Call Me That One More Time

Rating: 4/10 (2 July 2008)

Greetings again from the darkness. No question that Will Smith is a movie star and can pull off a super hero ... even an apathetic, alcoholic, amnesiac-stricken super hero. Here he is very physical while at the same time using facial expressions to try and get in touch with his more human side.
This mess goes wrong pretty quickly. The special effects are overboard and director Peter Berg ("Very Bad Things", "The Kingdom") way over directs ... especially with the 360 degree facial close-ups. All the eye gazing between Will Smith and Charlize Theron take away any mystery in what the big plot twist might be. Even the score is weak. Is it too much to ask for a decent theme song for a super hero? This one sounds like it is straight out of a John Ford movie, or maybe "Wagon Train".
Jason Bateman has almost as much time as Will Smith but really isn't able to bring much to a nothing role. Smith is the only one who shows any depth as his is the only character with more than one dimension. The cartoonish special effects just don't work and the great little idea of the rehabbing super hero just falls flat. This one has the feel of MULTIPLE edits and cuts with the result of one that just isn't much fun. Go see "Indy" or "Iron Man" again as you wait for "The Dark Knight".