Movie Review

Hancock

Tawsif Saleheen

HANCOCK is a drunken superhero. He sleeps in the sidewalks, drinks beer for breakfast, and fights super villains and super hangovers at the same time. When free Hancock walks into peaceful neighbourhoods and throws random ten-year-olds into the troposphere and waits for them to drop back, which is probably why he doesn't have the time to visit the office of the notary public and change his name into something less inappropriate.

Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman, the first half of Hancock is principally a comedy. Hancock (Will Smith) rescues Ray (Jason Bateman) from a traffic accident, on the process trashing up other vehicles in the periphery. When the angry owners of those vehicles start bad-mouthing Hancock, Ray who happens to be a public relations guy decides to give Hancock a superhero makeover. What follows is a superhero version of the 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'. Under the guidance of Ray, Hancock transforms from a pungent street bum to a dashing superhero loved by all. He trims his hair, shaves his beard and adorns himself in leather tights. When tackling hostage situations he finally manages to kill fewer civilians than the criminals themselves. People clap.

However, just when you think that Hancock and his leather bodice would live happily ever after, complexity emerges. A secret is revealed involving Ray's wife, played by Charlize Theron, and Hancock. Soon the three major characters of the movie find themselves in emotional turmoil. Finally, after a series of dramatic events, Hancock finds his true calling and discovers who he really is.

Will Smith once again delivers a brilliant performance in a movie which would have otherwise been mindlessly silly. The director Peter Berg, on the other hand, seems to be in a dilemma regarding the genre of the movie. In the end he makes an ill-fitted concoction of drama, comedy and the biography of an alcoholic superhero. You will need to be equally drunk to like Hancock as a movie.