Halfway Decent (Literally)

Rating: 5/10 (22 January 2009)

Hancock has everything going for it. It's a unique play on the superhero movie starring an excellent actor in Will Smith. And it starts very well. Hancock (Smith) is an alcoholic, miserable, lonely superhero who causes damage and insults those he saves. He's hated by the people and the press. Then unlikely savior Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) comes to the rescue. After being pulled clear of a train by Hancock in the best moment of the movie, he decides to return the favor. Ray convinces Hancock change his image as a hero and finally rise above his very human problems, with Ray's help. It's a very entertaining start. It's not hard to imagine superheros being sued or needing publicists in the real world and the first half of the film explores those issues.
Then the twist was introduced changing the movie into something completely different from what I just described. I'm not going to mention it in case any who read this plan to watch the movie. But in a movie that was already unique, this almost ruins the film. A simple story of Bateman's character healing a troubled superhero and healing his own problems in the process would have been much more compelling than a misguided origin story.
There are other minor issues. Ray's wife Mary Embrey (Charlize Theron) is a poor character. I admit, I've never cared much for Theron. But I don't think anyone could have made her character interesting. She fills a purpose in the movie, but her character has little personality. The fact that she's central to the unnecessary twist only makes it worse. Then there's a gag scene involving the difficulties of Hancock having sex which isn't as funny as I'm sure the filmmakers intended.
But those problems could easily have been ignored were it not for the frustrating direction an otherwise interesting movie took. I haven't said anything different than what most people who watch this movie say. So trust me, watch the first half of Hancock, then shut it off.