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Review: Hancock
Slickly packaged, Hancock is recommended for those seeking 90-minutes of no-think entertainment, writes Rashid Irani.
HANCOCK
Cast: Will Smith, Charlize Theron
Direction: Peter Berg
Rating: ***
If it’s Will Smith, it must be a one-man show. And it is but mercifully with a difference. This time around, there’s a clever twist on his usual good-guy persona. In fact, the eponymous ‘hero’ has a terribly blemished track record.
Blessed -- or should that be cursed? -- with superhuman powers, the stubble-chinned crimebuster is in the throes of an existential crisis. Perpetually in a drunken stupor, his misguided attempts to do the right thing cause considerable collateral damage. The civic authorities, as well as the people of Los Angeles, are tired of putting up with the man’s lax attitude to public safety.
The down-on-his luck alcoholic gets a chance to redeem his reputation when a public relations consultant (Jason Bateman, competent) gives him an image makeover. But then what’s to be done with the publicist’s hottie wife (Theron, sensual as ever). An affair? Maybe. There are several twists and turns in the plot which unravels in a series of high-impact action set-pieces.
As in his previous blockbuster The Kingdom, actor-turned-director Berg belts out the thrills at breakneck speed. And in this intent, the special-effects saturated spectacular is fairly successful.
Will Smith who carries the film entirely on his shoulders. Slickly packaged, Hancock is recommended for those seeking 90-minutes of no-think entertainment.
