Hancock

The best fantasy stories are those that do not disconnect from real life. What makes, for example,Night of the Living Dead so great is that it does not transport you to another world. Instead it attempts to seriously answer the question, "how would ordinary Americans respond to waking up in a world surrounded by brain munching zombies?" One fantastical element has been introduced into a world that is otherwise frighteningly similar to our own. This guarantees a connection between the audience and the story that is absent when the movie is shot on location in Middle Earth or Tatooine.

Director Peter Berg and screenwriters Vincent Ngo and Vince Gillian have locked onto this concept with Hancock. The questions they pose are, “What would it be like if an American city had a resident with superpowers?” and “What would be the psychological effects of those powers on that resident?” Their film is not set in Metropolis or Gotham City but in a very real Los Angeles filled with haters, media pundits, and lawyers all who have a problem with their city’s “hero.” The “hero” himself, John Hancock (Will Smith), isn’t blessed with the mental/social/emotional fortitude that the real life of a superhero would entail. He hits the bottle hard (this is perhaps the first film in which FUI, Flying Under the Influence is captured, to hilarious effect), has trouble relating to the normals he protects, and lives the life of a vagabond (in the real world it would be hard for such a person to make a living).

Toying with this concept keeps the first two-thirds of Hancock afloat with great success. By keeping the usual villains and explosions fair to a minimum, time is instead spent ruminating on how the private life of a super human would be quite melancholy. This is helped by a strong performance from Smith, who uses more of the pathos honed in Ali and Pursuit of Happyness than his usual 4th of July bravado to win the audience over. This is no easy feat as Hancock begins the film as possibly the least likable superhero in recent memory. Smith has great chemistry with Jason Bateman whose PR guy takes Hancock as a client to capitalize on America’s love for an extreme makeover. Their banter produces many of the movies best laughs.

As the Hancock progresses and begins to resemble other superhero stories it becomes a bit less interesting. It is as if Berg and his team couldn’t resist the temptation of creating an end product with at least some franchise and Happy Meal potential. This does not distract from the fact that this movie dared to do what needs to be done in the oversaturated superhero genre: take it somewhere new. We do not need any more origin stories or montages showing the creation of your super suit. It has been done. Movies like Hancock have the ability to keep the genre viable and interesting for years to come.