SPOILERS BELOW, HOMIE
The tone of the film shifts significantly, veering from flat-out comedy to a bit of romance to more straight action.
The film has a split personality, being half the story of a PR guy out to change the world, and half the story of an asshole superhero who faces his past. Focusing the film on either one of these stories would have resulted in a better movie. Instead, we get less of both.
There's no villain in the movie. The film tries to introduce one, turning a dopey, easily defeated bad guy introduced about an hour into the action into the recurring antagonist. But this fails for several reasons. One, we've seen Hancock defeat him with little effort. Actually, not just defeat him, but chop his hand off like the guy was a total bitch. Second, we know Hancock is invulnerable. The film attempts to introduce some lame rules about how his invulnerability fails when he's near his "opposite," but this comes about ten minutes before the bad guy fight, so it feels weak and tacked-on. And basically just an excuse to make it seem like the bad guy might kill Hancock when we know he has no chance otherwise. And finally, the villain is such a pussy, Jason Bateman, an ordinary guy, is able to defeat him. And not just defeat him but chop his other hand off. A superhero needs a powerful villain in order to provide a challenge; if he can't be another Superman in terms of strength and power, he needs to have the smarts of a Lex Luthor; if he's not as combat-trained as Batman, he needs the craziness of a Joker. Not some schmo who keeps getting amputated every time he's in a fight.
Finally, the movie severely punks out on Hancock's character. In the spec script, Hancock is a giant asshole. Like the movie, the script tells the story of an immortal with amnesia who learns he's not the last of his kind. He has an opposite, a female whom he loves and keeps coming into contact with throughout history. The big reveal in the script, which is far better than what they do in the film, is that Hancock keeps fucking her over throughout history because he's such a dick. And he realizes this and goes away from Mary, leaving her to be happy with her new family.
Now that's a character arc -- an asshole who gives up the woman he loves because he knows she won't be happy with him. That's reminiscent of CASABLANCE, arguably the most romantic movie of all time. HANCOCK, which was presumably watered-down once Will Smith signed onboard, instead gives us a dick with amnesia. But the amnesia's not his fault, because a crowd beat him half to death due to his interracial dating in 1920s Miami. He just can't be with his soulmate because they make each other human and vulnerable, so he has to go away to make them both safe. So he's not really a dick at all, just an angry guy who didn't know why he was angry. While this may be a little more commercial, it's far less satisfying dramatically.
And the whole we-make-each-other-mortal business is extremely weak, coming as it does almost entirely through exposition and at the end of the movie. If this is what Will Smith and Peter Berg wanted to do, at least set it up in the first or second act. Have Will Smith suddenly have a nosebleed or skin his knees when Mary's around. Maybe a bullet grazes him and he wonders why he's suddenly feeling pain and getting wounded. If this was worked into the story, when it's revealed that the two of them make each other mortal, this would be a payoff rather than something that comes out of nowhere.
Overall, Hancock gets a B-. It's still enjoyable and there are some funny moments. But it could've been much better.
On an unrelated note, I can't wait until DARK KNIGHT comes out. I saw it four months ago (and signed an NDA), so I've been dying to talk about it. I will say there's some amazing stuff in the film, but that's all I feel comfortable saying until next Friday.
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