Will HANCOCK leave us unsatisfied?

You kept telling me this would happen didn't you? You guys kept warning me that my anticipation and praising of this great concept and cast was only going to ever lead to one conclusion when the so-so trailers, the rumors of script changes and a whole brand new ending was shot. You kept telling me the writing was on the wall for Hancock.

It opens worldwide tomorrow but the movie has taken a pounding from the critics this weekend. It currently has a score of 30% rotten from 63 reviews counted on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, meaning 44 negative reviews and 19 positive. Even the geeks can't get excited over this one and those who are, are disappointed that the concept wasn't explored as fully as it could have been. Is this to be the next Daredevil? The banker comic book movie that should have been so easy to execute but has been made by a creative team who truly bottled and got scared of making the movie that was originally sought out. This is what the critics are saying... Roger Ebert gave it a decent enough review but it seems to be more out of his applauding a movie trying to do something different in the genre go even if it doesn't quite accomplish its goals. He praises the performance of Will Smith...

The movie has a lot of laughs, but Smith avoids playing Hancock as a goofball and shapes him as serious, thoughtful and depressed... €œHancock€ is a lot of fun, if perhaps a little top-heavy with stuff being destroyed. Smith makes the character more subtle than he has to be, more filled with self-doubt, more willing to learn.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times echoes many of the critics by saying...

It's a strange feeling to see the summer's most promising premise self-destruct into something bizarre and unsatisfying, but that is the Hancock experience.

Gareth Franklin of Dark Horizons...

A clumsily executed, forgettable mess that's too dark for kids, too dull for teens and too dumb for adults.

Emmanuel Levy really wasn't impressed...

If Will Smith can pull off this hodgepodge of a movie, an ill-conceived poorly executed effort that tries to be all things to all people, then he really is Hollywood's most bankable star.

Todd McCarthy and AICN'S Moriarity compare it to The Last Action Hero whilst just as unfavourably Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews compares it to My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Rotten Tomatoes say the general consensus is (and after reading a ton of reviews, this really does seem to be a common phrase)...

Though it begins with promise, Hancock suffers from a flimsy narrative and poor execution.

Have the reviews put you off from seeing this one? You just know over the July 4th weekend Will Smith is going to be the king of Hollywood again. Such a shame they didn't let rip with this one.