Will Smith returned to movie theaters this past 4th of July weekend proving once again that he, along with fireworks and backyard barbeques are essential to celebrating our nation’s birthday. “Hancock” is an unlikely superhero careless in his execution of superhuman deeds and miserable in his own life filled with public drunkenness and foulmouthed exchanges with the public he is charged to protect. Will Smith has a blast portraying the title role of John Hancock, who is as clueless to the origins of his own special powers as those mere mortals around him. His penchant for destroying millions of dollars worth of public property while trying to save those in peril have finally caught up with him at the film’s opening. The news media (including Nancy Grace) have called for his arrest for outstanding warrants for the millions in damages he has caused for the tax payers of Los Angeles. After inadvertently saving the life of PR man Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), Hancock is forced to give into Ray’s attempts to reinvent the disgraced superhero’s public persona. Those efforts lead to much of the first hour of the film’s comic genius at times turning the formula of the superhero genre completely over on it’s head. Hancock’s short temper and often crude sense of justice make his attempt to clean up his act not only difficult but extremely entertaining for the audience. Through most of the film, director Peter Berg borrows from Richard Donner’s Superman playbook in attempting to give “Hancock” a realistic look or what Donner called his use of verisimilitude in making an unbelievable story believable. Berg’s Hancock is a superhero whose actions have consequences something that even Donner failed to realize in his classic 1978 Superman film. After a short stint in prison, the reinvented Hancock appears on the scene to stop a bank heist, during which echoes of John William’s Superman march can be heard ever so slightly in composer John Powell’s less bombastic approach to scoring of a superhero movie. It’s only in the second half of the film’s short 92 minute running time that things bog down as the superhero’s origin is somewhat explained. When Ray’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron) cast doubt on Hancock’s ability to reinvent himself, we later learn that her concern for her husband and son are not the only interest she has in mind. This complicated relationship with the film’s star leads to a most unexpected plot surprise which although welcomed tends to interrupt the rhythm of the film to a fault. What started as a unique and fresh take on the superhero film genre slowly evolves into a conventional comic book style story. The short running time and likeability of it’s star manage to keep it from completely falling apart. Smith who provided last year’s sci-fi thrill-ride in “I Am Legend,” once again through charm and pure onscreen charisma delivers the goods in this tailor-made role. One only hopes that although the film’s ending leaves plenty of room for a continuing franchise of sequels, that the capable star will deliver more challenging roles that have lead to his two Oscar nominations in years past.
