8. Hancock (2009)
If you happen to have ever read one of my previous articles, you probably noticed that - at one point - I mentioned how disappointing
Hancock was, and that such a good concept was wasted on such a bad movie. It doesn't matter what the article was about: I just mention that whenever I can. I can't help myself. Now, though, I'm writing about
Hancock in a place that makes sense, and for the exact reason that it turned out so bizarrely: the movie opts for a sudden genre (or tone, perhaps) shift at its mid-point. Why? To this day, nobody is sure. The movie, of course, stars Will Smith as a down and out, alcoholic and apathetic superhero named John Hancock, who teams up with PR guy Jason Bateman in an attempt to win back the public's affection. That concept in itself is enough to hinge a good movie on: a simple comedy with a neat premise, starring two highly charismatic stars. Unfortunately the movie throws out any notions of fun halfway through, when Hancock discovers that Bateman's wife, as played by Charlize Theron, is a superhero, too. They proceed to have an affair. And it doesn't work. It's mean-spirited, for starters, and with the revelation comes a dozen other unnecessarily convoluted plot points that reduce the movie to a series of exposition-driven scenes that exist purely to have you wishing the movie was back in its first half hour. Presumably
Hancock's director, Peter Berg, wanted to make a film with more substance than your average superhero flick. But this is the man who eventually directed
Battleship, which featured Rihanna in a starring role. I think he may have been overreaching, somewhat.