Hancock - B+

In theaters. Rated PG-13, 85 minutes. Trailer.

As a Will Smith playa-hata, it took a great trailer, Jason Bateman and director Peter Berg to convince me to fork over the 8 bucks for Hancock. And, for the first hour, I would've been happy to have paid three times that for the most enjoyable film I've seen all year. Unfairly panned by the critics, the majority of this film is interesting, unconventional, funny, and even subtle and emotional. Will Smith and Jason Bateman (the new Owen Wilson, BTW) have great chemistry, and Smith's return to form as a foul-mouthed and witty badass makes the film a real pleasure to watch. Hancock is the name of the main character, played by Smith, who is a slobby, sloppy and inconsiderate superhero with a terrible reputation. Bateman is Ray, a public relations guru who is saved from a train by Hancock. Click below for more on 2 great acts(A-), a rough third act(C), and a decent ending(B).

After Ray watches everyone bag on Hancock for his sloppy acts, Ray comes to his defense and offers to help him rehab his image as payback for Hancock saving his life. Hancock agrees and voluntarily complies with a court order for him to go to jail, under Ray's theory that once he isn't around stopping crime, everyone will realize how much they need him and he can 'bust out' and go about his superhero duties with a new attitude. Ray meets resistance to his Hancock partnership from his wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), who mostly roams around looking her best (good to see Michael Bluth finally end up with Rita, BTW).

Ray goes about teaching Hancock the way to gain acceptance and once he is called upon, Hancock saves the day with grace and panache, and a little humor. At the 60 minute mark, the film seems complete. Then comes the third act, with a surprise twist that complicates the plot and dilutes the overall quality of the film for about 20 minutes. The ending, though, is heartfelt and entertaining, but still not as great as the first 60 minutes. My group laughed outloud consistently throughout, and Berg interwove the comedic and darker tones together well, adding light touches in dark spots and bringing the film deeper just when it teetered toward the cartoonish.

The scenes between Bateman and Smith are first rate, with lots of witty banter and insults being traded by two very funny men. Smith's character actually has a decent amount of depth, and Berg does a superb job of utilizing a remarkable soundtrack (both songs and instrumentals) to highlight and deepen the characters(Great use of Ryan Adams' "Two"). I bag on Will Smith every chance I get, and generally refuse to see his more recent movies (Pursuit of Happyness, Hitch, I Am Legend) because he gets under my skin and is an aspiring Thetan. In Hancock, he delivers a crass, spot-on performance as the title character, a rough-around-the-edges superhero in modern day Los Angeles. As the reigning 'biggest movie star in the world', Smith's on-screen charisma shows why he's unlikely to be pushed off of that throne any time soon.

For whatever reason, this one clicked with me and I can't wait to see it again. It was unconventional, interesting and fun. The treatment of the modern superhero was very smart, in that he just existed, nobody freaked out over it, and his existence was just part of modern day living. I'll take this over Iron Man any day - I have no clue why critics swooned over that (a run of the mill superhero movie with 20 great minutes and 5 or 6 whip-smart lines of dialogue) over this one as a 'cool movie', but they're wrong (except for David Denby, that is).