Hancock

"Hancock" is a confusing movie for me to review. On one hand, it starts out with potential to be a great comedic superhero movie. On the other, the second half of the movie is a 180 degree change in direction from where it starts that it ruins the original set up. It's a split personality movie where the two halves combine to make nothing substantial.

Will Smith stars as Hancock, a superhero that doesn't care how he goes about resolving problems. His actions to stop bank robbers leads to the destruction of roads, buildings, and landmarks. In his eyes, though, he has stopped the bad guys. The level of destruction caused by Hancock's well-intentioned heroics creates a backlash from the residents of Los Angeles as they demand for either his arrest or departure from the city.

Enter onto the scene Ray (Jason Bateman), a PR executive out to save the world in a charitable way. After finally convincing Hancock that he needs to clean up his public image, Ray takes it upon himself to serve as Hancock's public relations agent. While Ray sees huge potential in his client, Ray's wife (Charlize Theron) makes continual efforts to diminish the importance of Hancock.

This is when the story goes awry. From the first scene you will sense that something is up between Ray's wife and Hancock, to the point that you think you know where the story is going. Instead, it goes a totally different direction, toward a confusing and convoluted plot that also kills any further comedy in the movie. The ending scenes become increasingly violent, and when it did conclude I no longer cared for anyone on screen.

If you want to see "Hancock" wait for the DVD release, if even then. There are a few other much better superhero movies to watch instead. I give this one a C-.

"Hancock" is rated PG-13 with a running time of 92 minutes.