About as far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated by comic books and superheroes. I’ve loved their stories of heroic acts, their conflicts with super-villains, their alter-egos, and their interactions with the “civilians”. As I grew older I became more interested in the primary motivations behind the characters in the stories: why would one want to dress up, put themselves in danger, and fight “bad guys”? Why would one want to dress up, put themselves in danger, and commit spectacular crimes like building death rays and infecting cosmetics with poison, when embezzlement is such an easier crime to commit?
My non-psychological answer led me to believe that both the villain and the hero are just two different sides on the same coin — it is the Id v. Super-Ego; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And what makes them spectacular and worthy of our hero/cultural myths is just how non human they are. We are neither all Id nor Super-Ego, we are all part Id, part Ego, and part Super-Ego. We are all villains in that we have base desires and a selfish nature just as we are all heroes who transcend the selfish to the selfless and often place the interests of our friends, loved ones, and society in front of our own. It’s the departure from reality that allows us to embrace these myths of flying men and women with god-like powers who roam the earth and dispense justice and villainy as they see fit.
But what if they were more than myths? What if they were among us? What if you had super powers? One of my favorite programs, This American Life, dealt this this issue in one of their episodes where John Hodgman presented that question and found out that no one would use it for good, which isn’t to say that we’d use it for evil either…we’d help out if we can, but otherwise we’d stick to our own lives and make use of it. The ability to fly? One of the interviewees points out that he wouldn’t necessarily have the ability to carry people out of burning buildings without burning up himself, and that he’d just as likely be “flying to paris man”. We’re simply not built to be either the super-ego alone just as we are more than Id. We are us — a collection of the selfish and the selfless.
And that’s why I was so excited to see Hancock, a story about a regular guy with no tact who just happens to be able to fly, be invincible, and have super strength…and a desire to be perpetually drunk. Additionally, it points out an issue that has always bothered me: cities and buildings would either be uninsurable or the prices to insure would be astronomical to make it prohibitive if a superhero/villain lived there. Have you see the amount of damage that is caused whenever heroes fight the bad guys? Statistically speaking, our economic system as we know it would fall apart in the month after the introduction of the superheroes/villains.
But it’s right from the get-go that the film starts to fall apart. First off, we have the hero himself played by Will Smith. I heart Will Smith and his performance in Six Degrees was absolutely fabulous, but as soon as he became famous, his characters became less the individuals and more himself. He always plays himself: Will Smith, amazing guy with charisma and inherent coolness. And having him play a man with super powers and a serious bout of self-hate just isn’t very convincing. Will Smith is neither a drunk nor one who does not like himself. And Hancock is either a person who doesn’t care about (or believe in) anyone else or wants to be hated and disliked. And the backstory that we learn in the film reinforces the latter possibility. For if he truly is the asshole that everyone hates, then he can believe that he’s horrible enough that no one has ever wanted to claim him.
Will Smith notwithstanding, I came into the movie really wanting to like it with such a great premise: what happens when a regular guy who’s a bit of an asshole has super powers? How does one who is almost a god interact with the plebes? How does one who is beholden to no one and invulnerable open himself up and trust? How does one invest and believe when one need only believe in one’s strength? Now that would be a good movie. And Hancock starts off like that…
Except we never see this process really materialize because of the most ridiculous plot “twist” I’ve seen in a really long time. Hancock turns out to be divided into two movies: The potentially good one that tells a story of learning to invest and become human (in the “vulnerable” sense) when one doesn’t need to. And that part deserves great reviews, but then we have the second film that just…sucks and makes no sense and effectively wipes out any progress from the first part. The “reveal” is just a clumsy blunder (and nonsensical to boot) that really made me so tremendously sad to have any expectations for this film, to have spent the past 90 minutes watching any of it, and having actually paid money for it. And that just…sucks because it had so much potential to be a great and different film.