MaverikHancock - Not Another Superhero Movie
August 14th 2008 08:49
What makes a good superhero movie? Or rather, what makes a superhero movie at all? There was once a time where we could easily answer that with the response "A movie that had a hero of superhuman ability as it's star." But with the recent influx of films about these men and women in tight spandex, we are left begging the question... Is this still the truth? Or have the lines begun to blur between superhero movies and movies containing superheroes? There is at least one film I can think of right now that very clearly walks that tightrope, and it's name is Hancock.
The film's plot follows a very peculiar hero living in Los Angeles. His name is Hancock (Will Smith), and he is effectively a bum. Bottle of Jack Daniels in hand, he drunkenly flies to the scenes of the many crimes in LA, but when he gets there, he more often than not destroys everything in his path, and is never very welcomed upon arrival. Everything seems business as usual, until one day, he saves the live of a PR executive, one Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman of 'Arrested Development' fame). Ray wants to save the world, but since he's having trouble with that, he decides to try and save one man first. And so he sets out on his own quest to rescue Hancock from himself.
Scruffy and smelling of liquer... Check... Time to save the city.
The movie swings violently between being a comedy, an action movie, and a life drama, which is enough to leave the viewers more than a little disorientated. It's hard to pin down just what makes Hancock a good movie, but then, it's flaws are not so glaring that you can't push past them and enjoy the ride anyway.
Will Smith acts about as well as can be expected. He didn't ever say 'Aw hell no', though even so, it seemed as though he was just playing another one of his roles. Though he does play it well, and it's not quite a case of Steven Seagal syndrome (where the actor plays the exact same role in every movie they do), but it's still feels like we've seen this character before, perhaps without the ability to fly. This could also be due to the fact that this reworked version of the script was written with him in mind as the lead. Director Peter Berg even said that if Will had turned down the roll, than the movie may never have happened, they were just that set on having him play Hancock.
Charlize Theron is perhaps my least favourite actor in the film, as much of the later story hinges on her character, and she seems determined to give a robotic performance in a lot of these key scenes. Her big explanation scene is done so ridiculously that I had trouble taking it seriously. It's unfortunate that such a wooden actor be given this role, but we can't have everything I guess.
Well at least he's not wearing speedos...
Jason Bateman gives a good performance. He's a likeable character, and while we still see slithers of Michael Bluth, his character from Arrested Development, he manages to distance himself enough from the roll that we're able to separate the two, which was something that had worried me when I decided to see this movie in the first place.
And special mention goes to the young Jae Head for his role as Ray's son Aaron. There's only so much you can expect a child his age to be able to do in an acting career, and yet he manages to stay a likeable character whom I actually felt for during the films climax. Which is a feat in and of itself. I can only hope that he is able to keep his spirit without the film industry crushing it underneath it's own weight, because he could go places later in his life.
The Verdict: Hancock is a mixed movie. It has many things that made me enjoy it, but when it's bad it's bad... If nothing else, it's a very interestingly written story, and the Hancock character is well presented, taking the Superhero stereotype and running it into the ground. Hancock is a very human hero, who starts out already broken, and as we see him try and pick up the shards of his life, we're left with an endearing image. I think it's a rent. And I pray to whatever gods may be up there that they don't try and make a sequel out of this...
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