 15:14 yeah guys, dont listen to all the comments saying its shite,
this movie is amazing :)
trust us ;). go see it & see for yourselfs.
& oi you, it is NOT bullshit ;)

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and,er...yup said...

Posted on Jul 28 2008 22:56 Not bad. It was funny in parts but it wasn't enough to stop me and my friends talking all the way through and taking the piss. Still, Will Smith is most definately one of the best actors around and for that, I give this movie 3 stars
Prefered Iron Man to be honest.
EVERYONE SHOULD SEE IRON MAN!
He's way cool =]

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Emma said...

Posted on Jul 28 2008 12:21 Bull shit

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BruceMcDougall said...

Posted on Jul 27 2008 17:24 Think of the worst movie you ever saw. This is 1,000 times worse. Don't be fooled, as I was , into going because Will Smith is in it. This is one of the worst movies ever made. I love movies but his was so bad I just couldn't take it anymore and left.
Some fat producer sat at his desk in Hollywood trying to think of ways to make money out of Will Smith. His idiot aides when told to come up with ideas suggested Will Smith as a super hero, but one who's arrogant, ugly, drunk,disgusting and cruel to children. Then we can have some nice guy(Justin Bateman) come along to reform Will and Will can steal the guy's wife. The producer jumped at the idea and said they wouldn't need a script, they could make it up as they went along. This they did believing that all they needed were a bunch of stunts-repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
They not only didn't hire writers but apparently no real directors were available because this is a complete mess. It lurches from scene to scene and back again making no sense whatsoever. It seems the camerman didn't show up and so they asked the cleaning lady to fill in. The camerwork is awful. The closeups are so close you can see Will blowing something out of his now and are able to count the pimples on peoples faces. and the jerks around from face to face regardless of whose speaking to the point where you want to throw something at the screen.
The humor is staged, corny, old and not funny. If you like jokes you've heard or seen before you're in for a treat. The running joke is Will Smith threatening to stick someone's head "up their butt" and this is repeated over and over and over and over and over until Will actually does which is our que to laugh-or leave.
This ship sank before it left the dock and Will Smith should never have signed on.

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usman said...

Posted on Jul 27 2008 00:09 the best super hero movie this summer loads of fun and relaxed performances -takes itself with a great tongue-in -cheek humor-seen it twice will buy dvdtoo

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Helen said...

Posted on Jul 26 2008 12:23 I've seen this twice - it was great the first time, but the second time is even better due to the twist near the end: you see it from a different perspective. I highly recommend this film.

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Clleo said...

Posted on Jul 26 2008 09:44 This film is hilerious ! 6 star all the way !

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Ashley said...

Posted on Jul 25 2008 19:46 Hancock was great i seen it about 2/3 weeks ago and it was so funny i advise everybody to go watch it cause you dont know what your missing!!!!

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jaz said...

Posted on Jul 25 2008 15:56 funny at parts, and cool idea initially, but seriously, towards the end, the plot line was absolutely rediculous. i came out thinking it was just a bit bizzare tbh, wonderin what kind of person came up with it.

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willy said...

Posted on Jul 25 2008 13:20 mike get ur eyes tested u wer watchin a different film m8 hancok was insane

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mike said...

Posted on Jul 24 2008 19:47 What a load of utter rubbish !!

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t diddy said...

Posted on Jul 24 2008 19:34 loved it! not will smith's best film, but definitely worth viewing on the big screen.

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