Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Hancock 29/7/08 Hands up who loves Will Smith? Well I for one, do. The all-rounder of entertainment, he has transformed himself from ‘The Fresh Prince’ into the King of Hollywood blockbusters, and he doesn’t seem such a bad guy either. Hancock is a film you would associate with him, the man who once said he would not do a film without special effects. The one thing you can say for this film is that it is certainly original. Smith plays John Hancock- an alcoholic with superhero powers living in Los Angeles, who doesn’t tend to use them in the most productive way- often with large repair bills attached. Of course the reason he probably turned to the sauce was due to the disdain of the public, which makes for as believable a story as you could hope for. The story has apparently been languishing in the Hollywood archives and had several directors attached to it before Peter Berg took the reins, and to be honest it’s easy to see why. Hancock eventually meets Ray (Jason Baterman) and his wife Mary (Charlize Theron) who after being saved by our “hero”, decides to use his persuasive PR powers to make him popular again with his long-suffering public. This essentially forms the main plot of the film and is executed fairly well by all involved, as this is not where the Archille’s Heal of the picture lies. The fairly predictable plot twist (it’s always the big names with the secrets!) does more to baffle than add an awful lot to proceedings. In turn this leads to a rather poor ending. This of course isn’t uncommon in recent releases, but in a production that has struggled its way through the best part of two hours, it doesn’t help it endear itself to you. There are positives- Smith’s portrayal is top-class as usual, Baterman is believable and also puts in a good performance. The film, although hardly as funny as the trailer suggests, is amusing in parts. The special effects are also outstanding and even the script is mostly well-written but you just get the feeling that the ending and the main twist were under-thought. This may explain why the dust was left on the concept so long. There are so many good films out there and in comparison, this is just an average flick with below-average execution. 5/10 CM Text Box: Links and affiliates Contact Me