Here's a movie filled with bright ideas, crammed uncomfortably into a story burdened by confusing and often contradictory exposition.
Comment
07/03/08
Hancock (2008)
40
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jul 3, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $227,946,274
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
Reviews for Hancock
61 - 80 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
About halfway through the film it shifts gears... One wishes [they] had focused on a single story and saw it through.
07/03/08
A superhero movie with soul, a magically endowed boozer, and quirky chemistry fueled between those two dramatic heavyweights, Will Smith and Charlize Theron, who go at it like Hillary and Obama duking it out at a presidential primary.
07/03/08
This summer has been defined, over and over, by boys maturing into men... Hancock is by far the most thoughtful exploration of this issue.
07/03/08
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.
07/03/08
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.
07/03/08
Fate, mythology and even racism in America are tossed in to a climax so grim it's like watching "Men in Black" morph into "Requiem for a Dream." The movie doesn't earn that drama, feeling cobbled together from earlier, less-commercial drafts.
07/03/08
They should have stuck with the original concept, but last minute re-shoots doomed Hancock to banality.
07/03/08
A peculiar and occasionally charming poke in the ribs of the superman myth.
07/03/08
As popcorn movies go, this is fleet, funny, and even thoughtful: its central question, nicely underplayed by director Peter Berg, is why power and altruism never seem to intersect.
07/03/08
Why on earth anyone would want to waste a summer matinee afternoon with Hancock when they could get wasted with Shakes the Clown in the DVD privacy of their own lair?
07/03/08
While not a total failure, what would the result have been had director Peter Berg been able decide what he wanted his movie to be? As it stands, Hancock is a wildly uneven ho-hum affair that really should've have been much more.
07/03/08
"Hancock" is a mess of a movie, a bizarre combination, believe it or not, of "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and "Breaking the Waves."
07/02/08
The shaking and almost random cutting destroy the movie's timing and humor, though Smith is skilled enough to sneak a few laughs through.
07/02/08
Feels like they shot the story treatment without ever bothering to turn it into a screenplay....the film is full of empty patches: not plot-holes exactly, but spots where it seems we aren't getting a full movie.
07/02/08
[A]bout three-fifths of the way in, things take a sudden turn....While this switcheroo has put off many critics, it is precisely what I found most interesting...
07/02/08
Something big and different during that time of the year when something big and different is so rare.
07/02/08
It's like dating Britney Spears. Too much drama.
07/02/08
A slightly messy movie, but it's also one of the year's best.
07/02/08
Don't expect to laugh more than five times and you won't be disappointed.
07/02/08
Latest News for Hancock
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...
August 19, 2009:
Peter Berg Talks Hancock Sequel
There aren't any definite plans yet, but if a "Hancock" sequel ever comes to pass, Peter Berg has a few ideas about where the story might lead. More...
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