Got out tonight to catch one of the sneak shows for Hancock. Have to admit that I was pretty stoked for this one. Thats usually not a good thing. I am a big believer in the power of lowered expectations. Go in with little of no expectations and your much less likely to be disappointed. Sound kind of fatalistic? What movies have you been watching in the past five years.
Hancock turned out to be if anything a better film than I was expecting, but here is the catch, its not the movie that I was expecting. Nor will it be the movie you are expecting or what little johnnie and his friends are expecting. This may be one of the most deceptively marketed films in years. I get the temptation to make you big blockbuster pay off to the max but let people know what they are paying their 10 bucks for.
In this case what people are getting is a slow developing, smart, darkish action comedy. What they do not get is a summer blockbuster. Why, you ask. Several reasons:

1)It starts too slow. While is does start with one action scene that everyone has probably seen on the internet at this point, it then proceeds to downshift into super drag mode for roughly the length of a bible(to steal a line from a much better film).
2)When there are action scenes, they are suprisingly underwhelming. Wanted which was made for half the budget does twice the job of providing a visual summer thrill ride. So does Mongol for that matter and it was made for thirteen dollars worth of beads and trinkets.
3)It's tone is all wrong for the genre. I am a Peter Berg fan but this film asks its audience to do a whole lot more work than most summer crowds willingly sign up for.

What does this all mean? Well, what does a Wil Smith blockbuster do? Only 200 million?





This film makes a nice change of pace from the usual summer fare. If your looking for something a little different give it a shot.

Labels: Hancock, Peter Berg, Wil Smith