Hancock (DVD)

Let me be very clear, as an actor I dislike Will Smith with a passion, I really just don't think he is very good; but in that statement lies an issue I loved The Pursuit Of Happyness, enjoyed I Am Legend, and now find myself having watched Hancock awarding the movie the highest accolade I can by stating that of the movies so far, Hancock is the best movie of 2008. I avoided everything I possibly could to do with Hancock because to be honest the trailer failed to impress me. To my surprise I laughed, enjoyed the action, and was almost caused to shed a tear watching this very different superhero movie. In the past superhero movies characters are for the ...  Read the complete review

So if sexy Uma Thurman can twist the comic book genre by dating human beings and so be open about her superhero status with the general public then why not have an equally blatant Will Smith play a superhero that doesn't give a flying duck about his responsibitlies to those same humans, preferring to get drunk and leer at women to pass the time. Well that's exactly what director Peter Berg did and up until a point got away with the genre flipping, and what better guy to play his anti-superhero than Will Smith, an actor who is rather brilliant at this popcorn stuff. There is no doubt that Will Smith is cinemas biggest superstar right now, he and perhaps ...  Read the complete review

Initially, the superhero flick appears to get another of the much maligned tongue-n-cheek treatments in this latest vehicle for Will Smith. Any initial reservation over the nature of the story soon subsides though as the action gets underway. John Hancock is a man with a chip on his shoulder. Rather than embracing his superpowers, he begrudgingly assists the city of Los Angeles in hounding out criminal's. Usually, though, he does more damage than good, and the powers that be eventually call for him to pay for his actions. Aided by a PR man who he has recently saved, Hancock is encouraged to kick the beloved bottle and clean up his image. His ...  Read the complete review

After the pretty disappointing My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Hollywood takes another stab at the "comedy" superhero genre with Hancock, starring Will Smith as John Hancock, a miserable, alcoholic superhero despised by the people he protects. The central concept for Hancock is a great one turning everything we expect to be on its head: Will Smith is normally Mr Nice Guy, not Mr Grumpy; we expect them to be good and help us and so on. Thanks to that, there is a certain breath of fresh air quality about the opening section to Hancock, and it's no co-incidence that that is where most of the fun is to be had. The opening chunk is by far the funniest ...  Read the complete review

I think I've finally had my fill of Christmas films, so this afternoon I decided to unwind with something that could not be called Christmassy at all and stuck Hancock in my DVD player. Hancock stars Will Smith as a kind of anti-super hero; he drinks hard, is rude, arrogant and when he finally decides to help the public out he will cause a huge amount of damage to buildings and people. Forget the carefully choreographed landings of Christopher Reeve in Superman, Hancock leaves craters of smashed tarmac and ground up earth whenever he comes to land for any reason. During one incident Hancock saves a mans life, Ray is a PR man and he is so thankful ...  Read the complete review