Product Details

• Actors: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Elizabeth Dennehy, Eddie Fernandez, Johnny Galecki
• Directors: Peter Berg
• Format: Anamorphic, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
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• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: November 25, 2008
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (137 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001F76PE2
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,168 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Hancock turns the standard superhero movie inside-out: The title character (Will Smith) can fly, has superstrength, and is invulnerable, but he's also a sloppy, alcoholic jerk who causes millions of dollars in property damage whenever he bothers to fight crime. When he saves the life of a public-relations agent named Ray (Jason Bateman, Arrested Development), Ray decides to improve Hancock's image--starting by having Hancock surrender himself to the authorities and go to prison for his lawless behavior. The idea is that once he's in prison, the crime rate will go up, and people will start to realize Hancock might be of value after all. This is only the first act of Hancock--from there, the movie takes several clever turns that shouldn't be revealed. Hancock isn't a great movie (among other things, director Peter Berg overuses close-ups with a hand-held camera to a degree that may cause motion sickness), but it is an extremely entertaining one. The script, which holds together far better than most superhero movies, has a propulsive plot, good dialogue, some compassion for its characters, and even an actual idea or two. The spectacular action at least gestures towards obeying the laws of physics, which actually makes the special effects more vivid. The three leads (Smith, Bateman, and Charlize Theron as Ray's wife, Mary) deftly balance the movie's mixture of comedy, action, and drama. All in all, a smart subversive twist on a genre that all too often takes itself all too seriously. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from Hancock (click for larger image)

Product Description
Academy Award® nominee Will Smith (Best Actor, The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006) stars in this action-packed comedy as Hancock, a sarcastic, hard-living and misunderstood superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public. When Hancock grudgingly agrees to an extreme makeover from idealistic publicist Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman, Juno), his life and reputation rise from the ashes and all seems right again--until he meets a woman (2003 Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron, Best Actress, Monster) with similar powers to his and the key to his secret past.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Only One of its Kind, November 17, 2008

By	Eric M. Milillo "Emills86" (West Islip, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hancock (Will Smith) is not your garden variety superhero. He's more like your garden variety bum. He spends most of his day sleeping on benches and drinking booze. When duty calls, he awakens from his drunken coma, bottle in hand to stop the wrong-doers. If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's not to fight crime drunk because it costs millions in property damage and public outrage. Luckily for Hancock, somebody wants to help the poor guy. Cue Ray (Jason Batemen) a publicist who vows to change the superhero's image in exchange for Hancock's saving his life.

The first half of "Hancock" is chock full of crude humor and the superhero doing his worst at being the best. It's thoroughly entertaining and will provide plenty of laughs. The second half of "Hancock" is about the superhero in the spotlight, but this time he is depicted as a "true" superhero and the public begins to recognize him as a positive figure. The second half is what makes or breaks the movie for viewers. Why? Because of the unexpected twist in the plot.

While I won't reveal the plot twist, I will say that it will leave people feeling divided. Some will probably think it is incredibly clever and others will believe it's sheer silliness. In my opinion, it's both clever and silly at the same time. Either way you look at it, "Hancock" is an original movie...the only one of its kind. The only superhero movie that does not have to be strict to a source, i.e. a comic book, to appease fans. It is also extremely entertaining. Everything from the CGI to the performances make this movie interesting and above all, unique. "Hancock" is definitely a movie worth watching.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Backstory ruined it, February 10, 2009

By	P. M Simon "El Simon Asombroso" (New Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Will Smith is great at comedy-adventure (think 'Independence Day'). He was well-cast in Hancock, a rather original if pretty one-note movie about a superhero with 'issues' of anger management. He drinks--heavily--feels unappreciated--and can't abide being called an a**hole.

While he finishes off the bad guys and keeps the crime rate down, Hancock also creates a lot of unintended consequences, from destruction of property to lawsuits and subpoenas galore.

You have right there the makings of a nice, 3-star comedy-drama, especially when a PR guy is saved and decides to make cleaning up Hancock's act his raison d'etre. He even convinces the errant flying good guy to do some hard time to make a point!

Alas that someone in the production chain, scriptwriter, director, who knows, decided to toss in an unfortunate back-story. Hancock, the only superhero, finds out there is one other (Charlize Theron), that he's an amnesiac, and a whole lot of Highlander-type semi-mystic bologna about an immortal race doomed to pair and die. This part is not only silly, it's muddled and without clear rules.

In short, this isn't a bad film for a boring rainy night when you've got a free movie coupon your cable company sent you for screwing up the Superbowl broadcast yet again. But, at least for my money, it wasn't worth the purchase price.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will Smith Can Not Be Stopped, November 30, 2008

By	Keith A. Jones "Sonic Jones... I'm Kind Of A ... (Philadelphia PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hancock (Single-Disc Rated Edition) (DVD)

I read some reviews when Hancock came out in theatres. Most of them gave it mixed ratings but there were some 3 star ratings like I saw here on Amazon.com. I can't tell you enough how much I disagree. There have been so many to take a comedic shot at superhero films but they are usually either Ok or just plain bad but not this one. Anywho, Hancock is definitely a great film, so great that I could not wait to stamp a 5 star rating on it and tell ya why but first I'll tell you what it's about.

Will Smith stars as John Hancock, a loaner, alcoholic,and depressed superhero. Of course those are definitely not characteristics you want to see in the man that has superman like powers like Hancock. The story goes that Hancock woke up one morning in a hospital, he didn't know his name, birth date, or if he had any family or friends. By now you can imagine how he got that name of his, a nurse asked him for it and he thought it was his name. He only knew what the doctors told him, that he was hit on the head trying to stop a mugging. Through the years he hasn't really tried to become a perfect hero or even a good one at that but he does the minimum.

Hancock wants to be loved but acts as if he doesn't care and this is when Ray (Jason Bateman)comes in. After being saved by Hancock Ray thinks of a way to recreate Hancock to give him what he wants, to be loved by the people. The both of them set out on a mission to do this but this movie is no doubt deeper than the surface. Things get more dangerous and the plot twists just enough to become one of the best dramatic comedies about a superhero I have ever seen.

First of all I think that Will Smith is one of the few actors that could take a film like this and make it so good. Good job by the writers as well for giving it a good comedic feel but keeping it a little realistic and never going over the edge. Smith did a great job, he made you think that Hancock could actually be real and he was hilarious doing it but still did great with the dramatic scenes. The rest of the cast was also good, I really liked Jason Bateman in "The Kingdom" and he did well here but Charlize Theron definitely shined the most out of the supporting cast. She and Will Smith had some great scenes together and made it believable.

The action scenes were very cool, great special effects and seeing Hancock flying like a new baby bird with arms and legs flinging all over was hilarious. One thing I thought that could have been improved were the fight scenes. There were definitely a few but it was just a lot of flying around and crashing into buildings. Had they added a bit of choreography it would have been on point for sure. Because the films acting was executed so well I can't really take a star for this cause it wasn't significant but was still noticeable.

The story was great and I have to admit that I had the film thought out all wrong. I loved the way they make it look like this sort of cool comedy but it starts to run a little bit deeper towards the end. It is not a huge jaw dropper but the twist is still cool, at least to me it was. Overall, I loved the movie, I think Will Smith is no doubt one of the greatest actors to do it. The films concept was definitely awesome and thought out and executed well. The story was written well also and the cast was picked nicely, not too much action, not too much comedy, and not too much drama. It was just right and it definitely showed. I wouldn't recommend this as a family film unless your all over 15 but it is definitely a must see. The empty Blockbuster stores definitely showed this.