Hancock

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Post by OscarGuy »

XXXXX
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Post by Sabin »

The movie has a lot of problems but I've never seen a superhero movie quite so lonely or angry. I'm sure that won't appeal to everybody but I was rather amazed that it got made in the first place. I could see it being more of a trifle easily, a campier, lighter spectacle, but the movie that Peter Berg and producers Michael Mann and Akiva Goldsman turned the script into something brooding, very funny and mundane, and I rather appreciated it even though quite a bit of it doesn't work. I can't defend the entirety of it at all especially after the turn near the third act, but what follows is built up to inexorably from minute one and suffers from an entirely lousy antagonist.

Will Smith and Jason Bateman are very good.
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Post by Penelope »

Because it's about gay men and women and a Will Smith movie. The mainstream media is going to bow down to Smith before airing the grieviences of the gay community.
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Post by Zahveed »

I understand now you meant media coverage to the general public; I was just referring to the statement GLAAD made. News does get around slow at times, I guess.
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Post by OscarGuy »

Zahveed wrote:It did, OG, it did come out before it opened.
But where? Penelope's post doesn't list a source and I never saw it on the front page of Variety, but I did see this on the WENN entertainment feed at imdb...today.
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Post by Zahveed »

It did, OG, it did come out before it opened.
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Post by OscarGuy »

Why the media is just reporting this now, I'll never understand. Shouldn't it have come out before the film opened or do they think it would have been detrimental to their business (which wasn't nearly as solid as I think they hoped).

Hancock Makers Accused Of Homophobia
9 July 2008 12:13 PM, PDT


Will Smith's new movie Hancock has been accused of homophobia by gay rights campaigners.

Bosses at The Gay + Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Glaad) allege a scene in the superhero movie takes a "cheap, unfunny shot at gay people".

The offending scene involves Smith's washed up crime fighter dismissing other superhero images, saying, "Homo. Homo in red. Norwegian Homo."

Glaad chiefs claim "the slur sends a message that it's okay to discriminate against gay people".

Representatives for Columbia Pictures, the studio behind the movie, have refused to comment.
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Post by OscarGuy »

Saw it Sunday.

SPOILERS

Charlize Theron is actually a "hero", too and they are part of a group of immortals who are destined to pair up and die. By being in proximity, they grant mortality on one another.

It's rather stupid, IMO. And I didn't even think the first half of the film was that great. The director knew nothing of pacing as the film felt literally like a poorly-built roller coaster: low. high. low. high. low. high...there was no upward movement towards the high or downward thrust to low. The film was either up or down, interesting or boring, all the way through. And the conclusion was neither emotional nor satisfying as it was intended to be.

The only good part about the film was Jason Bateman and even he looked like he was pained to speak half the lines he had.
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Post by flipp525 »

Since, I'm not going to be seeing it (thanks for providing that article below, Pen), what is the "super-huge plot twist" that comes midway through Hancock? Anyone?



Edited By flipp525 on 1215459594
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Post by Penelope »

GLAAD doesn't care for the film:

Will Smith + July 4th weekend = box office success. Unfortunately, the millions of audience members who take their family to see Smith’s Hancock will have to hear the obnoxious, drunk anti-hero utter an anti-gay slur.

At approximately 24 minutes into the film, while Jason Bateman’s PR whiz works to rehabilitate the superhero’s tarnished image, he shows Hancock three comic book images in an effort to inspire him. But Hancock rejects the traditional image of costumed superheroes as he responds to each one: “Homo. Homo in red. Norwegian homo.”

The audience is prompted to laugh and there is no response to or retribution for Hancock’s remarks. Bateman’s character, the father of a young son, could have easily spoken up instead of giving Hancock a pass

Better yet, would it have changed the story if that brief interaction had been left on the cutting room floor? No one would have missed the line if it wasn’t there, but an unfortunate choice was made to go for the cheap gay joke. In that moment, young gay people in the movie’s audience are put in the position of being ridiculed by a character they are expected to regard as a hero. People go to films to escape reality — or schoolyard taunts — not to pay ten bucks and be ridiculed some more, especially not by someone the Los Angeles Times calls “the most likable actor in the world.”

