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Reviews Counted:210
Fresh:84
Rotten:126
Average Rating:5.4/10
Consensus: Though it begins with promise, Hancock suffers from a flimsy narrative and poor execution.
Theatrical Release:02-07-2008
Synopsis: There are heroes… there are superheroes… and then there’s Hancock (Will Smith). With great power comes great responsibility – everyone knows that – everyone, that is, but Hancock. Edgy, conflicted,... [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron, Eddie Marsan
Director: Peter Berg
Director Peter Berg mounts a special-effects extravaganza that's very boring indeed, and doesn't quite deafen us to the inadequacies of the script, while Smith pretends to be a grumpy git but, naturally, winds up begging us to love him.
A fun, fairly crisp opening hour gives way to a muddled, entirely unsatisfying ending.
Yet because it's Smith, you know that Hancock can't be all bad, and as the film spends the next hour trying to rehabilitate him, proceedings slowly starts to fall apart.
Yet because it's Smith, you know that Hancock can't be all bad, and as the film spends the next hour trying to rehabilitate him, proceedings slowly starts to fall apart.
Sadly, the bar is set too high and the movie implodes under the weight of its own ambitions.
Top CriticIt's let down by a disappointingly uneven plot, painfully underwritten characters and dodgy effects.
Between the jittery pseudo-realism of Peter Berg's direction and the maudlin undercurrent to its hero's redemption, all Hancock can summon up is the faintest sensation of nausea.
Top CriticIt becomes an entirely different film, one not really premised on the bad-superhero comedy idea, and the film is then oddly without a sense of humour, and its vague interest in satire vanishes completely.
Top CriticSee-saws between straight superhero movie and parody, with layers of soap-opera fudge in between. A lot of solid scenes - but Hancock lacks the power of super-coherence.
Top CriticA strange but cool comedy.
Flashy and funny, but extremely uneven, this superhero action comedy lets its gifted cast stroll through a series of ill-defined characters
With superhero films as hot in 2008 as psychedelics were in the 1960s, the new blockbuster superhero film Hancock fits with the label but without any of the ancestry. The 1983 film The Return of Captain Invincible is flipping in its grave.
There's a good chance Hancock will still rake in the cash over the next few weeks solely because of Smith's marketability, but as a whole the film is his most deplorable project since 1999's Wild Wild West.
Hancock can fly; Hancock can punch; Hancock is bulletproof. Regrettably these things don't hold true for Hancock as a film, which starts promisingly enough, but ultimately gets knocked off course by a reveal of dubious dramatic value.
Initially, it seems like Hancock is going to have some fun with the superhero paradigm, but this dark, muddled and tedious noise machine winds up being an inferior copy of that genre's highlights.
Hancock tries to be several things at once, but fails to be anything at all! I was hoping that this was going to be a fun take on the superhero genre, but instead it's easily the worst film of the summer!!!
Can someone explain how this high-concept dud nabbed a coveted Fourth of July opening?
I'm willing to give a superhero film some leeway in terms of realism but a film has to remain true to its own inner logic and this one keeps changing the ground rules.
A ton of potential, but ultimately a mess.
"Hancock" is not a bad movie, just an underachieving one. It lacks a "wow" factor. It is bland and routine and flies off in too many directions.
December 01, 2009:
Don't Hold Your Breath for Hancock 2 
Yes, Will Smith and Peter Berg are game for a "Hancock" sequel -- and just as importantly, so is the studio -- but it looks like scheduling could keep it from happening for awhile. More...
September 11, 2009:
Will Smith and Charlize Theron on Board for Hancock Sequel
We've already heard that a "Hancock" sequel is in development; now Peter Berg tells MTV that "everybody's going to come back." More...
August 28, 2009:
Weekly Ketchup: Hancock Sequel Script Started, Bioshock Scaled Back
We are firmly in the dog days of Summer, as Hollywood sneaks a couple of end of the menu horror movies into theaters, and movie news this week came to a near standstill. There... More...
August 25, 2009:
Columbia Hires Hancock Sequel Scribes
Looks like Peter Berg's recent comments about a "Hancock" sequel weren't just idle speculation: Columbia has hired scribes Adam Fierro and Glen Mazzara to write the script for a... More...
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