Will Smith’s Hancock in Trouble?

The tagline for the potential blockbuster “Hancock” to be released next week is “with great power comes great responsibility”, it’s a standard line for superhero flicks. Something similar can be said for Will Smith, the actor who plays the alcoholic-bum superhero Hancock, maybe along the lines of “with great talent comes great anticipation.” Smith has a long line of movies including MIB, Independence Day, I, Robot and I am Legend that are favorites of mine and considering the unique character of this film, obviously I am anxious to see the film. So far though, the initial reviews are not very positive.

Alas, all good hype must come to an end. "Hancock," with which Sony is hoping to have a merry July 4, 2008, may not duplicate Smith’s previous successes. It is one of the worst family holiday weekend releases of recent memory — and jaw-droppingly so. And that’s hard to do, since it clocks in at a mere wisp of one hour and 20 minutes. ~ Roger Friedman

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Thinking that maybe Roger Friedman might be having one of those “the critic is mightier than thou” moments to pull a popular star back into a mortal orbit I checked out some other reviews, but about two of every three on this flick are bad. Rottentomatoes.com has Hancock with a cumulative rating of 38% right now. To give you a little perspective, Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay finished out last month with a 55% rating. Ouch.

I for one though am not yet ready to write this film off because of the potential positive message of recovery and redemption. In real life, alcoholics do find special powers in recovery that most people never discover in their normal lives... and helping others becomes a large part of our lives.

Then again, if this is just a 80 minute breeze-through of wino jokes and off-color humor then not even Will Smith will be able to save this movie for me since I already have my hopes up. I'll see it next week and post a review.