a good watch
Added 9/12/2009
If you like Will Smith like I do, well that just about says it. Great Movie
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Good, but neutered movie.
Added 9/6/2009
I had the privilege of having my Mistress give me this 2-Disc edition the last holiday season which also had the pop-up packaging and the lithograph. And while it's not a great film it does offer a few moments.
One of those moments is available in the unrated edition why mere mortals just can't handle coitus (visualize bulletholes in the ceiling). In "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" it was nice to see the female perspective (besides, Uma Thurman is a goddess in her own right). Now with this one you get the male perspective (albeit a misogynistic one).
And yet, for how edgy this movie appeared to be, it still seemed like a lot of punches were pulled to make this marketable rather than an effective satire of the genre. Did we really need the hackneyed subplot of how the "hero" had to go through prison and rehab to restore his image? How many times has that plot device been used? Or the poorly integrated subplot regarding the bank robber, his convenient prison escape and his revenge? Certainly such time would've been better filled with more as to Hancock and his long-forgotten partner's origins (or, to the circumstances of their mortality, these "gods" aren't gods after all...where's Zuul when you need her?)
I was impressed by the special effects and how they clearly helped to shown how Hancock's actions do have repercussions. There is a lot wrecked on screen and he just doesn't care. It also helps when the actors were fully digitized and texture-mapped onto 3D-models. If this trend continues more brain-dead movies can be made as photorealistic as possible and the actors can simply phone in their performances. It didn't quite work with "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" but at least they got the woodenness down in all its CGI glory. This movie is a step in that direction, at least.
And the performances are serviceable at best. Everyone got paid well and it shows. The image makeover executive is as bland and effeminate as possible. Just another walking cliché that telegraphs the ending of the film. And his butch wife? Well, isn't it a coincidence that his wife has a big secret? Well, that sounds like another cliché as well. And as the two superheroes battle with each other I couldn't help but be reminded of the by far superior X-Men films when, even in their not-so-great bits, are by far better than this. I was literally waiting for Storm to arrive and kick both their asses with a firm pimp-style backhand and place them in bondage for her own pleasure in their punishment.
Not that movie actors should be role models, of course. After all, Halle Berry got paid well for "Catwoman".
Peter Berg, whom I remember best for his work in "The Great White Hype" and "Very Bad Things" is serviceable at satire. That means that if he's on he hits near the target. But watch out when he's off. That includes the spectators behind him. And while there will be a few people who'll say that the PG-13 version of the film was neutered, take heart: It never had the stones to begin with to go all the way. Aside form the aforementioned sex scene there is really no substantial difference between the two.
And the fact why there's a theatrical and unrated edition is this: Money. It's worth spending extra for the extended director's cuts of James Cameron's films, for example. Here it's just a marketing ploy to make it appear that Berg's vision was altered for the sake of corporate cronyism when that was the plan all along. I get the same feeling of consumers being duped when they swoon over "Digital Copies" when ALL DVD's are all digital copies already! With the right FREE (!) tools anyone can place a version of their media on anything (I've been doing that before it was marketed in its "friendly" DVD space-hogging, neutered, expiring, paranoid DRM-encrypted and E-mail address/IP-logging version). This version's DC is set to expire on 2009/11/25.
Anyway, all the special effects and the sex scene can't cover up what a huge cynical affair Hancock truly is. It's not good satire and it does have it's moments. But Peter Berg at least did pull off one good joke, right? Certainly there is a lot of fun to be had but it's not quite fun if you already know the punchline.
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Whoever didn't like this movie, obviously has bad taste!
Added 9/2/2009
You clearly don't know what a great movie is if you thought Hancock was bad. It has everything you can ask from a movie... action, romance, comedy, and drama. The characters had personality and weren't boring, and the storyline was heartfelt and interesting. It was very entertaining as movies should be, and it kept you engaged during the entire movie. I think they need to make a sequel because they got a great thing going on here and the concepts of this movie far out reach the human psyche... plus the ending was the bad ass! \m/
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Even the great cast can't save this movie
Added 8/13/2009
Other than the occasional comic relief, there are no redeeming qualities to this movie. I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater and bought it used.
