A troubled hero discovers who he really is

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2008)

John Hancock (Will Smith) is not your ordinary superhero. Drunk, angry, and bitter, Hancock's actions are often as destructive as they are helpful. Los Angeles feels that having Hancock is more dangerous and expensive and it is understandable that most, if not the entire city, hates him. Hancock is more than willing to return the feeling even though he still tries to help (and fails badly).
Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) is not a superhero but he is trying to save the world in his own way. A PR man, Ray spends his days trying to convince corporations that helping the world, instead of just trying to make a profit, is the right thing to do. The trouble is that of course no one listens to him and Ray is easily ignored.
These two lives were separate and on different paths until one day when Hancock rescues Ray. It is then that Ray, through part gratitude, part opportunity, and part sympathy, decides to make it his mission to reinvent Hancock into a true hero that everyone will love. Of course, Ray's wife Mary Embrey (Charlize Theron) is not to excited about having the drunken Hancock around their house and son Aaron (Jae Head) but Ray has made his mind up regardless of her feelings.
Hancock is a unique idea in that a superhero is held responsible for the damage and chaos he causes much as a regular person would be responsible. Hancock himself is hated, sued, and eventually threatened with prison because of the destruction he reaps across the city. Traditional superheros are often given free reign to do what they want to do but Hancock instead lives in a world where no matter what you do, good intentions or not, someone will always complain.
Is Hancock a new classic for the superhero genre? I would say no because of a certain plot twist that turns an otherwise good idea in a melodrama that distracts from the good things, such as cynical humor and real character development, that the movie had going for it. The critics have constantly complained about this and they were right to make it an issue.
I won't go into too much detail but everyone now knows that Mary herself is a superhero or at least has the same powers that Hancock does. This wasn't really a twist since if you watched the trailers you could guess that she would have something to do with the conflict of the story. The real problem is the strange "myth" created to explain the reason why Hancock and Mary exist and how they affect each other. Was this needed? No, and it is tragic that Hancock decided to include it. The entire feel of the movie was changed and not for the better. I can only wonder why the writers and director thought this was necessary as if they didn't have a good thing going already. I suspect it had something to do with having an explanation for Hancock as well as to give the possibility of an enemy who he would have to face. The problem was that Hancock didn't really need any of these because it wasn't a standard superhero movie.
Hancock is not a bad movie and there are some good ideas put into it. Jason Bateman is a face we need to see more often in major movies and hopefully Hancock will push his popularity higher. Perhaps him, more than anyone else, will be the one to benefit from the summer popularity of Hancock.
7/10