Hancock

[BlackLantern]

So what's Hancock's origin? How did he get his powers?

I just hope he isn't alien, because if so, it will be Superman rehash :(

Not really consider if instead if, instead of being raised by good people like the Kents, being raised by a couple of DBags..the results would be intresting....

[The Apatow Crew]

My fav line from the preview is "You Deserve Better I will be Better"

[dark_b]

My fav line from the preview is "You Deserve Better I will be Better"i think hes speech was written by batemans character.

maybe hancock at the beginning was loved by the people. but then something bad happened and he started to drink.

[Cinemaman]

Not really consider if instead if, instead of being raised by good people like the Kents, being raised by a couple of DBags..the results would be intresting....

Got it, nothing intersting. I think they should have come up with something more unusual using different elements of character arc and form him as not just antihero, but a kind of protagonist, who hasn't been done in such summer blockbusters about big cool dudes yet.

[The Apatow Crew]

i think hes speech was written by batemans character.

maybe hancock at the beginning was loved by the people. but then something bad happened and he started to drink.Maybe he was trying to save someone and something went wrong and everyone blamed him and thats when he stopped caring.

[dark_b]

i hope he is not an alien. i hope he is something new. please no experiement. please no DNA,.....
just be something new. isnt this what hancock is all about? being a new superhero that is fresh?

[dark_b]

Maybe he was trying to save someone and something went wrong and everyone blamed him and thats when he stopped caring.
this is not bad. he trys everything but we all know how the media can make you look bad right. he starts drinking and because of hes drinking he makes everything even worse.

[Cinemaman]

Maybe he was trying to save someone and something went wrong and everyone blamed him and thats when he stopped caring.

Too banal and it was overused numerous times (and not only in films). I think tehre must be some more deeply and original reason.

[dark_b]

Too banal and it was overused numerous times (and not only in films). I think tehre must be some more deeply and original reason.ok we dont have to now invent the wheel again. this movie can not be 100% fresh.

[The Apatow Crew]

this is not bad. he trys everything but we all know how the media can make you look bad right. he starts drinking and because of hes drinking he makes everything even worse.Yeah like someone dies and the media blames him cause they have nothing else to blame.

Kinda like in the spidey comics he goes to save Gwen Stacy and accidently kills her. Thats what he does right/ I remember seeing them talk about it on the spidey 1 dvd i think.

[Cinemaman]

ok we dont have to know invent the wheel again. this movie can not be 100% fresh.

You're right, but I think that all this story stuff... it just can be ten times better that it probably will be.

[jimslimbo]

whats the song playing at the end of the new trailer after the release date comes on.

[Hunter Rider]

Too banal and it was overused numerous times (and not only in films). I think tehre must be some more deeply and original reason.


Why ? These are themes that resonate with ppl, like man loves woman, she leaves him and he wins her back. Or the Batman formula of Bad guys want rid of the Bat so they hire Villain X to get rid of him. OR the ever popular revenge theme. Trying to come up with some convoluted reason that doesn't connect with real ppl is a waste of time and the kind of thinking that leads to bankrupt producers. Take TWBB, it's themes are very simple, tried and tested ones, the acting is what makes them work though.

[Retroman]

That preview was pretty awesome.:cool::up: I always thought this would be do well at the box office because of Smith and Theron but looking at the combination of action and comedy it has the potential to be a huge summer hit if the word of mouth is good.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but John Powell is composing the score for the movie. Here's what he told the Hollywood Reporter about his work.

Movie music for the blockbuster season
By Ada Guerin
April 10, 2008

John Powell

"Hancock"
Sony
July 2

"'Hancock' is about love and death, and who really are the 'superheros.' The music plays the role of an invisible actor hinting at what is really happening despite what the actors you can see are saying. As the composer, I should be informing the audience of the subtext -- and occasionally, adding some grease under the wheels.

Hancock (Will Smith) is not your typical superhero. He is down on his luck. He is an alcoholic superhero who needs a publicist to fix his image. To complicate matters, he falls for the publicist's wife.

(Director Peter Berg) said he wanted the sound of a huge orchestra playing the blues, so I employed lots of guitars, some 'moaning' (a term for a type of wordless blues singing) and an orchestra of people who have all recently been divorced.

The score's defining sound is a Fender Bassman head and a 1977 Scully 8-track tape machine. Recording with a Scully 8-track is a fairly complicated and time-consuming way to record. Because we are dealing with tape, it is more challenging and there is pressure to get it right in one take. Using the Scully gives the score a unique sound; it gives it a raw, dirty sound similar to the way (blues) records were originally recorded.

The biggest musical challenge was to support the story with music that is as good as the film is -- and this film is really, really good."Source:http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/music/e3if9df9e78cad9bbffa3484ddb667edb30
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/music/e3if9df9e78cad9bbffa3484ddb667edb30?pn=2

[GL1]

Holy ****. It's true!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000226/

He's getting on that Sam Jackson "I must put out three movies a year" stuff now... doesn't this guy like his kids? Is he bored or something?

