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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 07/11/2008 : 14:28:41
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Hancock
Former actor and action director Peter Berg should know better by now that the scenes that link the set-piece beat-em-ups deserve more attention than just moving the camera around aimlessly or joltingly or cutting pointlessly and/or pretentiously between ECU's of the actors.*
And that lack of care about what makes films into stories - that element of humanity and heart - is what's in short supply here.
The premise is really interesting. OK we've seen slices of it before, such as with Spidey's dark side. But here's a superhero that didn't emerge from comic-book DNA, though co-writer Vince Gilligan copped some valid far-fetched principles from his work on the X-Files series [and he's already scripted the forthcoming X-Files film]. But there are so many intriguing ways to go.
John Hancock - not his real name - is blase about his amazine super powers of flight and fight. He's a boozer who cannot die, either from bullets or cirrhosis of the liver, apparently.
When we meet him, crapped out on a bus-bench in downtown LA, he's a rude, crude dude who'll go get the bad-guys sure, but with nary a care for the mess he leaves in his wake. Property damage in the millions and a trail of innocent folk dead and/or bleeding all over the freeway, street, wherever.
Unlike the Lone Ranger, though, this masked man isn't content with riding off into the sunset without a thank you from the grateful populace. Turns out, with a bit of psycho babble from a PR aspirer and later on a prison group therapy session - Hancock wants to be recognised for his heroic actions. He craves it. But hides behind his mask of insoucience and booze.
Cut to the chase - he gets involved with Jason Bateman, the charming, likeable shlub with big PR plans that never quite make it. He saves Bateman's life on the road, stopping one big mo-fo of a train. Bateman makes Hancock his latest project - he knows just what the deadbeat hero needs - a make-over. Now, there's a reality tv idea - round up a panel of clapped out superheroes and invite in the stylists, hair dressers, cosmetic dentists, etiquette coaches. Hello, Channel Four?
So the guy's gotta learn life lessons. In the hands of a great comic writer, this premise might have a screen life. But Gilligan thinks action action action. So we're lured into silly-time with a back story so bizarre even the X-Files would have chucked it into the bin at the first script conference. I ain't giving it away, but I'll tell you Charlize Theron features bigtime.
Smith always delivers. Whatever he's asked to do, no matter how ungrounded, he makes watchable. And Eddie Marsan - late of The Illusionist and Happy-Go-Lucky, is learning that all those years of honing his acting skills are rewarded by Hollywood with underwritten, senseless parts which at least pay the BIG bucks.
Lotsa stuff gets crashed, bashed, and trashed.
*Extreme Close-Ups
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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 07/11/2008 : 14:46:23
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I was rather disappointed too. The initial premise I thought was great, but there's not really more to that than what one sees in the trailer. Like you've said, his turnaround seems laughably easy and the back story is just not satisfying.
There's no point picking at all the holes, but (spoilers): How on Earth could Hancock not be so famous that Bateman's character would previously be familiar with the basics of his known history? And why would Theron's character not go and live on the far side of the world years ago, once she knew Hancock was in L.A.? |
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silly 
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 07/11/2008 : 15:49:35
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I liked Hancock.
And the movie, too 
Sure, there's the usual SuperHero plot holes and giant logical leaps, but to me no better or worse than the likes of Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, or the ghastly Fantastic 4. I could go on.
Why was Charlize still in town? She was living her life, and hoping Hancock would move on with his. I thought she explained that pretty well. Apparently she's an optimist, in that they had tried to work things out several times previously.
It's also nice seeing a black superhero, even one that starts out as a surly drunk (as we see in the previews). Yeah, I'm sure there are others, but they don't usually get their own movie. Batman, F4, Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-Man, most of the X-men, etc. White People on Parade, mostly.
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 07/11/2008 : 16:04:09
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quote:
Originally posted by silly
Why was Charlize still in town? She was living her life, and hoping Hancock would move on with his.
Spoiler: (It's pretty close to a spoiler that everyone keeps talking about her. She's not obviously significant to start with, apart from making eyes at Hancock.) Anyway, yeah, that doesn't seem like the best strategy she could come up with, given that being near him means a real risk of dying. She's lived all over the world and so has no reason to be attached to L.A. other than Bateman, and Hancock seems like he has been around there longer than she's known him.
quote:
It's also nice seeing a black superhero
Yup, and also one who just happens to be black, i.e. unless the part was written for Will Smith, I didn't get the impression that it was targeted as being a black superhero. There are also negative issues with that, of course, in that 'neutral' parts played by black actors are really white parts played by black actors, given that the writers are mostly white. While there have been other notable cases (Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption and probably Denzel Washington in some things, for example), I think that Will Smith has definitely changed things more than any other actor in terms of landing colour-unspecified roles. |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 07/11/2008 : 17:03:23
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The character probably wasn't written as black, but I still think the racial subtext makes the romance more interesting than it has any right to be. Black man, white woman, and their love makes them more vulnerable to the outside world? Curious. Shame that it doesn't really work on a more basic level. Did you know that producers wouldn't give Smith a white love interest for Hitch for fear of offending people?