Rated PG-13, Hancock is being marketed to families, teens and young adults. This film certainly presents an opportunity for parents to explain to their kids that the usually entertaining character of Hancock is not modeling good behavior. But let’s get real: Hancock’s use of the slur sends a problematic message that it’s okay to discriminate using such hateful words. Every day, people — both gay and straight — are taunted and verbally harassed in their schools and in their communities with these kinds of words, creating an environment that’s hostile, uncomfortable, and often unsafe. To have a heroic character — and by extension actor Will Smith — use, and by implication approve of, this kind of language is simply unacceptable.

GLAAD understands that sometimes anti-gay language shows up in dramatic narrative to reveal a character’s true colors, or to convey a message. But there’s a big difference between using it to highlight a character’s anti-gay attitudes and making a cheap, unfunny shot at gay people.
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Post by rolotomasi99 »

Zahveed wrote:I believe "I Am Legend" was released in December, so I think a more appropriate nickname for it would be THE MOST BORING SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER RELEASED DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON.
too true. in that case it can compete for that title with A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM.
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Post by Mister Tee »

And, Hollywood Reporter.

Film Review: Hancock
Bottom Line:
Great concept, shaky execution.

By Stephen Farber
Jun 24, 2008

Will Smith's powers are even more extraordinary than those of a caped crusader who can leap way beyond the tallest buildings in a single bound. Smith has salvaged many vehicles more threadbare than "Hancock," and though his latest venture is decidedly uneven, he seems poised to score yet another supervictory at the boxoffice. The movie is a good showcase for him -- and for co-stars Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman. Imagine the heights they all could have scaled if the picture had been really good.

One suspects that the movie's problems stem from the multitude of cooks who toiled on the project during the several years it took to reach the screen. Although the script is credited to Vy Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan, several others worked on it, including producers Akiva Goldsman and Michael Mann. Jonathan Mostow and Gabriele Muccino were among the directors attached to the project before Peter Berg signed on. Somewhere along the way, a sharp black comedy lost its bite.

The movie's sly premise is established in its opening scenes, which reflect the tart sensibility of Gilligan, the creator of AMC's bracingly cynical series "Breaking Bad." Hancock is a crime-fighter going through what appears to be a midlife crisis. He's a foulmouthed drunk who springs into action when Los Angeles is in trouble, but he behaves with such wanton disregard for people and property that he often alienates the citizens whose lives he saves.

When Hancock rescues an idealistic PR man (now there's an oxymoron), the grateful Ray (Bateman) embarks on a campaign to burnish Hancock's bad-boy image. The benevolent publicist -- the antithesis of Tony Curtis' sleazy Sidney Falco in "Sweet Smell of Success" -- is another choice comic character. The movie introduces a third when Hancock meets Ray's wife, Mary (Theron). There are immediate sparks between the loutish superhero and the pert suburban housewife, and it's clear that Mary has some connection to Hancock's mysterious past. But this is where the movie starts to unravel. It veers from comedy to romantic tragedy and introduces an elaborate backstory that never makes much sense.

The best comic book movies develop a rigorous and logical mythology. As "Hancock" races toward its spectacular but muddled finale, it keeps rewriting its own rules in an effort to pander to the audience. The storytelling lapses are not helped by Berg's frenetic direction. As he showed in his most recent film, "The Kingdom," Berg is addicted to intense close-ups and kinetic hand-held camera movement. He seems to be worshiping at the altar of Michael Bay.

Berg's strength lies in his appreciation for actors and keen eye for casting. Bateman has brightened many recent movies, including "Juno" and "The Promotion," but no one has given him such a juicy part in years. The actor rips into it lustily. British actor Eddie Marsan (a member of Mike Leigh's stock company) also makes a strong impression as a genuinely creepy villain.

Special effects supervised by veteran John Dykstra are at once witty and eye-popping. In keeping with the concept of the surly superhero, Hancock makes his entrances and exits spewing mounds of concrete in his hazardous wake. The visual effects are stellar, but the true star is Smith, who again demonstrates acting chops as well as effortless charisma in a vehicle that's only occasionally worthy of his superhuman skills.




Edited By Mister Tee on 1214416926
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Post by Zahveed »

I believe "I Am Legend" was released in December, so I think a more appropriate nickname for it would be THE MOST BORING SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER RELEASED DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON.
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Post by Mister Tee »

Screen Daily's take.

Hancock
Brent Simon in Los Angeles
25 Jun 2008 13:07


Dir: Peter Berg. US. 2008. 92 mins.

A fun, fairly crisp opening hour gives way to a muddled, entirely unsatisfying ending in the action-comedy Hancock, which finds Will Smith starring as a sullen superhero trying to win over the population of Los Angeles via a very public makeover. Smith's first summer blockbuster in four years should own the box office for a week, but face stiff sci-fi action competition when Hellboy II opens hot on its heels. And there's always Wanted to contend with.

