ScreenWize

What do superheroes do when they’re bored with their job and just can’t get enough respect? Get depressed and take to drink of course - just like mere mortals. This is the fresh idea behind the superhero movie Hancock. Jon Hancock (Will Smith) drinks too much, sleeps on park benches, insults everyone and really doesn’t give a damn. If it wasn’t for the fact that he can fly faster than a speeding bullet, jump buildings in a single bound and is impervious to bullets, missiles and fast trains, he would be in jail. The Los Angeles community are fed up with his attitude and authorities have slapped him with a massive bill for damages. Luckily for Hancock he bumps into Ray (Jason Bateman) – a PR man with a heart of gold, who really wants to save the world, but decides to help save Hancock. Invited for dinner, Hancock meets Ray’s son Aaron and wife Mary (Charlize Theron). Despite some strange looks between Mary and Hancock over the dinner table, Ray gets to work on Hancock’s image and before long has the superhero appropriately dressed and behaving like a decent member of society. This original story out of the way early, the film then takes a unorthodox twist as we find out just what those strange looks over the table between Mary and Hancock were all about.

Despite the chaotic narrative, it’s great entertainment - with some excellent performances, particularly from Smith who makes Hancock a worn out man carrying a substantial burden. Eddie Marsan makes an appearance as Red, the bad guy needed in the second half of the film when Hancock is no longer fighting inner demons. What lets the film down is a sappy and conventional ending, capping off what could otherwise have been a really refreshing take on the superhero genre.

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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon