Hancock (2008)
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Hancock Movie Review
Hancock is a 2008 superhero film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman. It’s a messy, but quite entertaining flick.
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“Three guys in the car with no girls.
Rave music. Hey, I’m not going to judge“
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John Hancock is a reckless superhero whose chaotic efforts have made him wildly unpopular. However, his life changes when a PR expert offers to help him improve his public image. This movie pretty much started off as a sort of ‘Deadpool’-like comedy with a nihilistic, self-hating guy throwing shade at others and acting cool. It was quite fun, lightweight and enjoyable, though far from the hilarity of that aforementioned movie.
However, around the middle of its runtime, the movie suddenly shifted gears into a full-on superhero drama about these immortals who have known and loved each other for centuries and even millennia. It became quite human, emotional and actually rather fascinating. I really appreciated that tinge of nostalgia, the theme of eternity and love being explored and that relationship really worked out despite it being somewhat rushed in development.
Unfortunately, the problem here is that the movie felt way too drastically different in its two halves. It is literally two very different movies put together into an incoherent, tonally jumbled mess. I actually really liked both of its halves, especially the second half, but the ending was definitely quite rushed and the structure simply did not work. They should have made two movies and it would have been much better that way.
Still, I liked Hancock much more than I’d expected I would. Thus, it deserves a better reputation with the critics, though the audiences certainly appreciated it back then as it was one of the highest-grossing movies of the year. The cinematography is overly dark and serious, but the second half’s drama worked and was rather moving in fact.
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Its three stars are the highlights here. All three are well developed as the focus is put mostly on just those three. Bateman is very good and believable in the role, Smith is quite amusing and very well cast as he usually kills it in these types of funny protagonist roles in blockbusters, and Theron stole the show with by far the best performance in the most fascinating role. If this franchise ever returns, I would love to see what happens with her character the most. I just need better action and pacing.
