by Louise Cairns

Created on: October 18, 2009

They always say never judge a book by its cover, but that also applies to DVDs, and I've been avoiding this one because the cover makes it look like some sort of chav fest (or whatever the American equivalent would be). But finally I decided to give it a try after reading a couple of reviews that said it was pretty good.

== Synopsis ==

Hanock is a bum, a wino, tramp, not the sort of person you'd want to invite home for dinner. But he's not an ordinary bum, he has super hero powers, he can fly, lift cars, stop trains dead in their tracks, and this is part of the problem.

Hancock might have the powers of a super hero, but he doesn't act like one. He causes more damage and costs the Los Angeles city taxpayers more money than if he didn't help out at all, so the city of Los Angeles hate Hancock and want him out of their city. That all changes one day when P.R. man Ray Embrey gets stuck on rail lines with a locomotive bearing down on him.

Embrey is appalled by the attitude of the people around him when they scream at shout at Hancock, after all Hancock has just saved his life. So he decides he wants to help Hancock become as popular and as well liked as a man with superpowers deserves. But there's a twist when Hancock finds out he's not the only one with superpowers.

== Cast ==

* Will Smith as John Hancock,
* Jason Bateman as Ray Embrey
* Charlize Theron as Mary Embrey
* Eddie Marsan as Kenneth "Red" Parker, Jr.,

== My Thoughts ==

If the DVD cover wasn't off putting enough, I was even more reluctant to watch the film after my brother saw it on the side and said how much he'd enjoyed it. That's usually a very bad sign, because we don't have the same taste in films at all.

However, I was pleasantly surprised, I quite enjoyed it. It's not the best Will Smith film that I've seen, but it was certainly better than I am Legend, which was the last of his films that I watched.

I actually don't rate him that highly as an actor, I fail to see what some people see, and I think he's fine in the comic roles (Fresh Prince, Men in Black for instance), but I don't think he has enough depth to be a serious actor. And whilst this film is mainly a comedy (or I assume it's supposed to be), there are some scenes that require an actor who can pull off a more serious approach. The rest of the cast did a good job, Theron was particularly good.

There were lots of special effects as you'd expect from a super hero movie, most were done very well indeed, but then there were some awful ones in a fight scene that spoilt it a bit.

The story was good, although I would have like to have seen a bit more depth to it, I can't really say what I would have done had I been a writer because then it'd give the game away for anyone who hasn't seen it, just to say I thought some things were skimmed over a little too quickly, and the ending was totally naff and I'd re-do that completely.

All in all it was a decent film and filled a n hour and a half.

== DVD Extras ==

There are no real extras to speak of. Just a few movie trailers.

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