John Hancock (Will Smith) is a hero without peer in the midst of an identity crisis, searching for himself and his past in the bottom of every bottle. With every heroic act, he leaves destruction in its wake, shielding himself from public scorn with drunken apathy. This continues until Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), a struggling PR rep who tries to push his altruistic agenda on clients without success, decides to mindlessly stop his car on the train tracks, facing impending doom. After having his life saved in Hancock’s usual chaotic fashion, Ray makes it his mission to force the public to recognize Hancock’s virtues despite his previously disastrous heroics. Hancock eventually begins to discover his potential with the help of Ray and his skeptical wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), as well as learn some uncomfortable truths from his past.
The major flaws in this movie were the miniscule plot and lack of a good antagonist, or I should say a poorly developed antagonist. It was as if Peter Berg realized that this movie needed to be more than just a character study of a superhero and at the last minute, sloppily threw in the first guy he could to inject some drama into an otherwise nominal film. With that said, I have to admit I enjoyed it, despite my critique, but I cannot in good conscience rate Hancock higher than I did. Hancock is a solid underachiever, and while I can appreciate a decent mindless action movie, it still lacked that spark that would have propelled it as good, or even great. Rent it with low expectations, and you’ll like it too.
