# Hancock - Anyone know anything about this movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780 "2008-06-04T17:52:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/1 "2008-06-04T17:52:46Z")
I may not have been watching all that much TV lately, but all of a sudden I keep seeing ads for [Hancock](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/). Looks pretty funny to me. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/2 "2008-06-04T17:59:07Z")
Looks cool. I like the idea of a homeless super hero. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/3 "2008-06-04T18:02:17Z")
It looks like it might have promise, but the lack of heavy buzz leads me to think that it might be a dog. We’ll see… ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/4 "2008-06-04T18:06:19Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] It looks like it might have promise, but the lack of heavy buzz leads me to think that it might be a dog. We’ll see… [/QUOTE] Lack of buzz? It doesn’t open until July and trailers have been running on TV since early May. I’d say there’s lots of buzz. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/5 "2008-06-04T18:12:07Z")
Not that kind of buzz. All that is is marketing. I haven’t heard a peep anywhere else about the movie, unlike any number of other “blockbusters” recently. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/6 "2008-06-04T18:14:22Z")
I’m really excited to see this movie. I love Will Smith and super heroe movies. I really like the premise of him being an alcoholic super heroe who doesn’t really care what the public thinks of him. The part about him becoming a “proper” super heroe might come off kind of preachy and cheesy so I hope that doesn’t happen until the end of the movie and that most of it is him being a drunk bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/7 "2008-06-04T19:12:19Z")
I haven’t seen it, but I’ve been following its development closely. 1. The original title (at script and greenlight stage) was _Tonight, He Comes._ 2. In the film, there’s apparently a superpower gag in which Hancock, at moment of orgasm, shoots holes in the roof of a trailer with his ejaculate. Whether you find this a clever allusion to “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” or irredeemably juvenile will be a matter of taste. 3. The director is Peter Berg, who’s managed to make pretty good entertainment out of some really thin and initially unimpressive material (_The Rundown_, _The Kingdom_). He’ll be doing _Dune_ next. 4. Advance test screenings have resulted in poor-to-middling feedback. There’s apparently a third-act plot twist centering on the Charlize Theron character that doesn’t work at all, and torpedoes whatever goodwill the movie has built up to that point. Bottom line: depress your expectations as low as they’ll go. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/8 "2008-06-04T19:15:10Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] IBottom line: depress your expectations as low as they’ll go. [/QUOTE] Dang. ‘Cause it looked like a big ol’ Snickers Bar of a movie to me – mindless enjoyment, no nutritional value. I was really looking forward to it, in a “two hours of summer entertainment” kind of way. ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/9 "2008-06-04T20:35:40Z")
Wasn’t this movie’s release date pushed back for reshoots and effects issues? Sounds ominous if so, which is a pity; it looks pretty cool, and it’d be nice to see Will Smith play sleazy. The trailer is the first time in a long time that I haven’t seen Will Smith act like… Will Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/10 "2008-06-04T20:52:20Z")
I’ve been a little perplexed by the marketing behind this movie. The first I heard of it was seeing one of its trailers. I thought, “OK, Will Smith’s a superhero . . . hey now, it’s got Jason Bateman, too!!! And did I just see him throw a whale into the ocean??” I thought it had all the markings of an excellent silly action comedy, a genre which when done right (_Galaxy Quest, Midnight Run_) is my favorite kind of movie. Then I saw a later commercial. It made Will Smith out to be some kind of angry hip-hop superhero. Kind of unappealing, if you ask me, and a complete tonal shift from the earlier trailer. Bottom line: I don’t think the studio knows what it has a hold of here. Not a good sign. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/11 "2008-06-04T21:23:30Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] Lack of buzz? It doesn’t open until July and trailers have been running on TV since early May. I’d say there’s lots of buzz. [/QUOTE] As Stephen King notes in his column in last week’s _Entertainment Weekly_, that’s **hype**. Buzz isn’t generated or paid for by the studio. Hype costs money. Buzz is free. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/12 "2008-06-04T21:46:30Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] As Stephen King notes in his column in last week’s _Entertainment Weekly_, that’s **hype**. Buzz isn’t generated or paid for by the studio. Hype costs money. Buzz is free. [/QUOTE] Thanks for clearing that up I was a bit confused on “buzz” so I didn’t comment on it. There is quite a bit of buzz within my small world of friends and family but then again most of us are superheroe fans. Some of us even enjoyed Elektra. ---
**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/13 "2008-06-04T21:53:29Z")
Why don’t they just call it Superman? It’ll have as much to do with that as I, Robot and I Am Legend had to do with _their_ respective source material. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/14 "2008-06-04T21:56:05Z")
A friend of mine saw the advance screening (and met Will Smith there!) and says that the movie was very good until the end, which wasn’t good. He’s a doper too, so I’ll lead him to this thread so he can tell you more. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/15 "2008-06-04T22:00:31Z")
I’ll give Peter Berg the benefit of the doubt, so I’ll probably see it. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/16 "2008-06-04T22:04:24Z")
Does anybody know what he’s drinking out of that 1.75 L brown jug? Seagram’s? ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/17 "2008-06-04T23:09:34Z")
[QUOTE=Tahssa] Some of us even enjoyed Elektra. [/QUOTE] Jesus Ponyriding Christ! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/18 "2008-06-05T00:38:49Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] Looks cool. I like the idea of a homeless super hero. [/QUOTE] It’s been done. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086189/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086189/) ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/19 "2008-06-05T04:47:26Z")
I heard it is supposed to be a very dark comedy or drama - not the typical summer blockbuster action/comedy as the trailers might lead one to believe. But that’s just what I’ve picked up from the ether. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780/20 "2008-06-05T04:54:10Z")
[QUOTE=Rachael Rage] I heard it is supposed to be a very dark comedy or drama - not the typical summer blockbuster action/comedy as the trailers might lead one to believe. [/QUOTE] I think in the beginning it was supposed to be a very dark comedy, with Will Smith being a lecherous homeless drunk–a black twist on the superhero genre. Now I think the studio’s smoothed it out into more family-friendly fare, which is really disappointed. It’s the same old Will Smith character again. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hancock-anyone-know-anything-about-this-movie/451780.md?page=2)