Didn't live up to expectations

Rating: Null/10 (18 December 2008)

After seeing the preview, I admit I was skeptical.
BUT I read others said the preview wasn't really like the film. Coupled with the rare SECOND weekend boom the film had (probably due to competition it's first weekend didn't do well, but sure did phenomenally afterward), I thought it worth risking the rental.
People who reviewed it said it 'wasn't a typical superhero film' ala Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Dark Knight, etc.
I thought that would be good since my wife doesn't like those type films even if I like some of them (albeit there were parts in THIS year's superhero films I didn't like included either and put them in the category of not family films...all the sudden the comics I read as a kid are made in films that are for adults (or at least teens).
So I went into Hancock with an open mindset. When Will Smith is clean, he is a funny comedian and he's made some interesting films in the past.
However, we were both VERY disappointed with Hancock. The humor was NOT even close to funny and it got so disgusting that by the prison scene, we shut off the DVD and gave up.
It was boring, not funny, full of bad language and a pension for repeating a particularly offensive word over and over, by children as well as adults.
We gave it every opportunity to turn around, but it seemed to be a worse than average comic book character with the only twist is that he is a jerk with super powers that doesn't care what he acts like nor does he particularly care about the people he rescues nor their opinion.
If all it intended was to make an anti-hero, I guess it was a success, but a watchable film that a family could watch or learn any lessons from (other than how not to talk and behave...not just the 'super hero', but the kids and adults shouldn't behave as the others in the film did either...), it did not deserve to be rewarded with financial success.
To think they would consider a sequel is baffling. But then in this day and era where any film that makes decent money, sequels will be made until it makes nothing and ruins the franchise, I suppose they'll make sequels even worse than the original. (sort of like the sequels of Disney's 'Pirates of the Caribbean' or part 2&3 of 'Matrix').
Crank out junk on the assembly line and someone is bound to buy a ticket, it seems. This year (perhaps due in part to last year's writer's strike) has been a real weak year in films.
Hancock is a prime example, being one of the big selling pieces of junk.
Maybe the car companies can take lessons from the film industry in how to sell a piece of junk and make people think it's something extra-ordinary. Then our tax dollars won't have to do it. :)