Seen it twice, What's the critics problem?

Rating: 8/10 (31 July 2008)

John Hancock, is a man with superhuman powers, strong, invulnerable, flight, he has the usual bad boy powers. However, unlike other superhero's he really is a bad boy, not caring what he does, who he hurts as long as he gets the job done and winds up threatening more lives than he saves. That is until he saves loser PR man Ray Embrey, who realises that within Hancock, their really is a hero trying to get out. After taking him home to meet his family, he realises that he may be able to help him and turn Hancock into the hero he always could be. After doing exactly what no-one expects to do which is care about his previous actions, he then takes to becoming a true hero, acting against all he instincts he starts to turn into someone that people like and want to be, until his past, quite literally, sends him reeling.
This is an Akiva Goldsman production and usually his name on a film is like having Cyanide as an ingredient on a drinks bottle, but, like Hancock himself, he acts against type here but letting someone else pen the work, and as such creates a film that is far better than it could have been. This is a film with some genuine surprising moments and a pretty decent script. When I was watching at first I hated Will Smith's Hancock and thought he was a real *sshole, and was not looking forward to watching his adventure, but this is what we're supposed to feel, Will's performance is spot on and he performs so well against his usual likable persona that it's a real compliment to his skills that he pulls this off so well. Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron are equally great as the blissfully happy couple into whose lives Hancock crash lands.
The script is far better than I thought it would be and while some elements are very Hollywood and clichéd (Especially near the end) this is still a very good film that is worth the price of admission and shows another side to both Will Smith's range and also Akiva Goldsman's skills. I can't say why the critics are having a go at this film as I have now seem it twice, not because I'm a big Will Smith fan, simply because it is a good movie. As I sat there the second time I was trying to think what set the film apart from other superhero studies, and, apart from the obvious that this does not come from a comic, the big thing is that, due to Will Smith's performance we get a glimpse of a hero who really feels, not bullets, or the impact of the train but feels for people around him and the makers really focus on this, this is not a film about a Superhero but a film about a super human.
As you may have gathered by the rest of this review, the biggest surprise in this film is that while the trailer does feature many of the films interesting moments, there is so much to this film than what we see in the trailer. In fact in terms of the tone of the film it is very different to what we see in the trailer. I could say a lot more but to do so would spoil some of the surprises that you may not know about, and unlike some reviewers I'm not gonna do that.
I think for most reviewers the big problem is that it's not Batman, the film they've already decided if the best cause Heath Ledger's dead. Truth is there is room for 2 good superhero films and this was the first of the year. Trust me.