The one with Hancock

Will Smith's latest movie opens today and I expected Hancock to be the sleeper hit of the summer. Something, nobody really saw coming. It slipped under the radar. For those of you who have drooled at the trailers, all which included many of the major scenes from the opening half of the movie, train stopping, whale tossing and so on. No doubt; you, like me, were thinking about removing your pants on the basis of the trailers alone. The trailers set the movie up and I wondered what amazing scenes were left out of the trailers. Not too many to be honest.

Hancock, is basically an alcoholic superhero and resides in LA. He causes bank loads of damage to the city and decides (on the advice of his new found PR person) to go to jail as there are 6 million subpoenas for him. His time in the slammer equates into plenty of bad guys running riot and low and behold the chief of police needs Hancocks assistance. Enter the new and improved Hancock. Enter the tightly fitting leather, superhero outfit. Enter the second half of the film.

After a more or less flawless first half, Hancock takes a turn for the worse. The story veers off in a bizarre turn of events, even though part of these events are predictable. There is no end of the world scenario for Hancock to get his mits on, so they drag the whole thing out, which inevitably involves Charlize Theron. Nothing wrong with that, but the majority of the second half of the movie. Come fuckin on!!!! You get to hear some of the back story about where Hancock comes from and....well, you'll see. I don't want to give away any spoilers. Other than the second half being a bit "What were they on?" the effects look good and big Will delivers great line after great line. There is hilarious laugh out loud and cough up your lungs scenes. The kid hurling, the opening car chase and of course the prison scene. Theres even a "Fuck word" in there. Which for a 12's movie, is great...for the adults watching it. And, of course, its set up for a sequel.

I think if Hancock, was at least a 15's movie with less of the second half and more of the heads up asses, we could have had a movie which the trailers led us to believe. I thought the movie was restraining itself at times, both in content and swearing. No doubt, its the studio shouting to capitalise on the young teen audience. Here's hoping there is a directors cut or an unrated cut that will arrive on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Great first half, let down by a WTF second half. In some of the trailers, there is a great scene where Hancock wakes up and attempts to grab some woman's ass as she walks by. He's too slow and misses the opportunity. Just like the movie, a missed opportunity. It could have been amazing. Either way - 7/10