10 Movies That Tragically Wasted Their Genius Premise
5. Hancock
The Premise: A different kind of superhero movie, this one would focus on a down-and-out hero who has real world problems: he battles alcoholism, he's an a**hole, the world doesn't want him - and then he brings in a PR guy to fix his image.
What Went Wrong: The movie works in part, getting some good material out of its premise and seemingly making good on it.
He's mostly drunk, he annoys the police, he causes a load of damage, but then heading into the third act it does the opposite of what it's supposed to, and becomes just another superhero movie, complete with the typical love interest angle and all being well in the end.
The appetite for this kind of film is obviously there, as we've seen with the recent success of Deadpool, but for some reason the films don't fully follow through on it. Deadpool's great fun, but its story is a standard superhero one.
Hancock does something similar, but without even having the little devices that make it really stand out in the first place.