Blurbex

It’s a high-concept premise that must have had studio execs seeing dollar signs: Will Smith stars as a surly, alcoholic superhero.

Sad to say, but that concept is all there is to Hancock, a Hollywood product in the worst sense — devoid of a compelling story, relying instead on star power, gimmicky direction and the de rigueur assemblage of CGI effects typical of would-be summer blockbusters.
As the titular hero, Hancock has a penchant for drinking excessive amounts of whiskey and causing millions of dollars’ worth of destruction during his rescues and crime-stopping endeavors. Some might consider his reluctant, clumsy superhero a novel creation — until one realizes that Hancock the character could just as easily be seen as little more than a profane update based on a nearly three-decade-old sitcom, The Greatest American Hero.

The catalyst for our hero’s obligatory change comes in the form of Ray Embrey (an affable Jason Bateman), whom Hancock saves in one of the lamest, forced set-ups for a heroic feat I’ve seen in long time. Shocked by the bystanders’ disdain for Hancock’s messy rescue, Embrey, a PR guy with a heart of gold, takes the hero under his wing and offers to give him an image makeover. At Ray’s prodding, Hancock willingly enters prison to atone for all of the destruction he’s caused to the city and make its unappreciative citizens realize just how much they need him. As you might expect, many of these scenes behind bars are played for easy laughs, but they also waste any potential for character development, and the film becomes a series of dull, repeated scenes. When the L.A. police desperately need his services, Hancock (with nary a discernible sign of personal growth) shaves, dons a bona fide super hero uniform and answers the call to duty.

Unfortunately for moviegoers, this is where Hancock goes completely off the rails, abandoning the crowd-pleasing, if crude, humor of its first act in exchange for a serious tone and a fatal plot turn involving Ray’s doting wife, Mary (a charmless, one-note Charlize Theron).
The unfolding of Mary and Hancock’s relationship comes across as an act of screenwriting desperation, made all the worse because it isn’t given time to emotionally register, much less be fully understood.

Compounding Hancock’s narrative flaws is its visually claustrophobic presentation. Director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, The Rundown) overdoes unnecessarily extreme close-ups and compounds his poor aesthetic choices with a jittery camera technique that assaults the eyes as characters move in and out of focus.
What’s most disappointing about Hancock, however, is that it only hints at the fun that could be had deconstructing the familiar superhero arc. Even at its best (and that’s not saying much), Hancock doesn’t reinvent the genre’s template so much as invert it to mild comic effect, and it never makes satisfactory use of the issues it raises, namely fate, responsibility and duty to one’s fellow man. Ultimately, while Hancock the hero discovers his potential, Hancock the film squanders it away.

Hancock (PG-13) Stars Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron and Eddie Marsan. Opens July 2 at local theaters. 2 stars (out of 5).

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