We gave out a ton of free advance screening passes to the new Will Smith movie “Hancock,” but didn’t get to review it ourselves. If you were one of those people, or if you see “Hancock” anytime after it opens today, we’d like to know your opinion of it! As with our posting on “Get Smart” and “The Love Guru,” we actually got another user-submitted movie review. Amanda Fletcher saw the film Monday night and immediately wrote this mini-review. Thanks, Amanda! Be sure to comment underneath and give us your thoughts on “Hancock.” And, happy birthday, America!
Amanda’s review:
This is the summer for superheroes. You’ve got your Batman. You’ve got your Iron Man. You’ve got your Hulk. And now, we’ve got Hancock. This isn’t a superhero movie in the traditional sense — there was no accompanying comic book on which the film was based. Instead, we meet Hancock (Will Smith), an unapologetic, alcoholic a-hole (but don’t tell that to his face). He can fly. He’s indestructible. But in fighting crime and saving lives, he recklessly destroys property, mouths off to both good guys and bad, and generally makes a bad name for himself. Everyone hates him. And he doesn’t really care.
Enter Ray Embrey (played by the ever-adorable Jason Bateman), a PR guy who just wants to make a difference in the world. He teams up with Hancock to give him a whole new image. Hancock shapes up. He gives up the whiskey. He dons a rather, erm, tight superhero outfit. The first two-thirds of the movie is everything you would expect from the previews — sarcastic dialog delivered in that Will Smith style, cool special effects — but then there’s this twist. It’s really a cool twist, a real “ah-ha” moment. I don’t want to ruin it. So I’ll just say this: Hancock is about more than a drunken superhero turning his life around. It’s about the origin of the superhero, the mythology and history behind it, and the consequences of being this way. This movie was not the “popcorn flick” I expected; it had way more heart. But at the same time, it didn’t take itself too seriously. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments, it seemed the audience was constantly a-buzz.
All-in-all, I would definitely recommend this flick. As Eric
would say, “Two Rock Fists Up!”
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of Scene-Stealers.com, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and contributor for The Pitch. He’s former President of the KCFCC, and drummer for The Dead Girls, Ultimate Fakebook, and Truck Stop Love . He is also the 2013 Air Guitar World Champion Mean Melin, ranked 4th best of all-time. Eric goes to 11. Follow him at:
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Hancock – a tale of 2 movies. The first hour of Hancock was fantastic. Full of action, funny as hell, very enjoyable. It started to glue together a great story of moral values. But then something happened. Maybe the projector guy changed movies on us? But wait Will Smith was still in it. I think this is still Hancock?? But maybe not because the whole story has flipped on a dime.
After a huge surprise scene (can’t reveal what here) the movies changed drastically. Now Will’s wearing a tight rubber suit & he’s clean shaven & out fighting crime with the police. And that was OK. But it almost seemed as if another writer stepped in & took over the project at this point. Although it wasn’t terrible, it was nowhere near as good as the first half. It felt off balance & thrown together. And the ending? Not that great! It seems like they had a loose end to tie up & just came up with the fastest 10 minute solution they could think of. And it didn’t work for me. I read that they removed 30 minutes of the movie due to audience pre-screening advice. They say it was too long, it dragged along. But maybe they took out some things that made sense to be there because this movie was a jumbled mess at the end. Will was amazing throughout. Jason Bateman played his role well. Charlize, although a great actress, didn’t seem to fit in her role after the flip story.
Bottom line, the first half of this movie was a 9 out of 10, the second a 6 out of 10. I’d give it a 7 overall. Worth going to see? Sure. The first hour was worth admission price alone & maybe others will disagree with my take on the last half. But tornadoes out of the blue in LA suburbs? A few normal baddies against a superhero? The way Will obtained his powers? Very hoakey scenarios! Then again this is a movie where Will Smith is flying around like Superman…..
Hancock – a tale of 2 movies. The first hour of Hancock was fantastic. Full of action, funny as hell, very enjoyable. It started to glue together a great story of moral values. But then something happened. Maybe the projector guy changed movies on us? But wait Will Smith was still in it. I think this is still Hancock?? But maybe not because the whole story has flipped on a dime.
After a huge surprise scene (can’t reveal what here) the movies changed drastically. Now Will’s wearing a tight rubber suit & he’s clean shaven & out fighting crime with the police. And that was OK. But it almost seemed as if another writer stepped in & took over the project at this point. Although it wasn’t terrible, it was nowhere near as good as the first half. It felt off balance & thrown together. And the ending? Not that great! It seems like they had a loose end to tie up & just came up with the fastest 10 minute solution they could think of. And it didn’t work for me. I read that they removed 30 minutes of the movie due to audience pre-screening advice. They say it was too long, it dragged along. But maybe they took out some things that made sense to be there because this movie was a jumbled mess at the end. Will was amazing throughout. Jason Bateman played his role well. Charlize, although a great actress, didn’t seem to fit in her role after the flip story.
