DVD review (region 1)
Directed by Peter Berg
Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
Release date 25 November 2008

John Hancock (Will Smith) is a boozy, reckless superhero who even manages to annoy the people he saves. Enter PR executive Ray (Jason Bateman), who wants to help Hancock salvage his tarnished image…

Hancock is a frustrating experience. The initial premise is an excellent one, imagining a superhero who’s just a lazy drop-out, an idea that has all the makings of an terrific black comedy. And that’s exactly how things start, as Hancock insults a bunch of kids and mocks a fat guy who says he should be sued for wrecking a car (“You should sue McDonald’s, cause they f**ked you up!”).

It’s a great beginning, but once Hancock starts to get close to the wife of Bateman’s PR guru, the story suddenly takes a hard left turn and drops the sarcastic tone in favour of an increasingly pompous one. We won’t ruin the final act for you here, but it goes into increasingly boring detail about Hancock’s background and drains all the fun out of the film, aiming for epic grandeur instead of witty subversion.

This single disc DVD has some vaguely interesting docs on stunts and special effects, but don’t be fooled by this so-called ‘unrated cut’; there’s only another ten minutes or so, and they don’t change the fact that Hancock is a huge missed opportunity. David Baldwin

VERDICT: 5/10
Hancock starts off super, but soon falls flat on its face.