Hancock

Hancock (Rated PG-13)

Running time: 1 hr 32 mins

Cast:

Will Smith

Charlize Theron

Jason Bateman

Critical Consensus (www.rottentomatoes.com):

**1/2 out of *****

My Consensus:

***1/2 out of *****

The premise: A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional who's trying to repair his image.

My review: Hancock is by no means this summers best action movie. It is by no means the best superhero movie. But in the opinion of this reviewer, it still succeeds at being a darn good, entertaining summer flick. It has it's plot holes and minor inconsistencies, but let's get to the point: this is a summer action superhero flick. We don't need beautiful story telling that makes all the sense in the world. When superhero movies become a genre that HAS to make sense to the audience watching, I'll quit watching movies. If a superhero movie does have wonderful storytelling and plausible twists, then obviously its welcome, but it should never be a requirement. Just sit back and have fun.

With that, this movie did well. The moments of action, which were frequent were darn good fun. They were explosive and "messy" which was a refreshing spin on action films. The idea that we have a superhero who no one initally likes, was a cool twist in itself on the genre. The guy is a drunk sleeping on park benches. For all intesnsive purposes, he's a homeless man. While saving lives, he's destroying the city of Los Angelas. Now, this havoc happens in all superhero movies, but none of these heroes ever pay the price. Hancock does. He even goes to prison for this.

The film does attempt a deepened story, which there I think is where the movie sort of fails. Mainly because the twisty heart of the story doesn't come to view until more than halfway through the film. That hurt the movie. They jammed all this shock and awe in our faces, due mainly to Charlize Therons character. Her character is a mere side dish to the story for the first half, then suddenly she's the heart of the story in the second half. Thankfully the Oscar winner (Monster) is a damn good actress and pulls off this twist well. Now, was the twist a little confusing and empty? Yes. It happens way to late in the movie and so much info is packed in, the movie does become a little unbelievable in it's own logic and just a tad overwhelming. But for me, it didn't quite ruin the movie. I understood the twist completely, they just lacked in explaining a lot to us.

The acting was quite good for a summer flick. Oscar nominee Will Smith (Ali, Pursuit of Happyness) has become one of my favorite actors. He pulls off this drunkard superhero character so very effectively. Charlize Theron as I mentioned above is a great actress and always has been. As rediculous as her character becomes, she still manages to be quite brilliant. But maybe I'm an idiot. Jason Bateman is so good! He's become a wonderful actor playing the everyman he started in Arressted Development. I'm glad he's becoming a known face to people my age. Just a great cast here.

Some people have had concerns with the shaky camera effect of this movie. Personally, I've always been a huge fan of it. It makes the film grittier and almost more "real". Using it in a movie like this makes it all the better in my opinion. It is not nausiating in the least. You have to be real sensitive for the camera work in this film to make you queasy. It made the action moments that much cooler and almost improved the special effects. The effects, by the way were cool as hell. They were so over the top sometimes, but dang I loved it.

All in all folks, Hancok is just a really fun, cool movie. A few story flaws, but it doesn't take away from a lot of the movie.