A Superbad Superhero Doesn’t Spur Sensation

‘Hancock,’ is unlikely to pull through, even with Will Smith as the bait. The actions of a disheveled, sarcastic and misunderstood superhero should have been bundled in to a fun summer movie but the bid to be off-beat, makes Hancock go astray to an extent that it is misses the conventional objective.

Directed by Peter Berg and scripted by Vince Gilligan and Vincent Ngo, the film features Smith in the title role of homeless, drunken, Los Angeles superhero John Hancock, “the only one of (his) kind.”

Unlike the regular nice, forthright and slightly formal superhero, Hancock flies drunk, tears up public property and has anger management issues. His offhanded efforts at saving lives and dealing with bad guys leave so much damage in their wake that Los Angeles is left wondering: is he a crook in disguise?

Awe-struck, the public looks at the loser, boo him and demand his arrest. However, the hero (rather, superhero) does not get trapped in all this and soon comes across Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), a public relations consultant with a glint in his eye and a we-can-save-the-world dream, who offers to help fix his image problem.

Ray’s wife Mary (Charlize Theron) soon enters the picture, expressing deride for Hancock from the beginning. The story shifts to a contest of wills between the superhero and a concerned mother (Hancock abuses alcohol in front of her and her son Aaron.)

Realizing that the movie cannot be carried further solely on a man-woman skirmish, a villain is introduced to take it back to the good guy vs. bad guy scenario.

Nobody knows what made the makers portray a loser superhero who annoys more than inspires awe. Probably, they assumed that the July 4 box-office weekend belongs to the star of ‘Independence Day’ and the two ‘Men in Black’ films.

The movie runs 1 hour, 32 minutes and will open tonight in select theaters and nationwide on Wednesday.