Hancock review June 25, 2008

Nobody is quite sure what to think about the upcoming movie Hancock. Having Will Smith in the lead role is a pretty good guarantee of box office turnout, but lately people have been raising concerns about whether he can save Hancock.

Then the Latino Review published a scathing review of Hancock from an advanced screening and gave us a good idea of just how bad Hancock might be. But the Latino Review only confirmed what many were thinking: Hancock will be just as disappointing as its superhero protagonist.

Around the same time, The New York Times published an article about Hancock possibly being a box office bomb because the director, Peter Berg, was pushing the barriers of Hollywood movie-making. Trying to get a scene of statutory rape and Hancock getting drunk with a 12-year-old into a PG-13 movie will do that.

The real hurdle for Hancock might be overcoming the perceptions created by the movie trailers. It’s being portrayed as a light-hearted comedy (c’mon it’s got Will Smith and Jason Bateman…right?) when the director himself has said that despite some editing to get the PG-13 rating the movie remained sexual and violent. Hancock might sink like a rock just because Peter Berg is handing movie-goers a serious action thriller when they are expecting a comedic romp.

But the bad omens continue to pile up for Hancock, and we’re not talking about the fact that Will Smith slapped Charlize Theron on set. We’re talking about the delays in releasing the movie itself. The world premier was pushed back, and then pushed back again for reshoots, which is never good news for a movie. As of right now, the release is set for July 2 in America. Could it be Peter Berg trying to compensate for the bad reaction to the advanced screening, or just making further modifications for the ratings board?

Some of the reasoning for the delays has been slightly ridiculous, but the truth is that Hancock might not live up to the hype. The glum tagline might just be prophetic: There are heroes. There are superheroes. And then there’s… you guessed it, a disappointing film about a disappointing superhero.

You can find out how Hancock pans out as soon as it’s released by signing up for the TopTenREVIEWS Movie Review Notification. And in the meantime, check out how Will Smith rates against other actors on his TopTenREVIEWS Actor page.