Hancock is not your typical superhero movie.
In my opinion, it's more. When there's Will Smith in the movie, it never disappoints.
I like a movie that is not total mindless action, with bombings, killings & overdone CGIs. A movie that is incorporated with some heart in it is a gem. Of course, many people may not agree but that is what I like about Will Smith's movie.
Hancock, played by Smith, got off on the wrong foot, it seems. Blasting off into the sky causing huge damages wherever he lands & wherever he saves, he is a reckless & unwilling hero. For some reason, he doesn't give a s* to be careful. As he tries to stop a bunch bank robbers, he pulls the car into the sky, banging the buildings as he negotiates with them in the air. He hurls, not ease, a whale that is being stranded on the beach back into the sea, knocking a sailboat as the whale plunges into the waters.
The damages took its toll on the city & because of that, he is being hated by the citizens & the government. One wonders if he took to drinking because he hates what he does or because he is being hated?
Just as he was being condemned by the citizens there & then for causing another major damage & injury, along comes kindhearted PR executive Ray, who after being saved, spoke up for Hancock & offered to make him over as a gesture of gratitude. Dumbfounded by his sincerity as if he had never being appreciated before, he blasted off into the sky again.
He lands at Ray's doorstep the next day & was invited to dinner. As they talked about how to change him, news broadcast of the government threatening his incarceration sparked an idea off Ray. Hancock was to be carted off to prison & as the crime rates go up because of his incarceration, citizens would request for his release & that's when he would be go out with a different image.
As reluctant as he was, Hancock still relented. So off he goes & while in there, the guys he put into prison challenged him & he does the grossest & the most unexpected thing to 2 men - he shoved one man's head into the other's ass. Gross. But funny.
The plan went as expected & Hancock was released after a series of anger management classes & pep talks from Ray, the chief police sought his help to stop a heist. And when the robbers were nabbed, for the first time in his life, his efforts were celebrated. Suddenly everyone were cheering for him because this time, he did the right thing & didn't smash unnecessary buildings.
I won't go on to spoil the movie for you, but it was after this scene that we later find out, Mary (Ray's wife), played by Charlize Theron, has super powers too. As the movie unfolds, we learn that Hancock & Mary & probably few hundred of them were given these powers to help people. They were probably angels built in pairs. The only catch is, they can't fall in love because once they do, they lose their powers so that they can live normal lives - get married, have babies, grow old Hancock & Mary were husband & wife. For centuries, Mary has been avoiding Hancock like plague until he was being seriously injured 80 yrs ago & loses his memories.
I like this movie because it looks at superheroes from another perspective. If superheroes live together with us with his identity out in the open, how would they behave? We always have this idea that superheroes are infallible & they are always tireless in saving the world. They always choose to do the right thing even though like Spiderman, he may walk the dark side for a while, but still, their behaviour for the most part is still pretty clean. Don't forget, typically superheroes keep their double lives separate & masked.
For Hancock, an alcoholic, unwilling to save the world for the longest time who's painfully lonely & resents the world. Yet he knows he has a duty to fulfill & carries it out, well, unwillingly. He's angry a lot & acts impulsively & irresponsibly. Unlike Spiderman, who has a loving aunt & a girlfriend, Hancock has nobody to talk to & no friends whom he can trust or reach out to.
In real life, we have angels & heroes in our lives too. They may not have real super powers, but heroes in their own right. Sometimes these angels are also painfully lonely with no one to talk to or reach out to, perhaps also because they don't allow anyone to reach out to them.
It also reminds me how superficial & fickleminded people can be; yesterday the citizens were shouting for Hancock's incarceration, today, they celebrate him & call him a role-model.
Perhaps I think too much for a movie, but you cannot deny that art imitates life.
For whatever reason, even if just to watch Will Smith, this movie is worth your popcorn & nachos.
By the way, if you still hadn't watched the movie, you might wanna make a guess why he is named Hancock.
Later.