John's Movie Musings

Time for the annual "July 4th Will Smith Movie Event of a Lifetime." You can tell Superhero movies are hot in Hollywood now since there seems to be a new release every week. Will Smith's take is a little...odd. Imagine Superman combined with the lovechild of Jack Black and Kevin Smith. Only not as funny.

Think back. When was the last time you heard Will Smith drop an F-bomb? I can't think of anything since he usually plays the hip, fun guy in a PG Action Adventure. In Hancock, he plays a jerk. And the amount of swearing he does (allowable in a PG-13 movie) actually caught me off guard. It wasn't believable. But as I settled into the movie, I guess I got used to it 'cause it didn't bother me later on. But perhaps that's due to all the other problems this movie had.

So everybody knows that every superhero has a weakness. Cool, no problem. However, being rational, simple people, we expect that weakness to be consistent. If the conditions exist to where the superhero is weak, he should not be writhing in pain in one scene and throwing another man out of a building in the next. When this movie comes out on DVD, I promise drinking games will be invented on the inconsistencies.

One other rule of superheroes. Every one needs a villain. Many times, the villains are better than the hero. Hancock's villain is an extra that showed up off the street for the day's shooting. I wish I was joking. It's like the writer got to page 80 of the script and thought, "Oh crap! I forgot a villain! *scribble *scribble *scribble." Ricky Gervais makes a TV show called Extras. I'm really hoping he spoofs this. It would be comedy gold.

So yeah, this movie is awful. Better luck next July 4, Will Smith.

Grade: D