Hancock (film)

Plot[edit]

John Hancock is an alcoholic, reckless superhuman imbued with flight, invulnerability, and super-strength. Acting as a local haphazard and unrefined superhero in Los Angeles, he is often ridiculed and hated by the public for his drunken and careless crime fighting acts and rude and unpleasant disposition.


Hancock rescues Ray Embrey, a community-minded but struggling public relations specialist, from an oncoming train, which he needlessly derails in the process. Thankful and seeing a career opportunity, Ray offers to help improve Hancock's public image. Hancock meets Ray's family, his son Aaron, and his wife Mary, who is suspicious of him.


Ray encourages Hancock to issue a public apology, and then go to prison for a time, until Los Angeles needs him properly. He reluctantly agrees, struggling to fit in at prison. Two fellow inmates soon threaten him as he put them there, so he injures them. Hancock is visited by Ray, who encourages him to be patient. However, when he hears he might be in for 8 years, he panics and starts to break out, although Ray is able to calm him down and persuade him to stay and stick to the plan. Hancock is later visited by Mary and Aaron, who bring him homemade spaghetti with meatballs.


The crime rate in Los Angeles rises and Hancock is eventually released to help. He foils a bank robbery orchestrated by Red Parker, with Hancock slicing off his hand to prevent him from activating a dead man's switch. He is praised as a hero and becomes popular.


Hancock has dinner with Ray and Mary, and reveals that he is an amnesiac and immortal, having woken up in a hospital 80 years ago with no memory of his identity. The doctors told him that as he was stopping a mugging and was clubbed in the head. Ray tells Hancock that Mary is Aaron's stepmother and that his biological mother had died in childbirth. Carrying a drunk Ray home, Hancock kisses Mary, who kisses him back but then throws him through the wall, revealing that she also has superpowers.


The next day, Hancock and Mary speak in private. She explains that there were more like them in the past – sometimes called gods or angels by others – but they are the last pair. They have lived for three thousand years and are soulmates. The other superhumans paired up, lived human lives and then died.


Hancock flies away to tell Ray about Mary kissing him, only for her to chase him and incite a violent battle across the city. Ray witnesses the fight, later confronting the duo. Mary admits Hancock is actually her husband from the past, but that she chose to quietly leave him once he had lost his memory.


After stopping a store robbery, Hancock finds that a bullet has hurt him and he needs hospital treatment. Mary explains that the closer they are, the more mortal they become. They will lose their powers unless they stay apart. The last time Hancock and Mary were together was eighty years ago when Hancock was attacked.


Parker, who escaped prison with several other criminals, attacks the hospital to get revenge. Mary is caught in the crossfire and injured. Hancock manages to use some of his fading strength to fight and kill the convicts, but is further injured when Parker shoots him. He is saved by Ray, who cuts off Parker's other hand with a fire axe before killing him as well. Hancock throws himself out of the hospital, trying to increase his distance from Mary so they can both recover, before flying off.


A month later, Ray and his family receive a call from Hancock (who is now in New York City), revealing that he has imprinted the Moon's surface with Ray's AllHeart marketing logo. In a mid-credits scene, Hancock confronts a criminal holding a woman at gunpoint and demanding that he help him escape from the police, while calling him an asshole in the process, much to Hancock's amusement.

Actors Johnny Galecki and Thomas Lennon also appear in the film as Mike and Jeremy. Mike Epps makes an uncredited cameo in the post-credits scene. Film producers Akiva Goldsman and Michael Mann appear as executives listening to Ray's lecture.^[12] Television host Nancy Grace also has a cameo appearance.^[13] Daeg Faerch appears as Michel, the young French American neighborhood bully who is thrown by Hancock in the air for repeatedly insulting him. Atticus Shaffer, later known for his role in the sitcom The Middle, also makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the film.

