Friday Movie Blogging: 09-12-08
Hancock Review
My Rating: C
Caught this last weekend at the dollar theater for the heck of it. In spite of hearing all the mixed reviews, my curiosity about the so-called “twist” got the best of me. I like Will Smith, and even his worst movies have entertained me on some level.
What I liked about Hancock was, primarily, the special effects and action sequences. When you see him soar through the city or cause destruction to public property, it all looks very natural and hard-hitting. No hints of wire-work anywhere and plenty of CGI debris. The other thing I liked was how the story was about this anonymous drunken bum with super powers who doesn’t give a crap about anything. I was really hoping they’d just keep running with this premise since it seemed like there was so much room for creativity in the story.
What I didn’t like – this is where things get confusing, and I’ll try to keep it spoiler-free. First off, this movie was advertised as a comedy, when it’s actually a dramatic character study about a man’s quest for self-redemption. There’s many quiet moments where they play music over emotional montages, and there’s little to no laughs in the last half of the movie. This doesn’t technically make it a bad movie, but nevertheless, all the good jokes were in the trailer. Then there’s the second half of the movie and this is where things go completely nuts. Without giving anything away, the movie pulls a twist that causes the story to completely disregard the first half of the movie and focus on a whole new story. It’s like they started “Hancock 2″ halfway through the movie before we even finished watching the first one. The second half still has it’s moments, but it really throws a monkey wrench into everything else.
Overall, I suppose I liked “Hancock.” The CGI destruction was incredible, so I felt I got my money’s worth ($3.50,) but it was still a mess of a production that would’ve worked better as two separate movies.
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This week at the movies:
-Burn After Reading
-Righteous Kill
-Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys
-The Women
I’m on and off with “Burn After Reading” because I’ve liked some Coen Bros movies, while other ones tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. “Righteous Kill” features Deniro and Pacino, and while it doesn’t look my speed, it’ll probably be a big movie this weekend. Then you’ve got the new Tyler Perry movie; these things always seem to come in at #1 even though they never seem to open anywhere near where I live. And “The Women” looks like a cheap “Sex in the City” knock-off. Not an exciting weekend for movies on my end.
Although looking through CinemaClock.com, the anime fan in me is geeking out that the live-action “Death Note” movie is premiering in Edmonton. I’ve already seen the illegally downloaded fan-dub of it (along with the sequel,) but I thought they were still pretty great movies (back-to-back anyway. The first movie ends on a cliffhanger.) Hollywood’s already secured the rights, so we’ll probably be seeing a remake of it starring someone like Shia Laboeuf soon enough.
And the movie video for the week:
I wasn’t the biggest fan of “Casino Royale” since it looked too much like the Bourne movies, but I think this one reminds me a lot more of classic Bond what with the explosions, military aircraft, super boats, and that sick shot of him falling through the roof. I’d watch it.
Just found a video for “Righteous Kill.” Here’s Al Pacino and Robert Deniro reading off the Top 10 list on Letterman.
September 12 2008 11:21 am | Movies, Videos
Pstonie on 12 Sep 2008 at 7:12 pm #
I’d like to see Casino Royale again now that I’ve seen all the old Bond movies, so I can put it in perspective.
What excites me most about QoS though is that the Aston’s back. Hopefully it’ll get more than 5 seconds on screen this time.