Enjoyable for the First 45 Minutes but Loses All Entertainment Value After That

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2008)

I recently attended the Toronto premier of Hancock and I have to say I was disappointed. When I saw that both Will Smith and Charlize Theron were in a film with a very entertaining plot I have to admit my hope were high. The film starts off very strong with Smith playing the comedicly lazy and un-phased, Hancock who is seldom seen without a bottle of alcohol in hand. Hancock's careless attempts at rescuing people in need have created a cornucopia of property damage, damage that the government is forced to pay for causing the public to unanimously hate him. When public relations rep, Ray (Jason Bateman) is saved from on on-coming train by the unconventional superhero, he makes it his mission to clear up the less then appealing reputation of Hancock despite pleas not to by his CNN addicted wife, Mary (Charlize Theron) who has a deep rooted hatred for the hero. It looks like Ray has his work cut out for him until he hatches up a plan for Hancock to go to jail and give the city of Los Angeles a chance to realize how much they need Hancock to save the day. This begins 20 minutes of Hancock being taught single handedly by Ray on how to be a respectful, presentable superhero, including putting on an X-Men inspired leather jumpsuit. When the Los Angeles Police Department finally realize they need the superhero, Hancock responds showing he can be a superhero LA can be proud of as he properly rescues a group of people strapped to explosives from a bank robber. And here we come to where the film goes up in flames as everything up to this point has been thoroughly enjoyable, because now we find out Ray's wife Mary also has powers and that Hancock isn't the only superhero on the planet. But it doesn't stop there. According to this film, superheros are created in pairs as Hancock and Mary are actually husband and wife. However thats not the craziest part. As it turns out whenever Mary and Hancock are together for an extended period of time (I guess a decade in the same city doesn't count) they begin to lose their powers and become mortal. This leads to many strange action sequences with natural disasters. With Hancock vulnerable, his enemies attempt to kill him as well as Mary, almost succeeding but lest we forget, this is a Superhero movie. With a little help from Ray, Hancock is able to fend off his attackers before leaving LA for good and relocating to New York. In conclusion, if you are looking for a funny enjoyable film, leave an hour into it. But if you are looking for a film more obsessed with explaining the origin of Superheros, stick around and watch a perfectly good film turn into a train wreck.