Smith is still charming in a wasted good premise

Rating: 5/10 (3 July 2008)

"Hancock" is a confused production. It has an intriguing premise in that the highly charismatic Will Smith plays a reluctant superhero whom everyone hates - and he hates everyone - for the damages he cause every time he comes to the rescue. But the lead actor's charm is wasted in a material that doesn't know what to do with its setup and essentially scrambles to decide what to do next, ending up as a generic summer movie that had the potential to effectively satirize other movies of its genre.
Smith plays John Hancock, a perennial drunkard who feels obligated to help the people of Los Angeles from their troubles. Problem is, no one likes him - and he retaliates by not liking them either, throwing off vulgarities that never seem offensive either because Smith is saying them, or because of the PG-13 rating.
He meets public-relations specialist Ray Embry (Jason Bateman) after rescuing the latter from certain death in a railway. In return, Ray takes it upon himself to have Hancock transform into someone people will actually look forward to seeing, and this involves doing time in jail. His wife Mary (Charlize Theron) hates the idea and would rather have Hancock stay out of their lives.
Then director Peter Berg, and writers Vy Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan hit a wall. The dark comedy turns into a conventional superhero movie thereon, with subpar CGI and a messy narrative to boot. The exposition is hurriedly done and Hancock's backstory is covered in such a flimsy manner to give way to more summer movie orthodoxy, and a twist that has been telegraphed right from the setup.
Smith is always fun to watch and he'll always be a crowd pleaser, even in this film which reduces his character's edge to mere banality. Which is unfortunate, because underneath all the trapping lies a more substantial promise.