Loved that interview... if this quote doesn't do it for ya:

"'Hancock' is about love and death, and who really are the 'superheros.' The music plays the role of an invisible actor hinting at what is really happening despite what the actors you can see are saying. As the composer, I should be informing the audience of the subtext -- and occasionally, adding some grease under the wheels.

This one should...

The biggest musical challenge was to support the story with music that is as good as the film is -- and this film is really, really good."

Alright marketing department, you heard the man! Let's sell this thing!

[jimslimbo]

Could someone please tell me whats the song playing at the end of the new trailer after it shows "on july 2nd". Its playing during when he's asking the girl if he can touch her body.the music sounds really cool.

Thanks in advance

[dark_b]

http://hancockwashere.com/index.php

viral site for hancock. two videos posted.

[Cinemaman]

Why ? These are themes that resonate with ppl, like man loves woman, she leaves him and he wins her back. Or the Batman formula of Bad guys want rid of the Bat so they hire Villain X to get rid of him. OR the ever popular revenge theme. Trying to come up with some convoluted reason that doesn't connect with real ppl is a waste of time and the kind of thinking that leads to bankrupt producers. Take TWBB, it's themes are very simple, tried and tested ones, the acting is what makes them work though.

So you want to say that movies should always stay as they were and use the same formula again and again changing nothing in it? Is that what the audience deserves? If yes, then cinema culture is dead, and it no more can be considered as art, just another way of making money.

[EternalMaster]

So you want to say that movies should always stay as they were and use the same formula again and again changing nothing in it? Is that what the audience deserves? If yes, then cinema culture is dead, and it no more can be considered as art, just another way of making money.

What you're really saying is that human society is dead because in real life, the same crap happens year after to year in a billion slightly different ways.

[the a1ant]

The official HANCOCK trailer is "expected" to hit the net this Thursday.

So looks like some may get to catch it with 'Iron Man'. :)

[Hunter Rider]

So you want to say that movies should always stay as they were and use the same formula again and again changing nothing in it? Is that what the audience deserves? If yes, then cinema culture is dead, and it no more can be considered as art, just another way of making money.


No, i am saying movies need to touch and connect with ppl, do you think Spidey made all it's money from SFX ? No it made it from very simple plotlines that regular ppl can connect and identify with, you don't need to keep reinventing the wheel, that's when you become the guy that puts studios out of business b/c you're so busy trying to be different that you forget you have to make ppl care.

[Cinemaman]

No, i am saying movies need to touch and connect with ppl, do you think Spidey made all it's money from SFX ? No it made it from very simple plotlines that regular ppl can connect and identify with, you don't need to keep reinventing the wheel, that's when you become the guy that puts studios out of business b/c you're so busy trying to be different that you forget you have to make ppl care.

I recently re-watched Spidey and I got to say that it looked very boring during Pete & MJ scenes, which, as you say, are everyday situations happenning with people. Didn't you say that movies aren't just art, but also a source of entertainment? But if I (and I guess some other people) just hate all this superhero love storyline, which never changes, then am I excited?

[Retroman]

Interesting....the production designer from the Spider-Man trilogy Neil Spisak (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0819105/) and the costume designer of X-Men and Superman Returns Louise Mingenbach (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0591281/) worked on this.
http://hancockwashere.com/index.php

viral site for hancock. two videos posted.
Nice find. There's also a Hancock game called 'Guess the financial troll'.:woot:
The official HANCOCK trailer is "expected" to hit the net this Thursday.

So looks like some may get to catch it with 'Iron Man'. :)
Cool. Thanks for the heads up.

[Electrix]

The official HANCOCK trailer is "expected" to hit the net this Thursday.

So looks like some may get to catch it with 'Iron Man'. :)

Thursday as in today?

[the a1ant]

^Yup. The new full trailer has hit Yahoo! Movies :) It's very similar to the first look preview, but with different/extended footage cut throughout. Some new flying action, too!

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/hancock.html?showVideo=1

[The Apatow Crew]

Nice trailer! Can't wait!

[Gamma Ray]

I love Jason Bateman, but even he won't get me to this movie.

[Prison Mike]

trailer was good. It was basically that preview on FOX from last week.

[PJBoy]

^Yup. The new full trailer has hit Yahoo! Movies :) It's very similar to the first look preview, but with different/extended footage cut throughout. Some new flying action, too!

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/hancock.html?showVideo=1
Awesome! Much better in HD, and with some new scenes.

[Hunter Rider]

Damn this looks fantastic! :D

[Yurka]

Anyone have a download link for the new trailer? I tried the HD one off yahoo but it wouldn't work for me.

[turtlefocker]

is it on youtube yet?

