Hancock (2008)

[Betsy Speicher 0]

imdb.com listing for Hancock (2008).

Movie suggested for rating by Mercury.

[Mercury 0]

There is some vulgar humor in Hancock, a little rap music, as well as one inappropriate word delivered several times by small children. These elements are so misleading that, by the end of the movie, you will have forgotten them completely.

As with any film about a man who can fly without the aid of machines, the metaphysics is over-the-top. Which makes the emotionally-gripping work of Theron, Bateman, and Smith, directed by Peter Berg (The Kingdom), all the more remarkable.

Despite its concessions to modern tastes, Hancock is, ultimately, in my opinion, an old-fashioned exploration of self-awareness, purpose, and the intensity of romantic love. A large chunk of the story is something you'd expect from a Shyamalan, and, in fact, there are one or two elements which bring his films to mind.

Even if movies about superheroes are not to your tastes, don't pass up a chance to listen to the year's best score thus far -- at its finest points, supremely evocative and rightly so, to suit the most emotionally-satisfying movie I've seen in 2008.

[Lady Brin 0]

Even if movies about superheroes are not to your tastes, don't pass up a chance to listen to the year's best score thus far -- at its finest points, supremely evocative and rightly so, to suit the most emotionally-satisfying movie I've seen in 2008.

Oh goody - something to look forward. I have seen the trailer, but saw a negative review, of which I didn't read more than a few sentences, but enough to feel disappointed (why do I allow this to happen??). I'm so glad to hear of your recommendation. I have enjoyed many of Will Smith's movies, but Wild, Wild West, which no one (as in sales) else seemed to like, I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope it's not blasphemous to admit I even like the accompanying rap song. I think it's one of 4 rap songs (one of the others is the one for Men in Black - that one cracks me up) I can bear listening.

[PhilO 0]

I have seen the trailer, but saw a negative review, of which I didn't read more than a few sentences, but enough to feel disappointed (why do I allow this to happen??).

I don't usually put a lot of stock in movie reviews, but if this bad review accurately describes the movie, it doesn't sound like one I'd want to see.

[KurtColville 0]

If you want to see Will Smith at his very best, I can't recommend "The Pursuit of Happyness" enough. In the rags to riches story, he also portrays a hero, but with no supernatural powers, just a marvelous measure of integrity and determination to succeed.

[Mercury 0]

I have seen the trailer, but saw a negative review, of which I didn't read more than a few sentences, but enough to feel disappointed (why do I allow this to happen??).

I don't usually put a lot of stock in movie reviews, but if this bad review accurately describes the movie, it doesn't sound like one I'd want to see.

I read that review before I saw it, but still went to see the movie anyway. Friedman isn't a movie critic per se, but he generally hasn't disappointed in the past.

When he does write about films, his focus is much broader than the analysis of subject and style. His point-of-view - being a celebrity reporter - is the work's performance in the public sphere and said performance's effects on the the celebrity, i.e., likeablity and bankability, of the movie's star(s).

In this case, he omits* the context in which the vulgar statements and actions are depicted. In my take on Hancock, I mention these vulgar moments too but come to a different conclusion.

Smith's screen persona is "the clean guy mothers want their kids to look up to." Hancock challenges this persona, and Friedman calls our attention to it. But, he seems to have misfired. On Sunday morning, before the weekend box-office was announced (the estimates are usually released on Sunday afternoon), Friedman had this doom-and-gloom piece on the supposed sub-$100 million performance of Hancock. But, he was wrong: American moviegoers went to see it anyway, and the movie crossed a $100 million. The Fox piece was quickly pulled, as other websites trumpeted Hancock's "ownership" of the weekend box-office.

I'm not saying it's the best film ever made, but there's good value here for your money. Go for the music, the end-story, the effects, and Charlize Theron's sharpest performance. Just don't take the kids!

*At the risk of being seen to defend Hancock too much, I would even venture the word "drops."

[Free Capitalist 0]

From "the bad review", http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372561,00.html:

It is said the legion of writers and directors who came and went before "Hancock" was initiated had a "black" comedy in mind — something that sent up the idea of superheroes.

I don't understand what it is with this notion that black people are supposed to "send up" traditionally moral and good characters or values. Why is "black music" supposed to be obnoxious and loud in contrast to "white music", even rock'n'roll, played with respectful quietness? And why is a "black comedy" supposed to mock superheroes, and put the concept on its own head?

I really hope Hancock doesn't do that. I was hoping to see it, since I love Will Smith films, but this really made me have a second thought.

[Thoyd Loki 0]

From "the bad review", http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372561,00.html:

It is said the legion of writers and directors who came and went before "Hancock" was initiated had a "black" comedy in mind — something that sent up the idea of superheroes.

I don't understand what it is with this notion that black people are supposed to "send up" traditionally moral and good characters or values. Why is "black music" supposed to be obnoxious and loud in contrast to "white music", even rock'n'roll, played with respectful quietness? And why is a "black comedy" supposed to mock superheroes, and put the concept on its own head?

I really hope Hancock doesn't do that. I was hoping to see it, since I love Will Smith films, but this really made me have a second thought.

First black comedy is a genre, a subcategory of comedy. The black in black comedy refers to the humorous treatment of typically non-humorous (mainly taboo or tragic) material. It has nothing to do with black people. Really, really do your homework, that just don't make you sound good.

That said, I think this reviewer both dozed through the movie and was in a bad mood. Yeah, this is a grittier Will Smith. We find him drunk on a park bench at the beginning of the film. What the reviewer left out was where he was at the end of the film. The film starts with the character in the gutter, but the character curve is upwards. It is PG-13 and is certainly not a kiddy movie. I thought it worth my time to see, I was entertained, I didn't walk out of the theater trampled by black humor.

PS. Can you give me an instance of this white rock n' roll played with respectful quietness vs. the loud black rock n' roll? That's a new one on me.

[Free Capitalist 0]

PS. Can you give me an instance of this white rock n' roll played with respectful quietness vs. the loud black rock n' roll? That's a new one on me.

I had in mind the playing of rock music in the car, versus drive-by gangster rap, which is always audible at least three blocks away. A reasonable person always walks by such a car and asks himself, "Doesn't this guy have some manners?".