Could have been so much more...

Rating: 6/10 (14 July 2008)

Will Smith as a superhero. That alone made me plunk down 9 bucks. He's practically homeless and hits the bottle pretty hard. Then when he tries to save the day he winds up messing up the city even worse. Everyone hates his guts. Then he runs into Bateman, a publicist who fixes images. Bateman and Smith butt heads for a while, and Bateman's wife (Theron) swears that Hancock can't change.
First of all, I didn't really go off of the critics for this one. Usually superheros are supposed to be so good and noble, a sterling example of what we should be like. Thankfully, the superhero movies in the last few years (Spiderman trilogy, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Incredibles, Batman Begins) have been exploring the inner turmoil of superheros. Hancock seems to break the mold. Will Smith's character is a mess. He doesn't even try to pretend otherwise. This is a role that you don't usually see in superheros.
Second, he's a black superhero. But people don't have issues with him being black, they have issues with Hancock being such a jerk. So it started off good, and touched on some important superhero questions that are rarely dealt with:
1. Who do superheros go to when they have mental issues and drug addictions?
2. Who can really punish and arrest a superhero if he/she breaks the law, especially if there's only one superhero in town? Second, how could you keep a superhero locked up? Could you really count on his/her word that they will stay in prison? What jurisdiction do superheros fall under in a city? Are they like private investigators, reserve police officers, citizens or just outlaws?
Then it all went backwards. Hancock is all of a sudden nigh immortal and can't remember squat before 80 years ago. Amnesia rarely works as a worthwhile plot device in movies, people. Remember that. Also immortality kind of places Hancock even further out of touch with the people. Then you have Theron displaying superpowers. Say what? That makes no sense. And the explanation that Theron and Smith get weaker when they are close to each other seemed kind of disjointed. First, the immortality and amnesia hadn't been worked through, and now you throw in a half baked explanation of how all the other heros died off due to wanting true love? Say what? Too many ideas and too little time to flesh them out.
Second, there was no main super villain. How are you going to not have a super villain? Or at least the opportunity for a super villain...like have Theron say that there are more people like them in hibernation or in hiding or something like that...Or make Theron out to be the true arch nemesis that wants to move Hancock away because she's wanting to do something diabolical, they fight, Theron loses but vanishes for the time being. That's your second lesson, people. Always leave some room in your film for a sequel.
Thirdly, why did Hancock have such average powers? Flight, super strength and invincibility. Hancock had the seeds to be so much more, but bad writing damaged it. Maybe if they do a sequel they can retcon a lot of this nonsense. Or do a reboot like Batman begins or The Incredible Hulk.