movies: hancock

I remember reading somewhere that Hancock was originally supposed to be called "Tonight, He Comes" and was supposed to be a somewhat "darker" script...

Maybe that's why Hancock actually feels a little schizophrenic. The first half is trying to do the comedy thing... the second half is maybe more of a "regular" superhero movie.

And I have to say, I much preferred the second half... once they'd stopped trying to squeeze laughs out of the story (which honestly, isn't really that funny and ends up being a little embarrassing in places because Jason Bateman just tries a little too hard) and settled into something with some heart to it.

I'm also not sure about Will Smith in the lead. It's a very different Will to anything else I've ever seen him in (but I have really only seen him in the more action/comedy type movies), and because he seems to be able to do moody and intense with more conviction than I would have thought, the movie ends up feeling quite dark and is perhaps why a lot of the comedy falls flat.

I will say that this is the first movie in a VERY long time that actively surprised me. Usually I can see plot happening a mile off... but this time it totally broadsided me. So they totally get points for that (double points because Ma saw it coming when I didn't)!

The movie does feel in some ways like that "introduction movie" (although I'm not sure if that's because I've heard rumours about them doing a sequel)... maybe it's also because for a superhero movie, it's actually really, really, really self-contained. Essentially there are really only four major characters, everybody else is basically "dude at bank" or "woman in car"... even the bad guys that show up in the movie are pretty much just "random thug #2". But then the movie isn't about Hancock fighting super-villains, it's more about his internal struggles.

Not the greatest movie ever made, but parts of it were enjoyable.

yani's rating: 2 eagles out of 5