Hancock

This was a comic book superhero that I had never heard of before and I wanted to watch it out of pure curiosity.  How true it is that you often enjoy something more when you expect less of it.  I thought Hancock was entertaining, funny, and original.

The twist involving Charlize Theron was a total surprise to me and from there the movie keeps going steadily towards a plausible ending, which is often quite an achievement for a superhero movie.

Will Smith, as usual, is well cast as the hero du jour, and plays well what is, fundamentally, a very human and imperfect man.  That’s probably what I liked most about Hancock.

After all, the main reason we like a superhero like Spider Man or Batman  is their vulnerability, their inner humanity that’s been augmented in some way, which allows them to perform acts they normally could not.  But they remain, at their core, human, and as such, imperfect.  Hancock is the ultimate tormented, vulnerable, and imperfect hero, one who has no clue why he even is who he is and does what he does.

This movie was a nice surprise.

Grade: 8