Hancock

Hurray! I made it to the cinema.

From the poster I thought that perhaps it was a film about Lenny Kravitz, but no, Will Smith does a superhero is the quick byline. Didn't strike me as likely to be successful. However what's interesting is it's Will Smith doing a drunk superhero. I'm sure in comics there have been plenty of superheroes going off the rails stories, but the only one which comes to mind in a film is the classic Superman 3 with the bad Kryptonite. Even so, it's not quite the same, Hancock is drunk because he's alone, because he wants to avoid responsibility and because he feels unloved.

I thought the first half of the film was great, with some genuinely funny moments. I particularly liked the interactions between Jason Bateman and Will Smith, and the slow breakdown of the wall that Hanock has put around himself. And I enjoyed the lack of exposition, there was no upfront explanation of Hancock's origins which was nice.

The second half of the film introduces another superhero, and I had anticipated a dive in the story, but to me surprise I liked it just as much. Hancock's origin was a nice choice and the character was constantly put in positions where he had to make choices.

I liked the ending too. Perhaps I'm getting sentimental.

Much better than I expected.