Hancock: The fat lady loses weight

I met Will Smith when he was still a fresh prince, before July 4th marked Big Willie Weekend at theaters.

New York, 1996, at the New York media days for Independence Day.  Cigars were popular then, and I figured buying a few Ybor stogies would help me fit in with those urbane, urban types. Coincidentally, when I saw ID4 that weekend, Smith had a running joke about smoking victory cigars after kicking alien butt, and that's not over "'til the fat lady sings." Not very original but that's Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich for you.

Anyway, I ended up in an elevator with Smith after his interview session. Lots of floors.  I complimented Smith on the movie and said something casual about being a movie star now.

"Do you really think so?" he asked, with an expression I'll never forget, or fail to appreciate. It was sincere, quizzical, a little pessimistic, and genuinely seeking confirmation from a stranger about what he hoped was true. This guy already was a music and TV star yet still had a level of insecurity that makes me feel better in insecure times.

"Let me put it this way," I said, reaching into my jacket pocket to hand him one of those cigars. "The fat lady's singing."

Smith took it, laughed loudly and clapped me on the shoulder. The elevator doors opened. I went one way and he became the Fourth of July's movie king.

The fat lady lost a few pounds between now and then, judging from Hancock, a great idea going in too many needless directions for a 90-minute movie to handle. I laughed during the first 30 minutes at what tickled me for weeks in preview trailers, was intrigued/confused for the next 20 with the darker angle director Peter Berg was fashioning, then wondered if someone slipped 21 Grams into the projector when nobody was looking.

This isn't a summer kind of movie, except for starring Smith. The action sequences are standard stuff Berg attempts to make exciting with needless camera motion. There's no nemesis for Hancock except himself, which could and should be extended longer than the screenplay's attention deficit permits.

There is, however, a twist involving Charlize Theron's character that muddles the plot and reminds me of one of last year's worst movies (or at least movie titles). I won't spoil it by saying which one but when a movie trying to be serious reminds you of something ridiculed, there's a distinct problem in tone.

Great character in Hancock, a boozy, antisocial superhero. Nice performances under the circumstances by Theron and Jason Bateman. Smith is as bulletproof as the character he plays, although what made the final reel of I Am Legend disappointing surfaces again here. He'll win a cigar at the box office but the fat lady's kinda hoarse.

Comments

[GlennS.]

As a jazz fan, when I first heard that Will Smith was coming out with a movie called Hancock I thought, "Cool! A movie about one of my favorite musicians."

Considering how bad some of the recent music bios have been I should probably be glad I was wrong.

[Logan]

What I am hoping this movie will be, is a movie about a different kind of "superhero". Like what we all had been hoping for in "My Super Ex-Girlfriend". That movie had the right idea, but went in a really wrong direction and ended on a note that made no sense to the overall tone of the movie. I hope "Hancock" will make better strides and turn out to be a movie that is not at all predictable in it's substance and plot. The best movies, I've noticed, allow the previews to be the tip of the iceberg, and not just a synopsis for the movie itself.

[Tanner]

Good call, Logan

[Ryan T]

I'm gonna take a guess from the movie trailer and say that Charlize Theron is actually going to be the super-villain or she finds out that she also has powers. In the trailer, there is a shot of her in a super-hero/villain outfit.

[Steve Persall]

Close, Ryan. In fact, if the twist were that simple, Hancock might be much more fun. It was tough writing a review (running later today online and tomorrow in print) about what's wrong with the movie without revealing the twist. I'm thinking about giving Hancock a few weeks to pack in viewers then doing a column on the problems in detail.

[vinny]

movie sucked