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List Price: $19.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 3601
Released: November 25, 2008 |
| Our Price: $2.74 |
| Used Price: $1.90 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Academy Award® nominee Will Smith (Best Actor, The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006) stars in this action-packed comedy as Hancock, a sarcastic, hard-living and misunderstood superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public. When Hancock grudgingly agrees to an extreme makeover from idealistic publicist Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman, Juno), his life and reputation rise from the ashes and all seems right again--until he meets a woman (2003 Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron, Best Actress, Monster) with similar powers to his and the key to his secret past.
Description of Hancock (Single-Disc Unrated Edition):
Hancock turns the standard superhero movie inside-out: The title character (Will Smith) can fly, has superstrength, and is invulnerable, but he's also a sloppy, alcoholic jerk who causes millions of dollars in property damage whenever he bothers to fight crime. When he saves the life of a public-relations agent named Ray (Jason Bateman, Arrested Development), Ray decides to improve Hancock's image--starting by having Hancock surrender himself to the authorities and go to prison for his lawless behavior. The idea is that once he's in prison, the crime rate will go up, and people will start to realize Hancock might be of value after all. This is only the first act of Hancock--from there, the movie takes several clever turns that shouldn't be revealed. Hancock isn't a great movie (among other things, director Peter Berg overuses close-ups with a hand-held camera to a degree that may cause motion sickness), but it is an extremely entertaining one. The script, which holds together far better than most superhero movies, has a propulsive plot, good dialogue, some compassion for its characters, and even an actual idea or two. The spectacular action at least gestures towards obeying the laws of physics, which actually makes the special effects more vivid. The three leads (Smith, Bateman, and Charlize Theron as Ray's wife, Mary) deftly balance the movie's mixture of comedy, action, and drama. All in all, a smart subversive twist on a genre that all too often takes itself all too seriously. --Bret Fetzer
Stills from Hancock (click for larger image)
Hancock (Single-Disc Unrated Edition) Reviews:
Horrible. 
2009-11-01 - This movie was horrible. I'm usually a Will Smith fan but after this movie I wanted to hate him, but I couldn't. I just couldn't get into this movie as much as I tried. I even slept good the night before, hoping to stay awake to watch this movie but I couldn't stay awake. Whatever, I tried. It's just a really boring movie.
Zero-to-Hero 
2009-10-30 - Will Smith does a great job in this film, which deals with a man with super powers but no social skills. A chance meeting with a PR guy begins to change things around for him, face his flaws and eventually take his place as a true hero. There are some other great twists to this story but overall it's enough to know that it's a good film and certainly one worth giving a try.
Tries to be different 
2009-10-17 - In this world, superheroes are taken somewhat for granted, like it's normal to have guys flying and bullets bouncing off them etc etc. Problem is, why do the bad guys even bother trying, since it should be obvious that Hancock can defeat them? That's one logic flaw here. Also, it appears that LA is the only recipient of the superhero's largess. Too bad for other cities, I guess. Will Smith plays the drunk superhero pretty well, but then the plot morphs into a duel/love story with another female superhero, and all logic flies out the window. At least it's a twist on the usual cartoon-esque tone of these things.
Hancock 
2009-09-23 - You think this is just another supper hero movie but this one has a suprising twist and Will Smith did his usual great job, a good action/love story.
Starts off as a dark comedy and morphs into ...
2009-09-18 - something else. Overall I enjoyed this movie, mostly because of the three lead actors (Smith, Theron, Bateman) but I thought the "twist" introduced about halfway through was unbelievable and added little to the movie. To be honest, I don't know how I would have wrapped it up, but it would not have been the way things actually play out. Worth watching if your expectations are not too high.
