Bright intentions, mediocre work

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2008)

ATTENTION, PLEASE! THIS COMMENT IS IN ORDER, IT DOESN'T HAVE AN ABUSIVE CONTENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT DELETE IT (as it happened to other decent comments of my own). THANK YOU!
"Hancock" starts on the right track, only to go wayward soon enough. The main problem is that, although the subject is original and clever, the two writers, Ngo and Gilligan, are definitely not by far intelligent enough to articulate it into a fulfilled script. The story-line is messy and linear, and the intended twists, forced and predictable.
Maybe the worst mistake is that of approaching AGAIN the old trick of the "historic perspective": the super-heroes belong to an immortal and all-powerful race, the so-called "Gods" in mythology, bla-bla! We already saw it in so many movies - and, as a rule, totally compromised! (Remember, for instance, only the most recent "Jumper" or "Alien vs. Predator"!) As if this wasn't enough, they add up another time-spoiled motive: "love with the price of immortality"; incidentally, Eminescu made a better job out of it - and without throwing cars and stranded whales all around the city!). These poor attempts to give "depth" to the story simply don't add-up with the starting context, which is very snappy and funny indeed: the "disabused" hero, fallen into alcoholism and neglect, and his love-hatred relationship with society. THAT angle should have been developed... and we could have had a really good anti-hero comedy, comparable to "Wanted".
Missing that point, we just get with a nice summer entertainment, professionally enough directed and shot. Good to see it once, and forget it directly.