A great concept, poorly executed

Rating: 5/10 (7 January 2009)

Had a great trip to Canberra's fantastic Dendy again last night, to see 'Hancock'. Cheap Tuesday, and it was busy with hundreds of baby boomers lining up to see 'Mama Mia' and I ended up in the wrong line, feeling like a complete idiot when I realised that there was no one within cooee of my age in the queue. It was a relief, however, to find that we could walk right into the appropriate cinema and not have to jockey for decent seats.
'Hancock' is a good piece of cinema, but very light. It's one of those films with a great premise that kind of falls down when the story should be getting interesting. You could see that spot at the end of the exposition and the conflict where the writersVincent Ngo and Vince Gilligansuddenly realised that they don't know where they're going with this story. It's good, but the best bits are in the trailer, so wait for the DVD.
I'd like to give them ten points for trying, but this is one of those unfortunate films that has fallen victim to the Hollywood movie machine. The idea was fresh and new, which is more than you can say for most American films this century, but the execution just didn't cut it.
I just wish we had opted for 'Ten Empty' instead. Oh well.