Better than the current IMDb rating - 5.6

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2008)

The movie was clever, original, and outrageous. Growing up on comics and comic book characters during the years of the Comics Authority Code, the approval group stating what could and must not be in a comic book, there was often a "what if" quality to the comics of my youth. What if you had a "superhero" with an alcohol problem? That is not a spoiler... it's in the advertisements. Yeah, I know, Tony Stark/Iron Man had a booze problem, but nothing quite like this. "What if" you had a superhero with no impulse control and was a drunk? What if you had a superhero with no impulse control, was a drunk and had no social skills whatsoever? It is an interesting place to start, and that is where "Hancock" starts, and in places it is hilarious.
Will Smith plays what may be the ultimate outsider, and as he usually is in his annual summer film, he is brilliant at it. Charlize Theron has always been attractive (well except for 'Monster'), but somehow I had not focused that she was in this movie, and in it she is just gorgeous. All through the movie I had asked "Who is this? She's beautiful."
My biggest complaint probably came from the direction of Peter Berg. Berg is a serviceable director who finds things in stories that other directors likely will not. He seems to have a passion of documentary film making, because like in "Friday Night Lights" he uses an awful lot of hand held camera work -- so much so that it became an annoyance. I hope he ditches the hand held when he directs "Dune."
When I watched the ending credits, I thought, "My goodness, what a pedigree," and it may be that there were too many cooks making this soup - each having their favorite spice to add without regard to the overall soup.
It is worth seeing, and if you like action movies and comic book superheroes, you should like it. If you do see it, see it on the big screen.