Super-Comic-Tragic Smith

Rating: 9/10 (14 July 2008)

I do not like superhero movies, and avoid them like the plague. I do like Will Smith, and went to see Hancock figuring Smith would have some spin to add to the genre to make it worthwhile. I was right. This is a very risky venture for Smith and Peter Berg. Basically the ideas and realizations of 'SUPERHERO' are dissected and studied, while at the same time the movie is entertaining us with cinematic skill.
Smith is dead-on with his uncaring and probably self-pitying super guy, who is also not particularly skilled at his role and is often drunk. It sort of examines the question (one I've always related to Superman) of if you can't feel anything bad then you also can't feel anything good, right? Where is the pleasure? Hancock also examines a host of other superhero issues, such as how can a superhero shave? It makes sense that when one of these last remaining super-folks (Charlize Theron is the other) get together, their powers wane. How else could they enjoy each other, love each other? Of course, this is where they are vulnerable and also where this super-comedy becomes a super-tragedy.
There is so much beneath the surface of this picture that it is not really a big superhero extravaganza at heart, but it capably entertains on that level. Congrats to Will Smith and Peter Berg for this already unappreciated and misunderstood gem.