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This is a slightly confusing film because it doesn't seem to have a clear idea as to what it is or who it's aimed at. There's even a question mark in my mind as to why it needed to be made at all, because although it offers a slightly left-field take on superhero movies (Hancock is no Clark Kent - he's a miserable, foul-mouthed drunk) it seems to unintentionally be a spoof of all the superhero films ever made without actually offering any satire. The flying thing - well, that's Superman of course. Stopping a huge train reminded me of a similar stunt pulled off by the Fantastic Four's The Thing. There are references in the dialogue to Batcaves and Wolverine. Yet there's very little to laugh out loud at, just the occasional chuckle, and in any case if would flatter it to call it a comedy-something. Of course there's action, 90% of which comes courtesy of sometimes average CGI; even in high-definition it was a bit blurred because, I guess, the film-makers didn't invest the time and money needed to get the very best cutting edge high-tech people and equipment. That's a serious shortcoming in a film which obviously depends on special effects to make it special.
The talky stuff between the action will send most 15-year-olds to sleep, partly because half way through, the film takes a left turn and tries to offer some explanations as to what's behind Hancock's superpowers and spends too much time on it to be of value. This should have been all action and little else, the serious stuff nullified it however.
So it's kind of a spoof that isn't a spoof, an action blockbuster with some low-rent effects and some twists and turns that it didn't really need to make. I think the best target-market for this kind of film would be those who enjoyed Spider-Man, already in its third production with a fourth due in 2011; I rather doubt that there will be a Hancock 2. If there is, I will definitely give it a miss.
As for the Blu-Ray side of things, I didn't think that this was a film that noticably benefited from such added clarity and enhanced audio effcts, indeed on occasions I wondered if I was watching a normal SD version. Charlize Theron did look lovely though.
I think the rating of 15 should be respected, not just for the violence but more so for the coarse language. There are much worse out there, but this was a strange mixture of a story that should have appealed to kids of 10 or thereabouts (the age of a key supporting character) but I personally don't think it's suitable.
On my disc there were a total of four runs of the whole film - the theatrical version, an unrated version, and then the same choice with an in-picture running commentary of how various scenes were prepared for and filmed etc. The trailers for other films were all manually selected from a menu, a welcome change from having them force-fed before the main presentation. There were some downloads too, which possibly vary from time to time. I chose a download of a recent (May 2009) film called Obsessed but it was nothing that interesting.
Will Smith seems to be trying hard to take on as many varied roles as he can and I suppose he should be commended for having the adaptability to front films such as Ali, Seven Pounds , The Pursuit of Happyness and I, Robot (to name just four of his twenty cinematic releases to date). Hancock won't be his greatest legacy though, even if he did pocket $80 million for it. He is, after all, the highest paid actor in Hollywood. he's much better suited to Bad Boys 2 for this kind of thing - an action blockbuster that does what it says on the tin.
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Horrible.
Added 11/1/2009
This movie was horrible. I'm usually a Will Smith fan but after this movie I wanted to hate him, but I couldn't. I just couldn't get into this movie as much as I tried. I even slept good the night before, hoping to stay awake to watch this movie but I couldn't stay awake. Whatever, I tried. It's just a really boring movie.
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Zero-to-Hero
Added 10/30/2009
Will Smith does a great job in this film, which deals with a man with super powers but no social skills. A chance meeting with a PR guy begins to change things around for him, face his flaws and eventually take his place as a true hero. There are some other great twists to this story but overall it's enough to know that it's a good film and certainly one worth giving a try.
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Tries to be different
Added 10/17/2009
In this world, superheroes are taken somewhat for granted, like it's normal to have guys flying and bullets bouncing off them etc etc. Problem is, why do the bad guys even bother trying, since it should be obvious that Hancock can defeat them? That's one logic flaw here. Also, it appears that LA is the only recipient of the superhero's largess. Too bad for other cities, I guess. Will Smith plays the drunk superhero pretty well, but then the plot morphs into a duel/love story with another female superhero, and all logic flies out the window. At least it's a twist on the usual cartoon-esque tone of these things.
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