Brilliant first half is undone by the second

Rating: Null/10 (25 March 2011)

Hancock addresses a fundamental question that I've always had about superheroes. How do Superman or The Incredible Hulk tear up city streets, crush cars and smash entire floors off of buildings without being slapped with multi-million dollar lawsuits? The title character of Hancock suffers because of his own super-strength, he can fly in and save a man from an oncoming train but his landing causes a giant hole in the pavement and he totals the train by stopping it with his shoulder. The result is that he is in debt to the city to the tune of $7,000,000 in fines.
His destructive nature makes him an irritant to the populace of Los Angeles who might appreciate this good deeds were it not for the destruction he leaves in his wake. When he saves the man from the train he crushes several cars and later when he throws a whale back into the ocean, it crashes into some poor guy's sailboat. The disdain is mutual, Hancock isn't exactly a pleasant soul. He's a homeless drunk with a serious lack of people skills, his attitude stinks and he remains elusive from the police and from the press.
A sort-of redemption comes his way in the form of Ray (Jason Bateman), a PR guy who is grateful that Hancock saved him from that train and brings him home for dinner. There he meets the wife, Mary (Charlize Theron) who looks at this man with a certain hatred and son Aaron (Jae Head) who looks at him with fascination. Ray is a man who knows how to spin a good idea into a media blitz and thinks he can do no less for Hancock. He convinces him to do time in prison and disappear from the public eye until the crime rate goes up and they are screaming for him to save them. Meanwhile, he will have time to clean up his life and get himself off the booze.
This is a brilliant concept. What director Peter Berg has created is a base reality for a man with extraordinary powers. How would the public react to a superhero who trashes everything in an effort to save their lives? What would be the consequences? What is the real reality of having phenomenal strength and the ability to fly? What are the consequences of both powers when you're a drunk?
Most of the film's best moments come from the smaller details like the fact that Hancock can shave the stubble off his chin simply by using his own fingernails. There is a scene in which he teaches a lesson to a kid who has been bullying Aaron by hurling the kid into the stratosphere and another scene in prison when he tells a fellow inmate to stick it where the sun don't shine and then gives him a demonstration. Then there's the date the he has with a woman he picks up in a bar, she wants sex but he warns her that his climatic moment may be more than she can handle.
These moments would be nothing without the performance of Will Smith who manages to play this character with more subtlety and originality than it probably deserves. He underplays the role and doesn't go for flashy melodrama. He is smart enough to know that this is a guy who has been kept way from most people so he doesn't play him as needy or particularly lovable.
Where the movie steps wrong is in the second half, when it tries to explain Hancock's origins. A secret is revealed that brings his background to light and kills the reality that has been created I the first half.