On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 5/10 |
Amanda Jones |
Excellent premise, really. Such potential, squandered so poorly. |
| 15/31 |
John Seal |
Put John Hancock, on your must see list, for your fam-i-leeee! |
| 24/43 |
Kim Hollis |
It moves a little too quickly, but it's generally solid entertainment. |
| 27/98 |
David Mumpower |
I love Will Smith's and Charlize Theron's performances, but Hancock is a jumbled mess too often to be ignored. |
| 33/196 |
Max Braden |
I really liked it up until the first twist, and then it just turned on itself. (Holy mascara, batman!) |
| 41/52 |
Sean Collier |
Solid premise ruined by feelings and emotions and all that lame stuff. |
So, there's this superhero. He can fly, has superhuman strength and speed, is basically indestructible and saves the world on a somewhat regular basis.
Unfortunately, he's kind of a dick. And thanks to the amount of destruction and mayhem he causes in the process of helping, everyone hates him.
That's all you really need to know about Hancock, which, after over a decade in development hell, will see release this summer. Oh, and Will Smith plays the title character. And I almost forgot, it's being released over the July 4th holiday. I hear Smith has had some success over that holiday in the past.
Smith is the anti-social superhero, who, after saving a PR consultant (Jason Bateman) agrees to a career rehabilitation. Naturally, Hancock begins an affair with the wife of said consultant (Charlize Theron) while undergoing the aforementioned rehabilitation. Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) directs.
The original script was penned in 1996 by Vincent Ngo and in the last dozen years the project, originally titled Tonight He Comes, had gone through turnaround multiple times, with many major names attached to produce and/or direct. With Will Smith finally attached to the project thanks to director Johnathan Mostow (Terminator 3), Columbia Pictures won the bidding war, and while Mostow eventually left the project, Smith was still signed to film it after completing The Pursuit of Happyness and I Am Legend. Happyness director Gabrielle Muccino was then slated to direct after Mostow but eventually departed with Berg finally stepping in and seeing the film through to its completion. It's amazing what it takes sometimes to get a $200 million-plus grosser off the ground.
With an amusing premise, a prime release date, one of the most bankable stars ever and a funny trailer money shot of Hancock tossing a beached whale and taking out a sailboat in the distance, Hancock is a top contender for box office champ of Summer 2008. (Tim Briody/BOP)
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