Review: Hancock
I wasn’t originally planning on watching Hancock in theaters, but considering I haven’t seen the first Hellboy, and my wife and I didn’t want to wait an extra 30 minutes to watch Kung Fu Panda, Hancock had to do. It’s not that I had zero interest in the movie either. I have nothing against Will Smith, in fact I find him one of the most consistently entertaining people in Hollywood. Hancock is usually my kind of flick, but reports of rewrites and re-shoots late in the films production process had me skeptical. Re-shoots and rewrites most of the time indicate problems, or more optimistically they indicate a good filmmaker realizing he needs to hone his/her work. I had no problem giving Director Peter Berg (Ethan Hawke’s bastard twin) the benefit of the doubt because his previous films delivered, with the most notable being “The Kingdom”.
Hancock’s end result was a mix between a compelling tale and a jumbled mess. The first hour of Hancock was solid. It was funny, original and heartfelt. You felt Hancock’s pain, as his unique abilites left him isolated and angry with the world. Jason Bateman (Ray) and Charlize Theron (Mary) were also set up nicely, Bateman as an idealistic PR guy and Theron as his supportive wife and mother. Hancock and Ray are cleverly introduced as Hancock saves Ray’s life in a drunken stupor. In order to repay his debt, Ray offers to help Hancock improve his image. It’s a decent enough premise and both Bateman and Smith are very funny in the scenes that follow. At this point I’m thoroughly enjoying the movie, maybe even considering it the surprise hit of the summer. Unfortunately that feeling didn’t last.
During the last third of Hancock the tone of the movie changes from comedy, to a sci-fi soap opera. The plot twist itself is very interesting, but the way it plays out on screen is clumsy and abrupt. Everything you thought you knew about the characters is thrown out the window and then magically put back together in the last five minutes. Which is unfortunate, because the twist itself was interesting, only it didn’t match up with the tone of the rest of the film. If the ending had been properly executed it could have catapulted Hancock to a whole other level. Instead you get a film with an identity crisis. It’s a comedy, then it’s a super hero movie, then a sci-fi, then a romance, then a comedy again.
I didn’t hate it, but I surely didn’t love it. Hancock was filled with great ideas (including a pretty decent twist), but none of those ideas gelled together to form a cohesive story. If only it had been about 20 minutes longer then some of the interesting twists could have played out. Instead, the film comes to a crashing halt with an ending that left me scratching my head/throwing up in my own mouth. You would think with the budget the talent and budget attached to Hancock that they could have figured out a more creative way to wrap up what had been a pretty good story. Unfortunately, they didn’t.
6/10
