Falling Short Of Heroic

Rating: 6/10 (19 September 2017)

What would you call someone who is bad-mannered, foul-mouthed, destructive, homophobic, unreasonable, and drunken who is a liar and an asshole? Probably not a superhero. Will Smith plays Hancock, a slacker with all those attributes who also has supernatural powers. Maybe you could call him a superzero--someone with the potential to be spectacular who falls far short.
He's a reluctant hero for sure, who usually rises above his crassness only when forced to, and then leaves careless destruction in the wake of his heroics.
He meets Ray (Jason Bateman), an optimistic PR man who thinks Hancock should change his image. Ray's wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), seems unconvinced.
What follows is an unpredictable story about love and possible redemption. There are bad guys, of course, who complicate matters, but the resolution of this story feels messy and contrived. By the end of the film, viewers may feel like it was all just an origin story that served no purpose except to be the foundation for other real stories to follow. But who would want to emotionally invest in a hero that still feels less than realized, a temporary patchwork of questionable values?
One feels that an opportunity has been missed. Imperfect heroes can be quite interesting if their story makes them lovable or compelling. Hancock strains to achieve either.