I'm Looking Out For A Hero (Hancock (DVD))

Member Name: JayHall1991

Product:	Hancock (DVD)
Date:	07/08/08 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some Nice Moments

Disadvantages: Tonally Unsure, Badly Edited, Unintelligent

The world always needs a hero.... but the world doesn't need a hero like Hancock. He's a drunk, aggressive and incompetent super-human whose attempts to save the city from various perils cause far more harm than good (one attempt to stop a gang of armed robbers cost the City millions of dollars). But when he begins a friendship with a PR executive he sets about improving his public persona, which inspires him to delve deeper into his murky past.. Will his new friends mysterious friend hold the key to uncovering his shattered sense of identity?

Hancock is a surprising, interesting, maddening failure of a summer blockbuster; one which deserves credit for trying something bold and innovative, but one that ultimately fails to ignite any passion or joy from its audience. It's an admiral failure which employs the combined star power of Will Smith and Charlize Theron (but, let's face it, this is still the Will Smith show) well and throws a few nicely placed twists throughout - it is visually attractive, competently written and ably directed. But it suffers from a fatal change in pace half way through and it spirals into complete absurdity towards the third act (infact, I didn't have much clue as to what was going on after about thirty minutes). The characters are pleasingly fleshed out with good back stories but in the end they go no-where making the film seem pretty redundant and there is a real lack of continuity from one scene to another. It's all mumbo jumbo - which is a true shame because it shows streaks of inspiration throughout, but, like so many summer hits, it tries to please every demographic and ends up pleasing none of them.

The main problem with Hancock is the fact that it switches between comedy and drama with reckless abandon, showing very little subtlety or grace in the transaction. Around half way through it becomes a completely different movie, abandoning all comedy for a darker tone - making the film feel extremely uneven. This isn't helped by long sequences that achieve nothing and some occasionally overwrought direction (the dramatic sequences are pretty heavy handed). Despite this, when Hancock settles on a genre it is fairly successful - the comedy is quite fresh and mines the clever premise for all that it is worth, with some great bits of physical comedy and a nice interplay between the leads. And, rather surprisingly, the drama is also reasonably effective and at times harrowing.... these sequences adopt a much bleaker colour palette and Smith comes into his own with the weightier material. But together they clash, they feel awkward and completely at odds - the comedy dilutes the drama and vice-versa. The audience is pulled around without much care, never really knowing what to feel or think and due to the lack of consistency never being particularly entertained.

Hancock's screenplay is hard not to admire as it has some genuinely innovative and interesting aspects to it and is actually extremely brave in what it tries to achieve within the constraints of the conventional summer smash. It takes time to build interesting characters and lays out some fascinating twists which provide genuine surprises and it tries to inject a little life into the proceedings. But it loses all sense of coherency towards the final (although I have a sneaking suspicion that's down to bad editing) and it never establishes a sense of pace or tone which leaves the film floundering without much purpose. There is also a brilliant and fascinating sub plot (which could have made for a super emotional closing sequence) that is completely disregarded and given no real conclusion. Whilst the actual character of Hancock is fairly rounded his journey isn't very believable and is tied up with a cheesy cliché and the whole third act feels rushed, with some truly dire bits of dialogue. The screenplay also dips into silly territory fairly often; mind numbing (and surprisingly badly rendered) CGI fights are thrown in willy-nilly and it aims for a more harrowing emotional crescendo than its 12A certificate will allow.

Of course Hancock's main assets is Will Smith - a true star who carries the film with pathos, fun, humour, honesty and, above all, presence. He is extraordinary when dealing with the drama, bringing a great deal of restraint and refinement to the role which counteracts the slight heavy handedness of the writing and directing. Infact he is heart-breaking at certain points; perfectly embodying the isolation of the hero and bringing true resonance to his characters search for a place in a world that really doesn't want him. He doesn't get that much chance to truly flex his comedy muscles but he brings a nice amount of physicality to the role and is typically affable throughout. But he is a true star; you can't help but watch him with fascination - he transcends the, at times pretty stupid, material to deliver something so much more, something much more powerful than the dialogue suggests. It's a mix of charm and sadness that makes Hancock feel like a real, colourful, layered person..... a true lost soul whose desperation for some kind of identity is worth watching.

Charlize Theron doesn't fair as well as Smith (partly because she is lumbered with a fairly bland character) but she too manages to find a great sadness in the material - some of her interactions with Smith make for really good drama. She is thoroughly convincing towards the films third act once her character gets a back-story and some more screen-time but she is pretty unappealing at the opening. She doesn't instil enough energy into the proceedings to make her character all that interesting and she doesn't seem to have any chemistry with either of the male leads. She has some bits of comedy which fall flat but she definitely deserves kudos for making the heavier material work.

Most of the special effects in Hancock are very good; Will Smith's flying escapades are believably brought to life thanks to some exceptional CGI and a few fun flourishes from the leads and the use of contrasting colour palettes and styles makes for a reasonably innovative look. But there are also some exceptionally silly/badly recreated flying fight sequences that make the actors look weightless, stiff and ridiculous. A lot of the stunts are impressive and exciting bringing much needed energy to the film but it is often extremely violent for a 12A and some of the action feels too gritty to work with the comedy elements.

Overall, Hancock is an ambitious but flawed Hollywood failure; the directing isn't lively enough to keep things moving whilst the screenplay offers up tonal changes and ambitious ideas that could have never been achieved within the films 12A rating. But it is an oddity which has some really interesting aspects both in conception and execution and contains some great performances and stylistic flourishes. It's not really a great film - but for fans of Smith or those who love action movies whatever their guise it's probably worth a look.

Summary: An original, but flaw summer blockbuster