The trailers weren't anything special for the theater I saw it in. We saw Bond (the only good one), Stepbrothers, The Longshots, Death Race, Blindness, and Disaster Movie.

StepBrothers was getting huge laughs in the theater that I seen it in, I think it also looks hilarious

I caught an 11 AM showing in about a half full theater, and thought it was a decent and entertaining movie. It wasn't anything spectacular, and it wasn't as great as I hoped, but it was a fun film and the rest of the crowd seemed to enjoy it as well.

I didn't really expect the movie to play out as it did, as I was anticipating the whole movie to be about him being an asshole and the recovery PR process. The twist about his past wasn't too bad, but I think I would have preferred that to be shortened and more about him trying to be good. It seemed like he came out of jail and his image was cleaned up too quickly. Especially, like everyone has already said, that most of that was already shown in the trailers. The clip during the credits was hilarious though.

Honestly, I think I enjoyed it more then Wanted.

I saw it this afternoon with a pretty full theater. I thought it was okay, not as good as some of the other big movies this year but decent.

I saw it this afternoon at a reasonably full theater, and I thought it was very good. I didn't have any problem with the twist, and I thought it worked into the ultimate character resolution very well.

I loved it. Saw it at the beach in a packed theater. Perfect beach movie. Will Smith didn't disappoint. My only qualm, and this has nothing to do with the movie itself, is that I learned there was a twist coming and was told that you don't see it coming at all. Well that ruined the twist completely since I knew exactly what it was about 2 seconds after . I mean, the direction was just screaming for you to know. But other than that I really can't understand the negative reviews it's getting. I liked it better than Wanted and Get Smart.

Saw it yesterday. You can see the twist from a 10 mile distance.
I wasn't expecting anything from the movie so I thought it was ok.

Saw it today. Perfectly enjoyable popcorn flick. Didn't blow us away..but entertaining enough. It seemed like it really wanted to be R rated and that Peter Berg and the executives were playing tug-of-war with the direction of the script.

It could've been great, it really could've been great.

It had all the problems I thought it would. It tries to be way too many movies at once; a balls-out urban comedy; a post-modern superhero deconstruction; your typical summer superhero action movie, complete with a rip off of the Superman theme; a darkly themed drama, a touching quasi-romance, and all at once, a stunningly plodding movie that has serious pacing and tone problems. I felt like i walked in on one movie and walked out on a completely different one.

That's EXACTLY how I felt.

HANCOCK is the most uneven movie I"ve seen in a LONG time.

Just got back from this. Here's what I'll say:

When I first started seeing the previews, I thought it looked cool, but that the tone was strange. The stuff about him in prison looked like it was going to be too cynical for a fun summer blockbuster. Later advertising showed just how confused the movie is: one minute it's a cheeky action blockbuster, the next minute it's as serious as "I Am Legend."

Believe it or not, once it was compared to "Last Action Hero," I was encouraged. Despite LAH's flaw's in the last act, I still think it was a very funny, action-packed ambitious effort whose only glaring flaw is standing in the way of Jurassic Park. I thought Hancock would be self-concious, at worst, but still fun.

So here are my thoughts: I'm with everyone else. The comedy, the action, the set-up, all really nice. It was moving a bit fast for my taste, like the less "by-the-numbers" part were cut out. I mean, the first three scenes pretty much set up the entire movie.

But here's my problem. The movie technically ends halfway through. My friend said that it seemed like they should have just developed Hancock's transformation from drunk to loved, rather than focus so much on the "twist" stuff. Because I was so prepared to like the last act in spite of the reviews, but I couldn't. The "twist" just confirms how little thought was actually put into the story. There's being ambigious, and then there's just lazy (though I'm sure original drafts had more to them). It all just seemed really jumbled at the time, beyond defense. And worst of all, the second half is completely joyless. It's like I started watching The Incredible Hulk, and left having seen Ang Lee's Hulk.

Will Smith did a good job being unlikable, something he doesn't do too often. I think he's been on a hell of a streak since "I, Robot." This was still a "comfortable" role for him, but risky enough to be different.

All in all, though, I will have to say this is probably one of his worst movies. I wanted to like it. I really did. I didn't dislike it, but the second act just made it...weird. And it's not like it was a great movie to begin with. Points for trying something different, some good one liners, and action, but a silly, contrived, unentertaining last act just killed it worse than I could have ever imagined.

And now the critic in me and the little boy in me are at odds, because while I appreciated the efforts and was entertained, I would have to say this was not a good movie at all.

*1/2 (out of 4)

And which "everyone else" would that be, again?

Check this thread, and you'll find quite a few people who enjoyed the movie quite a bit, and didn't find it so terribly inconsistent, confused, or joyless.

Check the RT community at rottentomatoes.com, and you'll find an average rating of 72%. Not perfect, perhaps, but far from a disastrous reception.

anyone know how long the original cut was, i know it was rated R by the mpaa two or three times. Cant wait to see a directors cut, Peter Berg Rocks

I do know that that in the initial test screenings, Hancock and Charlize Theron

Yeah that kinda sums up my thoughts as well. It was by no means a perfect movie but it was still entertaining. :up:

And I'm not really a Theron fan but damn if she didn't look really good in this flick. I think she's getting better with age.

That first sequence makes some sense, but I can also agree with the cut, since it might make him TOO unlikable (although the information we learn about the characters later would certainly make it a "justifiable" sequence).


But that second sequence is just lame and puerile, and I am VERY glad it was cut (and if it ends up on the DVD/BD as anything more than a deleted scene, I may actually pass on buying it).

They did that sequence in Scary Movie 2 of all things, it was lame there I'm sure it'd be lame here.

Caught this Sunday afternoon (theater was only about 1/3 full). The first half was really fun (and you could certainly see how it could have been R as some of the language was unexpected). I didn't have a major problem with the "twist" as much as I did with the film not having a real villain.

There were way too many things unexplained.

I dont know if it was mentioned in this thread.. but anyone noticed?

A black superhero's greatest weakness (a kryptonite) is a white woman?

Yeah, but that's pretty vague. Seemed more like a line thrown in to placate people like myself who would like to know where/how they came about.

Check out my review again. Good start, bad finish...everyone else.

Well, it was broadcast all over the news, so I assume it would have been fairly easy.

at only 82 minutes I thought the movie was waaay too long - uh... where's the plot, wow what a dumb movie, glad I only paid 6 bucks to see it.

Maybe I'm alone here, but I was way more interested in discovering how a good looking, young man with superhero powers could have no friends or intimate relationships (and no family, to boot). I thought the concept was great, but I was really hoping we'd see a bigger glimpse of how he became so surly and misanthropic.

I much more desired to see that kind of explanation and exploration rather than his supposed biblical backstory. I personally never needed a reason to know how he had super powers. I was more interested in knowing why a man who had super powers didn't even have one reliable relationship.