Hancock
When we arrived at the Rausch Reunion on Thursday, about 18 cousins (and 2nd/3rd cousins) were set to go see Hancock, so we joined them. I enjoyed the first half of the movie. I hated the second half. And it seemed like pretty much all of the first half I’d already seen in previews. The second half had this odd twist that 1) I saw coming with the first very slight indication and 2) did not add depth to the movie, nor improved it.
I did enjoy the story and struggle of Hancock. I was also really pleased to find that Jason Bateman, playing Ray, has a much large role in this film than I thought. But of course, the story of Hancock and Ray trying to help his image, wasn’t the main plot in this movie and that left me highly disappointed.
The visual effects were less than satisfactory. The compositing of Hancock flying through a city was a wreck and the only way they could hide it was by shaking the camera and adding a motion blur to his image.
I’d like to get more in depth with this, but this is truly all I can say without spoiling it.
The first half of Hancock gets a 4 out of 5 stars. The second half gets a 2. So all together, Hancock gets a 3 out of 5 stars.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Good analysis (as usual), Holli. I agree that I didn’t enjoy the story line all that much. I loved Will Smith though (as usual, again), and I think I’ll continue to love him in just about every movie he’s in throughout his life. Also loved Jason Bateman…unfortunately that’s mostly because I’ll always think of him as Michael Bluth. Finally (and least importantly), this is the first movie I’ve seen where I actually found Charlize Theron attractive. For all the hype surrounding her, this was the first time I thought it was deserved.
Overall, I’d say Hancock is one of the first superhero movies to come out this summer that I wasn’t exactly thrilled with (after I thoroughly enjoyed Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Wanted). Fortunately, The Dark Knight will make up for Hancock in a couple of weeks.
Good non-spoiling summary.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I definately agree about the first half, so much better than the second. Not to mention you nailed it about the previews, they showed nearly every funny scene. So instead of actually laughing, I only got this “meh” chuckle out of most of the scenes.
Oh… but I have to disagree with Mike… because Wanted was a piece of crap. Can not recommend, probably not even worth renting.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I like that they felt the need to tell you to keep your feet off the seats on the ticket. Can’t they just put up signs for that. This movie never looked good and it hasn’t had a good review yet, so I don’t have money for this movie. Waiting for Batman!
July 8th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I went to Wall-E and Hancock the same day and I came away disappointed with Wall-E much more than Hancock. In short I think the lack of dialogue in Wall-E was what did it for me. Great animation and another good Pixar, but story wise….. ehhh.
The “twist in Hancock” can be seen by everyone a mile away. Not knowing the extent, but pretty close. I put Hancock in the same category as Transformers and Independence day. Good summer action movie.
Hancock 4 of 5
Wall-E 3.1 of 5
July 8th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I’d say that I have to disagree with Mike’s disagreement on “Wanted.” It covered all of my awesome movie bases…
Violence: check
Unbelievable action scenes: check
Entertaining storyline: check
Comic book origins of the film: check (I believe I forgot to mention that the reason for including Wanted on my first list was the superhero/comic book-ness of it…I saw Indiana Jones this summer too and didn’t much care for it. Hence its exclusion from my list…)
Plus, Morgan Freeman plays Samuel L. Jackson for a scene. And that’s awesome too. Considering I don’t care for Angelina Jolie either, the movie did a good job of keeping me happy.
Sorry for including my review of “Wanted” on your blog, Holli. I just enjoyed it. I’m sorry you didn’t like it though Mike.
Hopefully people don’t think I’ve got dueling personalities here or anything…
July 8th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
There were 15 of us at the movie.
I wish Jason Bateman would have played his character a bit more like Michael Bluth.
I agree that the ending wasn’t so good. They could have come up with something more… better.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I agree with you Holli. Hancock was not what I expected. The previews indicate a hilarious film with non stop laughs. I was truly excited for a great comedy but the twist in the movie took me by suprise and changed the tone of the film. It didn’t necessarily ruin the movie for me – but it wasn’t as enjoyable as I was hoping.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
The shining moment for me was Jason’s performance. I thought he did a great job. He was like Michael Bluth but a little dorkier. It was great. And it was great that Rita’s uncle let her come back from Big Britain to get married like she wanted to.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:11 am
[...] suburban the rest of the way. That night, along with 13 other relatives, we went to Hancock, which I found disappointing. Late night, but we were able to sleep in on Friday morning. After a jog/walk, we (Miles, sister [...]