Smith hasn't had a film gross under $135 million domestically since 2001's Ali, and he's fresh from his biggest US hit in more than a decade in the form of last December's I Am Legend. This, plus the particular appeal of Smith as a superhero and the fact that Independence Day and the Men in Black films all performed robustly, makes for a potent commercial combination that will mitigate some of the mixed word-of-mouth sure to surround Hancock. All said, theatrical receipts should still be high, and Smith's international star further burnished by a movie whose visual gimmickry easily crosses borders.

When we first meet Hancock, he's swigging bourbon from a bottle and blowing his nose on his hand, hardly the behaviour audiences have come to expect from Smith. Disgruntled, sarcastic and misunderstood, Hancock gets the job done, but his heroics often leave a trail of enormous municipal damage in their wake.

After being saved by Hancock, public relations executive Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) pitches his rescuer on an image rehabilitation. He advises Hancock to turn himself in on an outstanding bench warrant for his arrest, figuring that a needy public will appreciate his act of penance and also come to fully appreciate his indispensability. Begrudgingly, Hancock acquiesces. While Ray's young son idolizes Hancock, even in his imprisoned state, Ray's wife Mary (Charlize Theron) seems to regard him much more cautiously.

When Hancock finally is summoned from jail, he foils a bank robbery that looks like it was staged by guys who might have watched Heat one time too many. Hancock also inadvertently starts learning a bit more about his past, of which he has no recollection.

Hancock gets by for the bulk of its running time on the relative strength of its character, which allows Smith both to display his roguish charm while playing against type. Smith is a master at faithfully executing a character while still bringing huge pieces of himself to the big screen, and in Hancock's sardonic nature he locates the balance that allows him to be an outsider anti-hero yet still a generally sympathetic figure.

Working with cinematographer Tobias Schliessler (Dreamgirls), director Peter Berg supplements his favoured hand-held style of filming with techno crane and dolly work, and plenty of worshipful close-ups of Smith, but the net result moves at more or less the same frenetic tack as The Kingdom. This hampers the effectiveness of some sequences, including a storm-fuelled action showdown in central Hollywood.

Hancock 's truly fatal miscalculation, however, comes in its final third, when the script, credited to Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan, tries to get into Hancock's past, but ends up peddling all sorts of incongruous information. Outright baffling choices mark the last 30-35 minutes of the movie. Interesting narrative opportunities have been discarded in favour of a twist which creates needless confusion, and saps the film of its accrued goodwill. Cramming in a robber (Eddie Marsan) foolishly bent on revenge against Hancock only makes the finale feel even more tacky and artificial.

The film's special effects work mostly sings and zings; Hancock's formless flying and crash-pad landings give the film a loose energy, and set the scene for a good number of early laughs. Bateman provides ample comic support and Theron ably fills her role, though the integrity of their characters is likewise undermined by the finale.
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Post by rolotomasi99 »

if smith could make I AM LEGEND (aka THE MOST BORING SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER EVER) a hit, then he can make this move at least get close to $300 million.

i usually avoid big blockbusters because they are always so stupid (TRANSFORMERS, BAD BOYS 2, FANTASTIC FOUR); but i do enjoy the smarter blockbuster films, the ones that mix f/x with a bit of brains and heart (SPIDER-MAN 2, X-MEN 2, BATMAN BEGINS) or a striking visual style (300, THE MATRIX, SLEEPY HOLLOW).

the tastes of mainstream audiences are usually pretty easy to figure out. give them big stars, big f/x, and big concepts, they will come to see the newest piece of crap the studios are serving them.

I AM LEGEND took a cool concept (post-apocalypse new york fully realized through f/x) and ran it into the ground with ridiculous moments too numberous to detail and the most boring/ridiculous movie monsters. yet, people went to see it because it had will smith...even though it was will smith talking to himself or a dog or a mannequin.

so, this is basically the long-winded way of me saying HANCOCK will be in the top five films of the year. with its much more engaging concept, cool action and f/x scenes, and some actual character interaction, it should easily be able to surpass I AM LEGEND's $256 million gross.

i will not be contributing to that high gross with my money (i have to save up to see WALL-E and THE DARK KNIGHT over and over again), but i have no doubt there are plenty of people who want to see will smith fly, smash, and joke.
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