Bottom line, the first half of this movie was a 9 out of 10, the second a 6 out of 10. I’d give it a 7 overall. Worth going to see? Sure. The first hour was worth admission price alone & maybe others will disagree with my take on the last half. But tornadoes out of the blue in LA suburbs? A few normal baddies against a superhero? The way Will obtained his powers? Very hoakey scenarios! Then again this is a movie where Will Smith is flying around like Superman…..
I still have yet to see convincing CGI tornadoes and they lloked bad in the preview; how are they in the movie?
I still have yet to see convincing CGI tornadoes and they lloked bad in the preview; how are they in the movie?
You didn’t miss much. In terms of tone it’s a real puzzler. I would argue it’s actually three movies that don’t fit together, rather than two. The first third is a comedy (most of the clips of the trailers come from here), the second third is an action film with all the humor sucked out, and the final third is all drama which has little action and no humor. It’s almost as if three directors split up the script and then someone had to edit the whole thing back together. You can read Ian’s 2 out of 5 review on RF too!
You didn’t miss much. In terms of tone it’s a real puzzler. I would argue it’s actually three movies that don’t fit together, rather than two. The first third is a comedy (most of the clips of the trailers come from here), the second third is an action film with all the humor sucked out, and the final third is all drama which has little action and no humor. It’s almost as if three directors split up the script and then someone had to edit the whole thing back together. You can read Ian’s 2 out of 5 review on RF too!
Everyone who says this film feels like two different productions put together is right on. The first half is a really charming, funny, well paced, and generally enjoyable action comedy; this fun all climaxes at the scene where Hancock is called upon by the police to help solve a major hostage crisis. After that, the whole movie becomes complicated, and not in a good way, more of a: How the hell do we end this movie now that all the scenes based on the concept (homeless super hero who has to face consequences for his destructive actions) are exhausted? Easy, we make a really lame sci-fi like ending equipped with melodrama and semi good action scenes and hope the audience can’t tell. That said, the first half, or part, I think it’s more than half, is really very fun summer movie excellence in all the best style of Will Smith, so, Minor Rock Fist Up in my opinion.
Everyone who says this film feels like two different productions put together is right on. The first half is a really charming, funny, well paced, and generally enjoyable action comedy; this fun all climaxes at the scene where Hancock is called upon by the police to help solve a major hostage crisis. After that, the whole movie becomes complicated, and not in a good way, more of a: How the hell do we end this movie now that all the scenes based on the concept (homeless super hero who has to face consequences for his destructive actions) are exhausted? Easy, we make a really lame sci-fi like ending equipped with melodrama and semi good action scenes and hope the audience can’t tell. That said, the first half, or part, I think it’s more than half, is really very fun summer movie excellence in all the best style of Will Smith, so, Minor Rock Fist Up in my opinion.
Hancock looks like interesting spin on the latest superhero movie craze… if nothing else at least Will Smith tends to be pretty funny
Hancock looks like interesting spin on the latest superhero movie craze… if nothing else at least Will Smith tends to be pretty funny
I don’t think this movie looks like two different productions put together. It’s just one horrible production, from beginning to end. The story is completely absurd and ill-developed, the special effects are worse than anything made in the 80s, and the camera just doesn’t stop, as if the camera crew was as drunk as Hancock himself. Nobody in the audience laughed, not even one time – at least in the show I went to here in Brazil. The good thing is it’s short – but not short enough. With 90 minutes and such lame special effects, this sure doesn’t feel like a 4th of July movie.
I don’t think this movie looks like two different productions put together. It’s just one horrible production, from beginning to end. The story is completely absurd and ill-developed, the special effects are worse than anything made in the 80s, and the camera just doesn’t stop, as if the camera crew was as drunk as Hancock himself. Nobody in the audience laughed, not even one time – at least in the show I went to here in Brazil. The good thing is it’s short – but not short enough. With 90 minutes and such lame special effects, this sure doesn’t feel like a 4th of July movie.
With a summer full of superhero films, I thought Hancock would be one of the summers greatest non-comic book movies. Unfortunately it was a far FAR miss. Like everyone else has said already, the first hour of Hancock is great; it’s action-packed, funny, charming and endearing, but then the “twist” appears. The movie was just completely misguided and took one large leap in the wrong direction. Even Will Smith couldn’t save this movie from it’s absurd storyline. It went from a promising superhero story packed with moral value, to My Super Ex-Girlfriend; dumb and pointless. It was definitely disappointing and the CGI was nothing special. Overall the film was lame and it felt like two different productions poorly stitched together. However, I did enjoy Will Smith and Jason Bateman, so there is one plus.
With a summer full of superhero films, I thought Hancock would be one of the summers greatest non-comic book movies. Unfortunately it was a far FAR miss. Like everyone else has said already, the first hour of Hancock is great; it’s action-packed, funny, charming and endearing, but then the “twist” appears. The movie was just completely misguided and took one large leap in the wrong direction. Even Will Smith couldn’t save this movie from it’s absurd storyline. It went from a promising superhero story packed with moral value, to My Super Ex-Girlfriend; dumb and pointless. It was definitely disappointing and the CGI was nothing special. Overall the film was lame and it felt like two different productions poorly stitched together. However, I did enjoy Will Smith and Jason Bateman, so there is one plus.
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