Hancock (Two-Disc Unrated Edition) – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Nov 25, 2008, 11:35 GMT

Academy Award® nominee Will Smith (Best Actor, The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006) stars in this action-packed comedy as Hancock, a sarcastic, hard-living and misunderstood superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public. When Hancock grudgingly agrees to an extreme makeover from idealistic publicist Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman, Juno), his life and reputation rise from the ashes and all seems right again--until he meets a woman (2003 Academy Award® ...more

Will Smith stars as a flawed superhero in this flawed action comedy.  He’s nothing like the man of steel and well may be the man of booze.  In trying to save the day, he destroys more than he saves so the populace wants their not-so-super hero to stay home and stop helping out.

John Hancock (Will Smith) is a bum and an alcoholic.  He would probably spend his life lounging on a park bench drunk out of his mind if it weren’t that John also has superpowers.  Mixing superpowers and wild turkey isn’t a good thing.

For example, Hancock is stirred from his stupor by a little boy he tells him that some thugs have robbed a bank and are in a high speed pursuit along the highway.  A booze soaked Hancock flies to the rescue – to the disappointment of the city because him stopping the three thugs causes 9 million dollars worth of damage. 

Usually, a hero is applauded by the city he services, but this city wants Hancock to leave and never come back.  Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) is a public relations man who isn’t relating well.  He’s trying to get a logo called All-Heart to be used by a corporation. 

However, since it involves the company giving away some of its services it falls flat in the boardroom.  On the way home, his car is trapped on the railroad tracks in the path of an oncoming train.  Ray braces for his oncoming death, but Hancock steps in, tosses Ray’s car out of the way, and stands in the path of the train- again causing multiple millions of dollars worth of damage. 

The gathering crowd starts to berate Hancock for the damage, but Ray is happy to be alive and thanks him.  He also sees an opportunity to help with Hancock’s PR.  He takes the grungy hero home to meet his wife Mary (Charlize Theron), but she seems to behave strangely around Ray’s new client. 

Even odder is that Ray wants Hancock to turn himself in and be put in jail for all the damage he’s caused.  He hopes that the city will realize what a treasure they have in him when the crime rate goes sky high.  Hancock does go to jail, but he begins to wonder if the city will realize they need him or can live without him.

Hancock is not your typical Will Smith vehicle.  It starts with Smith being pretty much down in his luck.  He’s unshaven, appears to be homeless, and drowns his sorrow in the bottom of a bottle of booze.  He’s more apt to destroy and damage more property when he’s supposedly helping the citizenry and this makes Hancock a despised figure rather than the usual ideal that we associate with superheroes.

What makes the first half of the film interesting is showing a superhero with human flaws and one that is really depressed about having his powers.  He’s lonely and that causes the drinking. 

Ray is a do-gooder with a big heart and he’s trying to change the world with his new logo idea.  He turns his attentions to Hancock and these turn of events are going to affect Ray more than he could have ever imagined. 

When we’re exploring the flawed superhero motif, I thought the film was actually pretty good.  It’s when we have a revelation in the second half of the film (I’ll not spoil it for you) that it felt more like a screenwriter’s trick than the interesting first half.

The film is also lacking a good villain.  We have a college professor turned criminal named Red Parker (Eddie Marsan) who wants to avenge himself on Hancock, however he’s not in the film long enough to make an impact (or threat). 

There is a funny scene in prison (to the tune of the Sanford and Son theme) where Hancock gets two criminals together in a nasty way and the film does have some funny asides.  

Hancock is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. 

Disc one features the theatrical cut (92 minutes) and the unrated (102 minutes) edition of the film. 

Disc two contains the special features as well as a digital copy for your PC or portable device.  The 13 minute “Super Humans” details the making of the film.  The 16 minute “Seeing the Future” is about how the filmmakers were able to use animatics to pre-visualize the film. 

The 8 minute “Building a Better Hero” looks at the special effects.  The 10 minute “Bumps and Bruises” is about the stunt work in the film.  The 10 minute “Home Life” is about the sets of the film.  The 8 minute “Suiting up” is about the costumes.  The 4 minute “Mere Mortals” is a funny look at director Peter Berg.  

Hancock is an interesting exploration of the superhero genre and has a great performance by Smith, Bateman, and Theron. 

Where it lacks is in the “surprise” second half that feels like a screenwriters’ trick and lack of a villain worthy to take on Hancock (though Red’s fate is ironic).  It’s a decent film but it could’ve been much better.  

Hancock (Two-Disc Unrated Edition) is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Dec. 1st release. Visit the DVD database for more information.