Critical reception[edit]

Variety reported that the film got "generally poor reviews",^[37] and Reuters said the film was "critically mauled" by critics who liked the premise but were confounded by the subplot involving Charlize Theron's character.^[34] Film review website Metacritic surveyed 37 critics and assessed 16 reviews as mixed, 14 as positive, and 7 as negative. It gave an aggregate score of 49 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[3] Website Rotten Tomatoes, which categorizes reviews as positive or negative, surveyed 227 critics and assessed 132 reviews as negative and 95 as positive, for a 42% approval rating. The average rating calculated was 5.4 out of 10. It summarized the critical consensus: "Though it begins with promise, Hancock suffers from a flimsy narrative and poor execution."^[4]


Some critics reported that the film was a jumble of ideas that, despite starting well, did not fully deliver the edgy satire the subject matter promised, with a general consensus forming that it suffered from a weak story and poor execution.^[35][4] Todd McCarthy of Variety felt that the film's premise was undermined by the execution. McCarthy believed the concept ensured the film was "amusing and plausible" for its first half, but that the second half was full of illogical story developments and missed opportunities.^[55] Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter said that the opening established the premise well, but that the film came undone when it began to alternate between comedy and tragedy, and introduced a backstory for Hancock that didn't make sense. He said it rewrote its own internal logic in order to pander to its audience.^[56] Stephen Hunter in The Washington Post claimed it had begun with promise, but that the change in tone partway through was so abrupt that the film did not recover.^[57] Jim Schembri of The Age called the change in direction "an absolute killer story twist",^[58] and David Denby of The New Yorker said it lifted the film to a new level by supplementing the jokes with sexual tension and emotional power.^[59]


Jim Schembri reported that Berg's direction helped to sell Hancock's "well-drawn" backstory,^[58] Todd McCarthy said the gritty visual approach adopted by Berg did not mesh well with the "vulgar goofiness" of certain scenes,^[55] and Stephen Farber pointed out that Berg's frantic direction compounded the storytelling errors.^[56] Stephen Hunter claimed that Berg had not understood that the shifting tone and plot twists were meant to be humorous, and that he had played straight what was supposed to be a dark comedy and subversive satire.^[57] David Denby said Berg's style—especially his use of close-ups—was intended to showcase "genuine actors at work",^[59] while Manohla Dargis of The New York Times insisted Berg had taken Hancock to heart and brought gravity to the film.^[60]


David Denby described Smith's performance as contrasting with his performances in his other films. He said, "For the first time in his life, Will Smith doesn’t flirt with the audience... he stays in character as a self-hating lonely guy."^[59] Stephen Hunter argued that Smith and his co-stars had misunderstood the material in the same manner as Berg. He added that the examination of Smith's character came across at first as an examination of "phenomenally gifted" black sporting superstars who were "marginalized", "dehumanized" and exploited as a product by society.^[57] Manohla Dargis was struck by Theron's performance, saying that she enabled Smith to deepen the film's emotional complexity.^[60] Todd McCarthy said that Smith's "attitude-laden quips" helped to carry the film's superior first half, and that all three leads performed capably, but he said no opportunity was offered for the supporting characters to register.^[55] Roger Ebert writing in the Chicago Sun Times praised the three leads, saying that Smith avoided playing Hancock "as a goofball" and instead portrayed him as a more subtle and serious character.^[61] Stephen Farber said that Hancock was a good showcase for the leads, affirming that Smith shone in a film that was only sporadically worthy of his performance.^[56]


Jim Schembri concluded that the film was "refreshing, savvy, fun and fast". He said it managed to mix comedy and action successfully, and that the drama came across as surprisingly genuine.^[58] Stephen Farber believed that the extended development of the film had reduced its quality, but that the visual effects were "stellar" and showed wit.^[56] McCarthy praised the effects, but said the film was "both overwrought and severely undernourished."^[55] Roger Ebert observed the film was "a lot of fun",^[61] and Manohla Dargis admitted that it was "unexpectedly satisfying". She said that while it faltered and felt rushed towards its end, it had an emotional complexity and "raggedness" that spoke with sincerity about essential human vulnerabilities.^[60] Stephen Hunter concluded that Hancock was ultimately "indigestible".^[57]