Hancock: Sorry, can’t tell you about it…
Posted July 2nd, 2008 by Howard TaylerI saw Hancock Wednesday morning at 9:40am. I liked it, but I can’t tell you much about it without spoiling the neat plot-hook.
You know how both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk feature a climactic conflict between the hero, and a bigger, badder version of the hero? Well, Hancock doesn’t, and I’m glad it doesn’t.
And I’m leaving it at that. Here is my ordered list of favorites for the summer, as of July 2nd:
1) Wall-E
2) Kung-Fu Panda
3) Speed Racer
4) Iron Man
5) Get Smart
6) Hulk
7) Wanted
8) Indiana Jones
9) Hancock
10) Prince Caspian
Numbers 1-4 are what I’d call the “must see” films, with the addition of #8 because, hey, Indy’s back.
Numbers 5-9 were all really enjoyable. Number 10 was the only one that was disappointing, and even then only a little. (Well… #8 was disappointing too, but that’s because the bar was set so very, very high with The Last Crusade.)
Weird. Indiana Jones was the most disappointing of the bunch, but also made the “must see” list for nostalgia’s sake. My tastes, they are fickle and inconsistent. And I’m glad I saw Hancock.
Feel free to discuss below, but if you’re going to post spoilers, say so at the top of your post. Especially if you’re posting spoilers for Hancock, since that one’s still pretty fresh.
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July 2nd, 2008 at 9:14 pm
For the record, I think that the only films capable of penetrating my top four this summer are Hellboy 2, The Mummy 3, and Batman: The Dark Knight. It’s a long-shot, though. Displacing Iron Man will be a neat trick.
Also note: this list is not supposed to tell you which movies are better. It’s just telling you which ones I enjoyed more.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Wall-E was awesome. I loved all the pun-litical commentary. Kungfu Panda was made more awesome than it should have been, simply because our funny-kungfu-tastebuds were whetted by Forbidden Kingdom.
PS: Where would you put Forbidden Kingdom, in your list?
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I didn’t see Forbidden Kingdom. Should I?
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
SPOILER ALERT
Regarding WALL*E, I thought that some of the political commentary (the live-action scenes with Fred Willard spoofing GW Bush) were the weakest parts of the film.
Pixar films age well, and promise to be timeless. The Willard bits of WALL*E are going to date the film pretty badly. I wish they had found a different way to make their point.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:45 am
re: “Forbidden Kingdom”
Yes, it should be seen, and before it goes away (local theatre is limiting showing for it).
There is a rather wizard of oz framing device set in the modern world, but most of the action takes place in the China of myth. Main characters are from Chinese Mythology, the Monkey King (Jet Li … but not seen much), a drunken Taoist immortal (Jackie Chan), and a rather rude monk (also Jet Li).
There is some mildly gross humor (potty humor), and there is some non-western resolution, but overall, it’s good.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:11 am
I really enjoyed Hancock and am also looking forward to Hellboy 2 and The Dark Knight.
I am also looking forward to the Glenn Beck stage show being broadcast right before Dark Knight (12:01 AM). It’s going to make for a long night and a rough next day at work.
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/11224/
July 5th, 2008 at 12:31 am
SPOILER ALERT - response
I didn’t get George Bush out of Fred Willard’s bits. I just saw Fred Willard through and through.
July 5th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
From intra-family reviews (sister-in-law reporting on the responses of nephews and nieces from another branch of her family), those kids found Wall-E to be boring.
They were complaining about length, I think.
Is this more of an adult-type funny/exciting movie?
July 5th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
SPOILER ALERT - regarding the response
I must say, I agree with randytayler about the Fred Willard bits in WALL-E. I do think there was some “pushing” of a message, but it wasn’t overtly political or directed at any one person. (I personally have no problem with the message, since I agree with being a responsible steward of the Earth, within reason.)
END SPOILER ALERT
As to it being an adult-type film: there are things there for adults, but I don’t think children will be put off by it. The children there when I saw it enjoyed it greatly. Though I wouldn’t recommend seeing it in a theater to anyone younger than eight or so.
July 6th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I don’t understand why the action was moved from East Cheam to New York. Does it include the classic line “Very nearly an armful”?
July 7th, 2008 at 6:32 am
For Hancock, I greatly enjoyed it. Personally, I think it probably needed another hour to properly flesh out the plot twist you alluded to, and I felt that the re-entry of the villains ended up terribly forced. I do see why critics panned it, though. It was *not* a superhero movie, really. It defies not only easy classification, but most genre tropes and cliches. I look forward to the inevitable Hancock 2.
WALL-E SPOILER ALERT
(do we really need that for this discussion? is anyone going to be surprised that there’s an ecological message to this movie?)
I don’t think that Willard was playing Bush, at all. He was playing a type. It happens to be a type that Bush also plays, along with, say, Nixon, Reagan, and the elder Bush.
July 20th, 2008 at 8:59 am
WALL-E SPOILER
As a foreinger, I saw Willard’s character as an archetype of a Northamerican politician/corporate president. The only thing is that is kind of too Americanized for the rest of the world. Ditto with the obese humans. That’s kind of a progression we expect for America. Here we kind of look down on excessive overweight, since it’s a sign of lack of self care and discipline. And neither here, nor in Europe I’ve ever throw so much trash. I don’t know why do you have to use so hughe packaging. But even though it’s utterly too American, it’s also the very best movie of the last five years for me. And the message IS beautiful. So, if you feel certain similitudes to any American, it’s because it has a universal message enclose in an American packaging, and thus it’s bound to feel close at home for most of you.