Hancock Review

Since original ideas appear to be in short supply, I'd rather a movie take chances rather than resort to the predictable (or simply do what's been done before) 100% of the time.

With that in mind, I was interested in seeing "Hancock," not just because it was the 4th of July weekend and I suspect we've all been secretly implanted with chips that make us go see Will Smith movies on this holiday, but because it seemed to offer a new take on the "superhero movie."

Unfortunately, what started as a great idea (a superhero gets a publicist to help with his image) and a solid movie, eventually devolves into a mostly muddled and overwrought mess.

Smith plays John Hancock, a depressed and perpetually-drunk Los Angeles resident with superpowers who tends to cause too much damage while saving lives. One of the lives he saves is that of Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), an idealistic public relations executive who offers to help Hancock with his reputation, despite protests from his wife Mary (Charlize Theron).

As I mentioned before, the movie starts out strongly, balancing the development of Hancock's isolated asshole of a character ("asshole" is the movie's description, not mine) with the action and humor you'd expect from a big summer movie like this one.

I loved the idea that we take for granted that all superheroes are going to be, you know, heroic. The idea that he would join forces with a publicist is also very clever and current in this day and age of spin.

Smith follows his turn in "I Am Legend" with his second consecutive strong performance in a Big movie. It's not the easiest thing for the Biggest Movie Star in the World to convincingly play a bum (or for someone as charismatic as Smith to play an asshole), but Smith commits to the role, conveying his character's frustration and loneliness. Of course, since this is Will Smith we're talking about, he also gets his share of one-liners.

Most of them come in scenes with Bateman, who is also very effective, particularly in the scenes where he and Hancock devise a strategy for improving the hero's image. Although his character is very idealistic, Bateman mostly retains the understated and snarky delivery he perfected on "Arrested Development."

Bateman's "AD" co-star (I guess she's also known as an Oscar winner) Charlize Theron also turns in a strong performance, despite issues I had with her storyline. I was curious as to what she would do in the movie, since she was mostly and conspicuously absent from trailers for the film.

Indeed, she takes more of a central role when the twist you've probably heard about (but I won't spoil here) arrives.

I don't have any problem with a movie not turning out to be exactly what I expected. (For example, I loved that I had no idea "Unbreakable" turned out to be what it was.) The problem I had was that, in this case, the movie appeared to exhaust it's "down-on-his-luck superhero with a publicist" premise, realized that stuff was only good for about an hours' worth of screen time, and quickly cobbled together a third and final act.

Director Peter Berg — helming his first mega-budget, special effects action movie — also didn't succeed at handling the tonal shift that comes along with the twist. The light comedy from earlier in the film almost completely disappears in favor of melodrama. The balance of comedy and drama worked for the film in the first two-thirds, but completely collapses when the scale tips firmly toward drama in the finale.

It also would've been nice if Berg had used a bit more subtlety — from the moment Hancock and Mary lay eyes on each other, a blind man could've seen there was something up. (I much preferred the more discreet way Ron Howard set up his game-changing twist in "A Beautiful Mind.")

The action sequences also left plenty to be desired. I know this is supposed to be an action COMEDY, but, with a few exceptions, the effects often looked stupid, as opposed to awe-inspiring. The movie also suffers from the same thing that plagues many superhero movies — the lack of a strong adversary for the protagonist (here, we get some loser with a hook).

Then again, maybe I'm just mad at Berg for overusing tight closeups and his shaky cam since I was stuck in the third row and I'm pretty sure it made my girlfriend sick.

While it ultimately ends up being a bit disappointing, I applaud "Hancock" for its strong performances and the filmmakers for at least trying something new.

Hancock...C+