Superhero Film ‘Hancock’ With No Superhero Ancestry Proves Bold But Deadly Decision

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:19:27 -0700

Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – With superhero films as hot in 2008 as psychedelics were in the 1960s, the new blockbuster superhero film “Hancock” fits in with the label but without any of the ancestry.

While 2008 superhero films such as “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “The Dark Knight,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” and “Punisher: War Zone” (along with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” coming in 2009) are all based on previous stories with a previously ravenous fan base, “Hancock” with an alcoholic and listless Will Smith and Charlize Theron – who hides a surprise bombshell – literally comes from nowhereland.

Charlize Theron (left) and Will Smith in “Hancock”.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

In fact, “Hancock” is the only 2008 superhero film not derived from a previously established comic book.

Will Smith in “Hancock”.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

The original script for “Hancock,” which was inked by Vincent Ngo in 1996 and called “Tonight, He Comes,” was shuffled through the Hollywood director’s circuit until director Peter Berg (“The Kingdom,” “Friday Night Lights,” “The Rundown”) finally ate it up in Oct. 2006. Filming began in July 2007.

Its truly original origin could have either been its golden savior or its deadly assassin. The decision ultimately proved treacherous as everything it tried to do to be different just made it the same.

Its originality actually might not seem so novel, too, once you consider the 1983 film “The Return of Captain Invincible”. In that film, Alan Arkin plays Captain Invincible and Christopher Lee plays his nemesis (Mr. Midnight).

Captain Invincible is asked to return from retirement to the superhero battlefields, but this time around, he’s a raging alcoholic. Sound familiar? Uh huh.

Upon closer scrutiny, the principal downfall of “Hancock” isn’t even in the question of its origins but more in the forcefulness of its script. “Hancock” felt entirely too written. A good film, of course, is written eloquently well – so well, in fact, that you forget it’s written. A hackneyed story feels forcefully written.

Will Smith (center) “Hancock”.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

After writers Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan launched off on their journey to script a man who can demolish the street beneath him at the mere jetting away into the sky, they added Superman-like strength. As for where to go next, you can actually feel them pondering the decision. They then inked something cliché because they were already committed to the process and the big Hollywood dollars would be on the line.

Now Smith’s cliché costuming to look the superhero part was actually the least cliché part of the entire script. Smith’s character despised it, appeared awkward in it and actually successfully sold you on more authentically being that inebriated chap. Sporting a costume that looked like it could have been purchased at Walgreen’s on a man who felt more comfortable being naked was refreshingly witty.

Will Smith (second from left), Jason Bateman (second from right) and Charlize Theron in “Hancock”.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

All in all, we can’t be satisfied with all the “Hancock” plot twists and turns because we didn’t get to the heart of what actually makes a superhero a superhero. Will Smith himself doesn’t know and couldn’t tell you if you asked him – even after he has been jailed, rehabilitated and PR spun by Jason Bateman who’s trying to change the world.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “Hancock” image gallery.

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More film reviews from critic Adam Fendelman.

While it is a bit of a twist to make your “good” superhero hated and then needed and then loved once he learns to love himself, focusing on that internal exploration of the superhero felt like the self-discovery process should have happened privately with Dr. Phil rather than as a central plotline in a major Hollywood film.

Now Charlize Theron’s character had teeth. Will Smith as an anonymous “John Hancock” who can’t remember his genesis is branded by the film as a Bruce Willis-like “Unbreakable” character, but who the heck is Charlize Theron? Is she just the scorching wife of PR man Jason Bateman or does she have something incredible up her sleeve, too?

“Hancock” director Peter Berg would have been better served directing this script with a focus on her as the central character – a character who veils who she really is under the guise of humanity rather than the bumbling, stumbling Will Smith who merely cloaks his superhero depression with a bottle. Any takers for “The Incredible Housewife”?

“Hancock,” which features Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman and director Michael Mann in a small acting role, opened everywhere on July 2, 2008.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Sleepwalking’ Has Exactly That Potential Effect on Moviegoers

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:12:41 -0700

CHICAGO – When done improperly, there’s nothing more embarrassing than actors playing against their type or social class. There is a subtlety to channeling the lower middle or the working class beyond dressing down or developing a bad hairstyle. “Sleepwalking” is the type of film that gets it wrong and just gets worse as it tries harder.

Charlize Theron in “Sleepwalking”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Charlize Theron is cast as Oscar bait in her role as Joleen: a down-on-her-luck mother who has just been busted for growing marijuana.

She is also in trouble with social services and then threaten to take away her 11-year-old daughter, Tara, who’s played by the trying-too-hard AnnaSophia Robb. Desperate, she abandons the girl with her brother, James, who’s played by Nick Stahl.

James is another hard-luck case, and because of his suddenly having to care for Tara, he’s forced into unemployment. While social services then takes the girl into foster custody, James in a totally bogus move busts her out.

The rest of the film is a road picture leading into the sad past of James and Joleen as personified by their father: a truly hammy and misused Dennis Hopper.

AnnaSophia Robb in “Sleepwalking”.
Photo credit: IMDb

The emotions and actions of the characters were wrong, wrong, wrong and in line with the events taking place. The young actress playing Tara was miscast from an impression standpoint.

Even though she looks like Theron’s daughter, she was much too upscale looking for the role.

Unfortunately, too, the script did her no favors as she had to balance anger, petulance, strange “being-on-the-road joy” and a “Lolita”-type pool scene all at the same wretched time.

Stahl felt lost with his character as well and gravitated toward a timid, downward spiral without any apparent foundation (except his choice to underplay the role).

Nick Stahl in “Sleepwalking”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Even as some family secrets are revealed, it somehow doesn’t fit his established personality. Even his ultimate solution seems shallow and desperate from the filmmakers.

The most extreme wrongness, though, is saved for Hopper’s character. It’s as if director William Maher turned on the camera and simply said “be Dennis Hopper”.

His character is a hopeless caricature and an assimilation of the same old – the same old, in fact, from “Blue Velvet” Hopper. Is this dreck any way to end a career?

The script is full of tired and unrealistic clichés, too. It actually used one adage that did time in a cereal commercial. The direction is also hackneyed with all-ponderous close-ups to guess the character’s “deep,” inner thoughts. It was unquestionably “sleepwalking,” which is a perfect description of any audience member who chooses to walk out on this one.

“Sleepwalking” opened on March 14, 2008.

Click here for our full “Sleepwalking” image gallery!

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com