Hancock

The story that Hancock is adapted from tells of a superhero who can't make love with a woman without killing her. Obviously that's not a movie that's going to be a summer blockbuster starring Will Smith, but vestiges of it remain in this tale of a man feeling all alone because of his powers who has become a drunken and obnoxious, rather than the stereotypical hero. After being saved from being squished by a train, hapless PR man Ray (Jason Bateman) decides to help Hancock turn his image around.

And this is where the film starts to falter and lose energy and focus. The first 20 minutes or so are amongst the funniest in a recent blockbuster, but the problem is that the unreformed Hancock is actually a far more interesting and fun character than the reformed one. After that the film gets stuck between pastiche-ing the normal superhero movie story and becoming it.

Not that its bad - Smith is his usual watchable self and there's good work too from Bateman and Charlize Theron, as Ray's wife who clearly knows more than she's telling. There's a nice turn too from Brit Eddie Marsan (the driving instructor from Happy Go Lucky) as the villain. There are some good sequences too - the bank hold-up and final hospital showdown hold their own against most superheroes movies. And there are some interesting idea - not just in the loneliness of the hero, but at the end in the idea of sacrifice and giving up a loved one in order to let them live.

It's all very watchable, but loses alot of the humour without necessarily adding believable character development or a clear focus on ideas. The section of Hancock reforming is too long without really offering sufficient motivation for him to change. Things do pick up again when the twists start, but you're left with the impression of something that's mushy rather than moving and full of cod psycho-babble rather than a proper exploration of ideas.

Overall - 3/5 A great opening and never less than entertaining watch, but definitely feels like it was close to being much better with a bit more focus.