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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 26 June 2008

Will Smith stars as a hilarious but unpopular super-hero in Hancock

Heroic PR job on superman Will

HANCOCK
Directed by Peter Berg
Certificate 12a

WHEN we first meet this unlikely super-hero, he is asleep on a bench nursing a heavy hangover and in the background a TV is blazing away with live footage of a freeway shootout.
The only man who can stop the baddies is this down and out, a bearded bum who finds escape from the heavy responsibility of his superpowers at the bottom of a cheap bottle of wine.
Hancock is an LA superman whose ability to fly and awesome strength means he is a great crime-buster – the only problem is the public hate him. His personal misdemeanours include being rude, uncouth, flying when out of it and destroying public and private property.
Despite trying to do good, he has more than 600 subpoenas and arrest warrants out for him.
Then one day he rescues Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), a PR executive. Ray realises all Hancock needs is a makeover and LA has its very own superhero.
It’s a humorous premise, and this is pure Will Smith – shallow in parts but littered with fun one-liners, great visuals and the leading man’s usual smart-alec character coming through.
Sadly the plot gets a little fuzzy as the story develops. Hancock is drawn to the PR’s wife for reasons that are not all they seem at first, but it all makes for an original and comic take on the super-hero genre.
Overall, it’s enjoyable and a brilliant soundtrack includes numbers by Lee Scrtach Perry and Eric B and Rakim. The concept of a lay-about god coming to terms with some rather unpleasant personal demons and the PR man determined to polish his public persona provides spills and laughs in equal measure.

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