Release Date:  July 2, 2008
Rating:  PG-13 (for some intense action sequences of sci-fi violence, and language.)
Genre:  Action/Adventure, Comedy
Run Time:  92 min
Director:  Peter Berg
Actors:  Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron, Eddie Marsan

Hancock went through “Development Hell” and it shows.  After various scriptwriters, directors and even titles came and went, the project finally landed at the feet of director Peter Berg (reportedly the fourth one attached).  Rather than bringing a cohesive vision, Berg’s Hancock feels like a movie that was made from whatever draft was lying on the producer’s desk at the time and with the guiding principle of “let’s just get this done already.”

Not that the film lacks energy or is boring.  If anything, with all of its loud destruction, bombastic music and profanity-laced dialogue, it overcompensates.  But all the bells and whistles eventually can’t distract from the fact that Hancock—despite its intriguing high-concept premise—completely falls off the rails halfway through.

Hancock is a superhero movie with a twist:  the superhero (Will Smith) is a foul-mouthed drunk who makes bad situations worse before finally bringing them to an end.  His rescue attempts (often under the influence and performed with a bitter, careless attitude) create even more destruction that racks up damage costs into the millions.  Much of this is played for humor (that works), though it should be noted that the film goes to excessive lengths (through profane and crude language) to establish how much this guy is not a role model.

The citizens of Los Angeles have had enough and wish that he were gone, but PR guru Ray Embry (Jason Bateman) wants to help change all that after Hancock saves him from an oncoming train.  Ray’s makeover plan is extreme and requires sacrifice on Hancock’s part, but slowly it begins to effect good until a major robbery-and-hostage crisis could prove to be the catalyst that really turns things around—both for Hancock’s public image and personal struggles.

And then the movie falls apart.

About halfway through, a major character revelation sends the story careening in a completely different direction.  Though a lurking secret is strongly insinuated in the film’s first hour, the revelation still comes as a complete surprise and, subsequently, requires the film to essentially ditch its unique anti-superhero character study for a muddled mythology. 

Though the turn attempts to define why Hancock is the way he is, it’s more messy than clarifying.  Plot holes are created, major lapses of logic required, and the level of details revealed about this new context are limited to what will keep the plot moving but fail to make everything actually come together (let alone actually care about these people or what’s happening to them).  An original concept suddenly becomes a generic legend, and Hancock and Ray—two entertaining and well-matched opposites—become flat.