Guest Author - Peggy Maddox

I knew from the previews that Hancock was supposed to be an unconventional superhero. Beyond that, I didn't know what to expect.

The disk jacket categorizes the film as "comedy/action." It has action, but not much comedy.

The action is mostly gratuitous destruction and the special effects are not well integrated.
The main characters are Hancock (Will Smith), Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), and Mary Embrey (Charlize Theron). Theron, in an effort to show that she knows more about Hancock than she can admit, maintains a crazy look in her eyes for half the film.

Ray is a public relations consultant whose house and life-style suggest that he is financially successful, but the pitches we see him make to potential clients invite only failure: his idea is that they give away some of their profitable merchandise and mark it with a big red heart to show that they care about the less fortunate people in the world. Not surprisingly, none of the corporate giants go for his ideas.

Hancock is a long-lived amnesiac who suffered a head trauma 80 years in the past. Like Superman, he is able to fly and weapons cannot pierce him. He assumes that whatever took him to the hospital had something to do with his super powers. Hurt by the fact that no one claimed him after his accident, he is utterly lacking in self-respect and has become a filthy, nasty drunken bum.

When Hancock saves Ray's life, the PR expert offers to change the disagreeable superhero's public persona.

As the movie opens, Hancock is sleeping on a bus stop bench. A little boy calls him by name and shakes him awake to tell him that the police need help in stopping a speeding van. Hancock replies to the child with foul language and the child responds by calling him an "ass hole." The expression becomes a refrain spoken by nearly every character in the movie.

The story is from an original screenplay by Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan. It probably sounded great in the planning stages as they tossed around ideas from every sci-fi movie and television series they'd ever seen. The only original idea in the resultant mix is the concept of a "superhero" whom nobody likes because he is rude and hateful, and causes millions of dollars of damage as he goes about doing what "good" he occasionally feels like doing.

The film has a PG-13 rating, but I wouldn't take any child to see it.

The mean tone is set from the outset. After the child abuse, Hancock empties his nasal passages without a handkerchief. He takes to the sky, liquor bottle in hand, to stop the speeding criminals. He tells them he doesn't care what they've done, but they have to give up the chase. When they insult him with the film's signature epithet, he threatens to shove their heads into inappropriate orifices.

The film's vulgarity increases when the semen from Hancock's ejaculation blasts holes in the roof of his trailer. The prison scene in which Hancock carries out his unlikely and physically impossible threat may be the worst thing I've ever seen in a movie.

When Hancock makes his second visit to Ray's suburban neighborhood, he has an encounter with a boy who has been bullying Ray's son Aaron (Jae Head). For some unknowable reason, the long-haired blond bully speaks with a strong French accent. The script requires this child to say "ass hole" numerous times. Hancock traumatizes him by hurling him into the sky.

According to Smith's television interviews, he chooses scripts that will further his social vision.

Hancock is probably supposed to convey some deep message about human behavior. All I get from it is that to be a hero, the only civilized traits necessary are good personal hygiene, acceptable table manners, and thanking people for their efforts. Violence, foul language, wanton destruction of property, and sexual promiscuity are ok.

Will Smith has started sending scripts to Tom Cruise before deciding whether or not to accept them. Considering Cruise's bizarre world view, that can't augur well for Smith's future projects.

And Smith has what seems to me to be a less than desirable parenting philosophy. He says "the kids can do anything they want, as long as Daddy thinks it's funny."

If Smith thinks the ugly antics in Hancock are funny, his children and their teachers are in big trouble.