I loved the first half, before they insulted my intelligence *and* ethnicity

Rating: 5/10 (19 February 2009)

Man was this movie disappointing. I was Sooooo excited before I saw it.
A Black Superhero (Finally!) Will Smith! (Yippee!) A Black Superhero who is not the sidekick for another White Superhero! (Finally). Short of a live-action Static Shock or Icon, I thought it was likely to be the best depiction of a Black Superhero since Meteor Man and unlike Meteor Man, I thought people would actually watch the movie in droves, giving lie to the belief that a Superhero movie starring a Black man couldn't do well (people seem to forget about Blade - or at least the first one). And then I watched it.
It was great until about halfway through when they insulted my intelligence *and* my Blackness.
Normally, I'm able to overlook *some* racial subtext in a movie unless its a movie like "Plesantville" - whose central message is "color brings life" but somehow doesn't manage put a single Black person in the movie - not even in the beginning stages set in the "real" world!
Even though I knew going in that the movie was a "Whitey saves the Negroes" premise I was willing to overlook that to see an intriguing treatise on what might happen if a superhero was, as (far too) often stated in the movie, an a**hole". They pretty much had me from Hello. . . .until Hancock tells Ray about waking up alone in a hospital and not knowing who he was 80 years ago.
That's where the movie went off the rails and where I was unable to maintain my suspension of belief. I was with them to that point, glossing over the movie's physics (the ground gets ripped up when he lands, yet his shoes are fine, the throwing and catching of the French boy doesn't liquefy the boy's innards nor cause him to blackout - no pun intended, etc.) and its seemingly purposefully color-blind society (White folks in this world don't have a problem with a super-powered N****** with all the inherent threat that entails - but its only a problem that he's a mean drunk and curses a little), the criminals talking mess to Hancock, EVEN AFTER SOME OF THEM HAD FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE OF HIS ABILITIES, etc. But him being 80 years old was too much.
You're telling me that an 80 year old Black American Man, WHO HAS LIVED THROUGH THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE, who has lived through the 60s and the 70s and the 80s is going to dress, speak and act like a 30 year old Black Man? You're telling me that this selfsame 80 year old Black Man needs little White kids to tell him its time to be a superhero? He needs a Great White Saviour to tell him not only when its time, but how to become respectable and even how to talk ("Good Job") to people? In 80 years Hancock didn't figure any of that for himself?
On top of this, compare Hancock to other recent superhero movies: Iron Man (White!) gets to be a wealthy, super-genius. His alcoholism is only alluded to in the movie (even though its a central part of his character in the comic books). Batman (White!) gets to be a wealthy, super-genius. Superman and Spider-Man both get to be productive members of society. The Hulk, when he isn't hulked out is a scientist!
Make the superhero Black and all of a sudden he's a bum, unable to succeed in the world until the Great White Saviour comes in and teaches the savage, but powerful Black Man how to behave and speak. In addition, if you were to change the ethnicity of Batman, Spider-Man, Superman or Iron Man, there's no need to change the movie. Hancock being Black in our world changes this movie (or would have if the writing was better). Case in point, the infamous kiss (some people say they saw it - the version I saw didn't have the kiss in it).
When Hancock goes in for the kiss, she doesn't say no, this isn't right cuz I'm married, she doesn't gently push him away, SHE THROWS HIM THROUGH A WALL. Not only does she repudiate him strongly, they lose their abilities when in proximity to each other. In effect the film is saying "Stay away from the White Woman, Black Man, cuz if you don't you will lose your power". The film is saying the Black Man can't be a productive member of society until a kindly White savior comes along and teaches him how to be (and speak), despite the physical power of the Black Man. The film is saying that Black Men will be unhappy as long as they go after the White Woman, who gets to be happy and raise a family. All of this subtext gets added when you have Will Smith as the leading man and to have all of it ignored on top of the other issues with the movie was a slap in the face to Black folk.
If the movie had remained a comedy, with the initial tone intact, it would have been kewl. If it had stayed on the "drunken, sullen superhero"premise, it would have been kewl. If they had even stuck with the love story angle and not tried so hard to inject comedy and so hard to setup a superhero fight, it would have been kewl. As it was, it was a mish-mash of cool ideas and murky CGI stuff. . . I logged into IMDb to see if David Goyer had written the script cuz Hancock reminded me of Blade III, when Goyer didn't have a good director reigning him in and got to vomit *all* of his ideas onto the screen.