Adam White

What is Hancock? Is it a comedy? is it an action film? Is it a drama? It is these questions that are the root cause of why Hancock misses the mark. It is about a superhero called Hancock (played by the ever watchable Will Smith) who spends his days drinking and causing mass destruction while trying to do good. Everyone hates him until a struggling PR man Ray (Jason Bateman) comes along and offers to help him change his image and make the public love him like they should.

It starts off as a very funny comedy. Most of the funniest scenes you can see in the trailers but it still raises a good laugh. It then starts to get a little serious about 30 minutes in when Will Smith has a stint in jail but still keeps its comedic edge. The funniest and most uplifting moment comes around the midway point when he is recalled back by the chief of police to help diffuse a bank robbery. It is around this point though that the film suddenly changes gear: It becomes a straight superhero action film. I don’t remember laughing once through the rest of the film. It seemed that at times the director remembered that he was meant to be making a comedy and threw in the odd situation that was meant to raise a chuckle but just ended up distracting me from the storyline.

There is an interesting twist in the second half of the film that I managed to easily guess as I had read a review and seen a trailer that hinted at it. I’m not going to give it away here as I’m sure it would catch a lot of people unawares if they don’t see it coming.

When the credits rolled I found myself smiling and wanting more but not in a good way. It felt like I had seen two different movies put together and wanted more of each of them. I enjoyed the comedic first half and at the same time I enjoyed the action packed second half but could have done with more of one at the expense of the other.

It wasn’t a disappointment but could have been so much better if the director had chosen a genre and stuck to it.

[5/10]

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