For all its flaws, I really think this is Smith's best performance. (Certainly better than his Oscar-nominated turns in Ali or The Pursuit of Happyness.) At no point does Hancock turn into the Fresh Prince, and that's more than admirable. |
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silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 07/11/2008 : 17:12:46
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quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
At no point does Hancock turn into the Fresh Prince, and that's more than admirable.
Bingo.
Apparently this movie went through several changes in the last ten years (original script dates to '96), and they went after Will and reworked the shooting schedule around 'Legend' and 'Happyness.' The inter-racial romance doesn't faze me, but there are plenty of people it would. Theron is purdy, though.
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 07/11/2008 : 17:15:38
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I really didn't find there to be a racial subtext in that romance. I know that such decisions are very conservative, but I'm really very surprised to hear about Hitch. I did think when watching Prom Night ( ), "It's rather strange that the black boy and girl are neatly paired up in a couple."
Yup, it's a great performance from Smith; the script really lets him down. He needs to play more assholes. |
Edited by - Demisemicenturian on 07/11/2008 17:17:23 |
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Montgomery
"F**k!"
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Posted - 07/11/2008 : 22:16:57
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
I really didn't find there to be a racial subtext in that romance. I know that such decisions are very conservative, but I'm really very surprised to hear about Hitch. I did think when watching Prom Night (), "It's rather strange that the black boy and girl are neatly paired up in a couple."
Yup, it's a great performance from Smith; the script really lets him down. He needs to play more assholes.
THIS IS A SPOILER AND I DON"T KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT INVISIBLE, SO DON"T READ ON
Okay, they did talk about how they were supposed to be opposites that attract, therefore, man, woman, white, black.
EM :) |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 07/12/2008 : 01:05:35
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You just select the colour beige.
Hhmmm, black and white people being opposites seems rather strange to me.
Oppositeness is a very interesting concept, though. Things commonly deemed opposites are normally almost exactly the same in the grand scheme of things, e.g. a man is much more like a woman than a fish, toadstool, rock, survey, tenet etc. etc. |
Edited by - Demisemicenturian on 07/12/2008 01:06:39 |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 07/12/2008 : 15:08:13
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| Hancock is American, right? Right? I've just had a review rejected on the basis of (spoiler) his being 3,000 years old. That doesn't stop him being an American, does it? Is Clark Kent not an American? |
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Montgomery
"F**k!"
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Posted - 07/14/2008 : 18:36:59
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
Hancock is American, right? Right? I've just had a review rejected on the basis of (spoiler) his being 3,000 years old. That doesn't stop him being an American, does it? Is Clark Kent not an American?
I guess technically he'd be an immigrant of some kind. But aren't we all? His name is Hancock, how much more American can you be? 
EM :) |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 07/14/2008 : 19:23:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Montgomery
I guess technically he'd be an immigrant of some kind. But aren't we all? His name is Hancock, how much more American can you be?
EM :)
PMFJI - but I seem to remember him explaining that when he couldn't recall his real name and someone asked him to "put his John Hancock" on some document, that's the name he chose. I must admit all that who was he really stuff and where did he [and the other one] come from stuff was such an unnecessary diversion. I mean if you're going to pay that much attention to it, how come it never gets a pay-off? And now I read that Hellboy 2 is being compared to Hancock, as in "he's like Hancock only red". Yeah right!
Meanwhile, I'm counting the hours till Wall-E! And here's where you can picture me doing several back-flips in succession. And whooping! Whoop! Whoop! 
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 07/14/2008 : 19:43:06
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| Spoiler: Yep, an amnesiac found in a country would not be forced to become stateless. They would be officially treated as being a national. |
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Montgomery
"F**k!"
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Posted - 07/24/2008 : 16:00:13
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Very true.
EM :) |
Edited by - Montgomery on 07/24/2008 16:00:36 |
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damalc 
"last watched: Sausage Party"
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Posted - 08/27/2008 : 17:57:58
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saw Hancock at my local 2nd-run theater last night. i was surprisingly entertained.
one question that nagged the shit out of me all through the movie was, why wasn't Charlize used more in promoting the film? i had no idea she was in the film. she's an Oscar winner dammit, and a cute one! so i'm sitting in the movie thinking, 'that looks like CT, but it can't be b/c she would have been in commercials or on the poster or something.'
i agree with MBI that it was probly Smith's best performance, and we didn't have to hear, 'AW HELL NO' a single time.
i can't really put my finger on it but 'Hancock' just didn't LOOK like a comic book movie. and that's good. |
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silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 10/03/2008 : 23:48:26
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I gotta say that I'm a bit bummed that my "Charlize: Angel?" review was declined w/o comment. I was pretty proud of this little bit of fluff.
I had submitted this quote from the movie along with it, but no dice.
quote:
Mary Embrey: Gods, angels...Different cultures call us by different names. Now all of a sudden it's superhero.
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Hancock
