Movie Review: Hancock

Subtitle: Hancock didn't quite save my day.

Sub-Subtitle: The special effects were good.



As a moviegoer, I didn't enjoy Hancock. Too many loose ends in the plot. Shaky, "Arrested Development" style cinematography. Will Smith's inappropriate casting - purely from an acting perspective. A predictable twist that just wasn't fulfilling. Still, it had some compelling social commentary upon which I'll touch.

But first, let me set it up for you: Ray's is a freelance PR guy who wants to save the world; he's trying to start his own corporate sponsorship initiative to fight extreme poverty, preventable disease, etc. Circumstances arise so that Hancock, LA's not-so-friendly neighborhood ubermensch, casually saves him from an untimely death. Grateful, Ray convinces Hancock to hire him as his publicist to improve his oft-sullied image. As the film progresses, Hancock fights off a few natural (and one supernatural) opponents, and comes into a better sense of himself. This all may sound good, but, like I said, I have my reasons why I didn't like it as a movie.

Will Smith goes through half of the movie playing a caricature of an angry black man, and it's painful to watch. I really would have paid three times as much to see Charlie Murphy Jamie Foxx play the role because 1) he's much more entertaining as an angry brotha and 2) the laws of Hollywood economics (read: Will Smith movies make money)would have never allowed him to play that role.

And the storytelling was weak. The film alludes to Hancock's origins, but it doesn't explore them. Oh, what I would have given to see a cheesy flashback!

Then there's the whole issue of the love interest in the movie. It brings this blog entry back to the topic of race: you have this angry black supa dupa man (what brotha isn't?) dealing with his past, longstanding relationship with a white woman. I won't get into too many details, but this dimension implicitly brings up topics of interracial relationships and their legitimacy. And how appropriate that this movie premiere during the 4th of July weekend, because it's barely been 40 years since interracial marriage became legal in all of the US.

Sometimes a movie needs an underlying piece of intrigue or taboo, like sexual chemistry between its stars, for large amount of people to see it. This is definitely one of those movies.

By the way, less than a month ago, I missed a great occasion to celebrate interracial relationships: every June 12th is Loving Day, the anniversary of the Loving v Virginia Supreme Court Decision, and of course New York City threw a party!