Thursday, October 13, 2011

Movie Review: Hancock

One thing that makes Hancock different from a lot of other superhero movies is that the destruction caused by his powers come back to haunt him. In chasing a van of bank robbers during the opening scene he causes millions of dollars in damages to the city of Los Angeles. But that's all just setting. The story really starts when he saves the life of Ray, who is trying (with no success) to convince several large corporations to get involved in a scheme he calls the 'All-Heart'.[1] Ray decides to become a PR consultant for Hancock, which throws Hancock's life into a spiral.

My verdict: A backstory for Hancock slowly emerges which proves to be an interesting, though not remarkable, premise. And it was nice that all the seeming coincidences had explanations. (The explanation for how he got his name was lame, though.) Just like the premise, this movie was interesting, though not remarkable. It was strange to see a completely-shaven Will Smith, though. NOTE: The Netflix DVD contains the 'uncut' version (which I wasn't aware of when I started watching)—it has more crass profanity than the theatrical release did and it has a rather vulgar scene that to me didn't seem appropriate for a PG-13 movie.[2] You may want to review the content of the film at screenit or kids-in-mind before watching it yourself.


Notes:

[1] The 'All-Heart' concept being pitched by Ray made no sense at all. No wonder he was shot down by any and all business executives he presented it to. What Hancock did with the symbol was amusing, but that still didn't make it a viable scheme for business or charity. But, then, it's not surprising that a liberal moviemaker would cook up such a scheme. After all, isn't an ideal world for a far-left liberal one where no one has to produce anything (i.e. perform real work) but evil rich corporations have to give them money?

[2] You can get the specifics at the Wikipedia page (here). The filmmakers also had to remove a statutory rape scene in order to convince the MPAA to give them a PG-13 rating.

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