Rating:

Originally written in ‘96 by Vincent Ngo, Hancock has passed through more hands than an American businessman at a geisha house. Prolific actions directors, such as Tony Scott and Michael Mann, had been attached the project at one time or another, which started out as a dark, R-rated superhero comedy that followed the exploits of a troubled teen and a maligned superhero. 12 years later, Mann protege Peter Berg takes the reigns and delivers what could be the most unbalanced movie of the summer.

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Will Smith stars as Hancock, the more-rough-around-the-edges-than-we’re-used-to superhero. He curses, he drinks, he stops crimes in the most destructive ways possible. And for all these reasons and more, he doesn’t get to womanize. In the very brief establishment of the character that’s presented, you get the sense that everyone was going for a Mystery Men vibe. It’s for that reason I feel that Hancock was made at the right time, as our spotlight on superhero and comic films has shined a few watts higher this past decade than ever before.

One thing I found very interesting about the first half of this two act play is that the trailer completely spells out its entire sequence of events, almost in sequential order. After saving Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) from a train accident, Hancock gives in to letting Ray represent him as a PR agent. He knows he’s resented; he needs to turn himself around.

“You know why people hate you Hancock? Because you’re an asshole.”

Ray’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron) is none to pleased, as she seems to hate Hancock with the same fervor the rest of the city does. She doesn’t think anyone or anything can make the hated superhero’s image better. But Ray has a trick up his sleeve. Based on the theory that the crime rate will skyrocket without the hero, Hancock voluntarily goes to prison, with the hope that the commissioner will need him out on the street more than behind bars. It’s a potential win/win situation.

Up until Hancock’s redemption, the film really works. It hits all the comedic beats, the special effects are, for the most part, well integrated, the cast has some of the best chemistry on display this summer and despite not really having a realized back story at this point, the story arc feels complete (but sadly, Michael and Rita do not take Hancock to Wee Britain to stop the IRA’s illegal Mary Poppins attack). I’d even go as far as saying that if you walked out of the theatre at the midpoint, you’d probably be satisfied with the movie. Sure, it would be a 45 minute movie but better short and sweet than long and tedious.

And then it happens. The second act of the movie literally becomes a sequel to the first. We’re given Hancock’s back story, which wildly spins the film off into a totally new direction, completely removed from the feel of everything that came before it. The comedic theme of the film disappears into thin air, bringing in a dark and more brooding story. And, given to me in a completely different film, it could have worked. Unfortunately, this is a case where the two halves are not greater than the whole.

The mythology set up from there on out is completely muddled and undeveloped, leaving behind it an endless trail of questions that won’t be answered (not in this film anyway). This is, of course, the problem with having a reported 8 different people tinkering with a script for over a decade. Glimpses, not even full views, into Hancock’s history are given, with the writers appearing to not even be sure of what they’re throwing down on the page. Large, glaring details becomes more and more overlooked as the film progresses, culminating in a climax that one can only make sense of if huge assumptions are made. It causes the film, as a whole, to feel like a pilot and season finale cut together as one episode. The lapses in logic make sense in the context of the film’s troublesome post production, as Berg and Sony were still trying to secure their PG-13 rating in April, resulting in a subplot involving statutory rape being cut out. But, it still doesn’t excuse it.

Hancock tries to do too many things at once, resulting in a film that’s just too big for its britches. Its a shame the second half can’t live up to the expectations created by the first and in the end, you’ll just be wondering why the film didn’t go in a much more interesting direction.