Hancock (Smith) is a lowlife drunk and Los Angeles' resident superhero, causing extraordinary collateral damage as he catches criminals and rescues people in danger. No one likes him, so when he saves PR guy Ray (Bateman) from an oncoming train, Ray thanks Hancock by giving him some image-improvement advice. But there's a long way to go, starting with Hancock facing up to the laws he's broken. Meanwhile, Hancock gets to know Ray's wife (Theron) and son (Head), and as he comes out of his alcoholic blur, he might even learn something about his mysterious past.

The film gets off to a raucous start, with a series of goofy action sequences that are hilarious (and also, frankly, extremely irresponsible). Smith bulldozes his way into the film as a seriously obnoxious jerk; it's unlikely that Hancock will ever be a hero to the general public as he treats everyone he meets with careless disdain. But these are actually the best scenes in the film, and Smith plays them perfectly, never trying to make us like him for a change, and bouncing superbly off the always engaging Bateman and the usually underused Theron.

The trouble starts as the story develops. Once Bateman's job is done, he steps into the background, allowing Theron to become more central to the plot. She's always watchable, even when her character is as underwritten as this one. And while the sparks between the three characters are sometimes quite strong, they veer from wacky farce to emotive drama and finally to full-on action blockbuster with the arrival of a vicious villain (Marsan).

For the most part, Berg gets the balance between comedy and action about right. And the effects work is superb, as things look intriguingly realistic for the most part without allowing animation to take over the movie. What lets the film down is the plot, which lurches all over the place and never quite settles down with any pace or force. Not that this will remotely bother filmgoers looking for a bit of starry, action-packed silliness on a summer evening.

themes, language, violence

16.Jun.08