Hancock
Directed by Peter Berg (2008)
It would be remiss of me to not concede that Hancock certainly has its moments: the early stages of the film offer a fun take on the traditional superhero genre. The effects are a bit ropey at times (the ‘Spiderman’ effect is in full-force) and Will Smith teeters on the edge of parody rather than playing the down-and-out Hancock totally straight (which, ironically, I think would have made him funnier).
Every review I’ve read/heard of Hancock bemoans the concept of the ‘turning point’, however I’m not sure whether this is why it loses it’s way. I can see how the storyline could have been handled successfully (though I wouldn’t argue against the notion that the film would have been better had it ploughed the lone-hero furrow a little longer), for me it’s just that the director did a poor job of manipulating the twist, making the closing half an hour of the film a rather tedious and predictable affair.
Enjoyable enough though, the first half of the film has enough in it to make it worth watching.
