'Hancock' a superhero with a problem

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BY RAFER GUZMÁN | rafer.guzman@newsday.com

July 2, 2008

The makers of "Hancock" surely have seen their share of superhero flicks, and in a literal-minded moment must have wondered: Who pays for those blown-up cop cars and decimated skyscrapers? Wouldn't citizens grow tired of footing the bill? And while Spider-Man and Batman have occasionally fallen from favor, what if they began to resent the masses in return? What if a superhero existed in the real, imperfect world?

That's the premise of "Hancock," starring Will Smith as a misanthropic man of steel. The film opens with villains terrorizing the L.A. freeways, but Hancock isn't sitting dutifully by his Batphone. Dressed like a wino, he's sleeping off his drunk on a bus bench. When he finally flies into action, he wreaks so much havoc even real life bloviator Nancy Grace reads him the riot act on TV.

Hancock's problem is that he doesn't know himself - literally. About 80 years ago (he's immortal), Hancock woke up in a hospital with a scar on his forehead and a blank memory. "You gotta wonder," he says bitterly, "what kind of bastard I must have been that nobody was there to claim me."

Eventually Hancock meets another oxymoron, an idealistic public relations man named Ray Embrey ( Jason Bateman). Unemployed but ever-optimistic, Ray makes Hancock a client, repairing his image with an apologetic news conference and a primer on superhero etiquette (smile, be polite, stop landing so hard that the asphalt shatters). The scenes between these two men - Smith, the sulky child, and Bateman, the attaboy father-figure - are the film's most endearing. At times, Ray seems like the real hero.

Director Peter Berg ("The Kingdom") knows the difference between cartoon violence and the real stuff, and "Hancock" mixes both to good effect. The action speeds up after two plot-points: One involves a sneering robber (Eddie Marsan), the other one Ray's wife ( Charlize Theron). Around then, "Hancock" has to stop thinking so literally and become what it is: a superhero movie. But those can be pretty fun, after all.

(PG-13)

PLOT A curmudgeonly superhero tries to turn over a new leaf.

CAST Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron.

LENGTH 1:32

PLAYING AT Area theaters

BOTTOM LINE Conventionally unconventional, "Hancock" tweaks the superhero genre while delivering bang for your buck.