This is a guest review written by Marcus from www.marcusmccurdy.com

When I first saw the previews for Hancock I couldn’t wait to see it. The idea of a bumbling super hero intrigued me and the physics of it all seemed more realistic to me what with him landing and destroying the street around him and stopping trains that ends up in their derailment. Preview after preview and my excitement grew. Then, as the release date crept inexorable closer I began to worry. Some preliminary reviews came out and from what I read Hancock did not sound like it was the  movie I was hoping for or the movie the trailers portrayed.

The premise of Hancock is great. An alcoholic superhero (or maybe antihero) with abilities similar to Superman causes more harm than good while trying to save the denizens of Los Angeles.

What I Liked

It was cool to see Hancock descending from the heavens only to impact the asphalt and leave a 3 foot deep crater. Jason Bateman is wonderful in the movie and Will Smith is good, but he isn’t at his best in it. My favorite scene is where Hancock rescues the injured police officer during the bank robbery shoot out.

Gripes

My biggest gripe with Hancock is that there are many allusions in the plot that are never explored further. One good example is the eagle that is present on his clothing and in the cave like drawings he scrawls on his prison cell. What is up with the eagle? This is never explored in the movie. Without giving too much away at the end of the film they even have Hancock flying around with an eagle for no apparent reason.

I don’t want to spoil any of the movie, but his weakness is very flawed and doesn’t make much sense. Unlike Kryptonite, which nearly instantly effects Superman, Hancocks weakness will at times in the movie not seem to effect him at all and the other times almost immediately weaken him. His weakness is proximity and time based, but it varies wildly throughout the film and is too contrived.

The villains are very forgettable and have absolutely zero back story. They are basically nameless henchmen that aren’t even all that evil.

Overall

I thought Hancock was decent, but it had so much more potential that just wasn’t explored. I think the hype surrounding the movie built it up into something more than what it was and it ultimately left me feeling let down. I do have to say that it was a bit better than some of the initial reviews that I read on it. I wouldn’t really see it twice and I would also wait to see it at a reduced price theater or on DVD.

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 10, rated)

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