trey taylor

hancock

// July 8th, 2008 // entertainment, film

Aight, whats the deal people, why’s everybody hatin’ on Hancock. It wasn’t that bad. Before I walked into the theater I’d heard quite a few folks bash it for being a terrible movie. I couldn’t disagree more, and I don’t think its just because I love Will Smith. I think the problem was that most went in expecting Iron Man or any other typical superhero movie. Honestly I don’t even really think it was a superhero movie, it was really a dramatic story of redemption that only uses the superhero thing as a device in telling the story.

It’s obvious that Director Peter Berg and the writers were trying something new with the storyline itself. I’m not even sure it even followed the 3-act arc, it seemed to be more like 2- 45 minute movies slapped together. They did the whole Kill Bill thing but didn’t wait 6 months to release the 2nd, they just decided part 1 wasn’t long enough to release alone, so they went ahead and attached the sequel. 2 birds people. At least they tried something new, it worked for Tarantino in Pulp Fiction (trying something new that is).

Big negatives: the CGI wasn’t great. Thats a big deal for me. If your gonna spend $150 mil on a movie, a “superhero” movie… make sure the CGI is freakin’ good! The other misstep I think they made was in the promotion, which is why folks went in expecting a hilarious version of Iron Man. The marketing wanted us to believe Hancock was a special effects riddled action comedy centered around the hilariously cranky (and drunk) superhero as he botches every attempt to be a hero. In steps Bateman, who is the down on his luck PR guy who sees a golden opportunity in rehabilitating the public image of L.A.’s very own superhero. Ok, so thats what we were led to believe was the whole story, which in reality on took about the first 25 minutes or so. This is should be a lesson in marketing who you are, not who you wish you were. We’ve seen this type of promotion work before, but in this case, right smack in the middle of superhero summer, people needed to be pleasantly surprised, not disappointed.

I liked it, because right smack in the middle of superhero summer, they tried something risky and different. Hancock definitely does not conform to the typical superhero arc whether you like it or not. 

I’m gonna give it a 3 out of 5.