Must See: Hancock

If ever the critics were wrong about a movie, that movie is Hancock. Before seeing this movie, I read many a review; many of them were negative. But in the heap were gems, like the Chicago Sun-Times, Rolling Stone, The New York Times.

I agree with this latter group. Hancock is no ordinary superhero flick. It's packed with the action that you come to expect, but there's a level of depth here - and sheer acting force - that elevates this movie.

So here it is. John Hancock (Will Smith) is a layabout louse, cussing at children, destroying public and private property on his way to crimes-in-progress, being more of a hindrance than help to the city of Los Angeles. Then he meets Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), a PR guy down on his luck. Embrey offers to give Hancock a free image make-over. He introduces Hancock to his stunning wife , Mary (Charlize Theron), and his son Aaron (Jae Head), Hancock's biggest fan, it seems.

Embrey convinces Hancock to accept responsibility for his actions, to submit to an arrest warrant for causing more than $7 million in damage to public property. In prison, Hancock literally shoves one guy's head up another's ass. But here, Hancock also goes through a kind of transformation, and the film transcends the set-up that we're shown in the trailers.

I won' t reveal what happens next, because the surprise is half the fun. But I will tell you this: Theron and Smith bring the same depth of raw emotion that they do to their most affecting dramatic works. We start asking ourselves questions about the origin of superheros, the meaning of sacrifice, and the nature of love, even while marveling at the effects or the action on the screen.

I'll close with The New Yorker: "We are watching genuine actors at work ... For the first time in his life, Will Smith doesn’t flirt with the audience. He doesn’t smile and tease and drawl; he stays in character as a self-hating lonely guy, and, in Berg’s closeups, the planes of his face seem massive, almost sculpted. Charlize Theron ... isn’t running away from her good looks anymore. Wearing a simple sleeveless red shift, her blond hair hanging around her shoulders, she’s a knockout in “Hancock,” and she gives the sexiest performance of her career."

Hancock is quite possibly the most enjoyable and heartfelt summer blockbuster!