[turtlefocker]

icJ-qNA5wpg

answered my own question

[RickO'Connell]

Awesome trailer

[Mr. Credible]

that = awesomeness.

but, i think that there are just too many big (forget that... huge) budget movies this summer for too many of them too make their budget back, let alone be the blockbusters they deserve to be.

from the looks of the previews, hancock, hellboy, iron man, the dark night, the incredible hulk, indiana jones, wall-e, speed racer, narnia, and who knows what i've forgotten to mention... well, it's ridiculous to think that all of these movies are going to make 200+ million. the pie just doesn't cut that many ways.

they'll probably all be deserving of that amount of money, too, that's the sad part.

[the a1ant]

Official HANCOCK site has been updated:

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/hancock/

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/x3movie/hancock.jpg

Some new photos at Yahoo! Movies:

http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/Hancock/1809801452/photos/303

[PJBoy]

Finally the official site is updated! Nice games too. :p

[TNC9852002]

Some direct links:

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?sid=63470461&sdm=web&pt=rd
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?sid=63470467&sdm=web&pt=rd

-TNC

[Nokio]

I don't think Will Smith and the studio has to worry about this flopping. Unless the reviews are bad and word of motuh hits to everyone quickly i don't see this film not making over 200 millkion dollars domestically.

[Nokio]

I hate the costume. I can't believe this made it as the final version.

[TNC9852002]

I hate the costume. I can't believe this made it as the final version.
Well, they DO make fun of it.

-TNC

[Odin's Lapdog]

The point of it IS to be a terrible costume....It's designed by a personal manager...

I think this film does have the potential to be very good but they are going a lil too far with the superhero angle of the film and I don't believe that's the point.

They may end up upsetting and isolating a large part of their core audience if they come into the film believing its one thing and it ends up being something completely different. I have a feeling all the scenes we see pretty much make up less than the first 45 minutes of the film.

I'm still going to go, looks funny as hell...

[fabman]

Haha... Jason Bateman is great in this one, aswell.

"Hancock! Son of a gun, I knew you'd come".

[I SEE SPIDEY]

The movie looks amazing. I hope the movie is as good as the trailer.

[ShaneHelms]

Honestly i enjoyed the first trailer more. But regardless this film looks to be hilarious.

I love the look on the cop's faces when Hancock shows up in his new uniform. :woot:

[GL1]

Dude... I love the way he flung that little girl into the stratosphere... I thought that was hilarious.

I thought the costume was a bit much, but I liked it anyway. I really like the whole eagle motif.

[The Apatow Crew]

Dude... I love the way he flung that little girl into the stratosphere... I thought that was hilarious.

I thought the costume was a bit much, but I liked it anyway. I really like the whole eagle motif.Thats a boyt he throws into the air.

[GhostPoet]

This is actually one of the films i'm most excited about. :) Can't wait!!

[SLYspyder]

The trailer was amazing. It's damn sad that that trailer got me more excited than the Superman movie trailer, and it's by a character that rips Superman off.

That's how the effects and atmosphere for a Superman movie should've been done.

[BlackLantern]

The trailer was amazing. It's damn sad that that trailer got me more excited than the Superman movie trailer, and it's by a character that rips Superman off.

That's how the effects and atmosphere for a Superman movie should've been done.

It's called satire....its not ripping anyone off

[jimslimbo]

Could someone please tell me whats the song playing at the end of the first look after it shows "on july 2nd".the music sounds really cool.

Thanks in advance

[jimslimbo]

Could someone please tell me whats the song playing at the end of the new trailer after it shows "on july 2nd".the music sounds really cool.

Thanks in advance

[the a1ant]

The trailer was amazing. It's damn sad that that trailer got me more excited than the Superman movie trailer, and it's by a character that rips Superman off.

That's how the effects and atmosphere for a Superman movie should've been done.

The word rip-off is a bit strong; inspired maybe. The only thing that connects Hancock with Superman so far is his ability to fly and use super-strength.

Character-wise, they are polar opposites, imo.

[블라스]

Didn't like the first trailer too much, but I really loved the new one.
Count me in :up:

[BlackLantern]

The word rip-off is a bit strong; inspired maybe. The only thing that connects Hancock with Superman so far is his ability to fly and use super-strength.

Character-wise, they are polar opposites, imo.

agreed...I tend to view it as if instead of being raised by good people like the Kents, he was raised by total dbags....

[Hunter Rider]

Could someone please tell me whats the song playing at the end of the new trailer after it shows "on july 2nd".the music sounds really cool.

Thanks in advance

Possibly Bad Blood by Audio Machine.

[Untilteld]

Thats a boyt he throws into the air.

Yeah, he played the younger Michael Myers in the Rob Zombie Halloween, right?

[jimslimbo]

Possibly Bad Blood by Audio Machine.

Yeah it is. Looked up that title after reading your post and your right. Thanks so much.

Is it possible that you have this track. If so could you post a download link. It would be much appreciated.

Or does anyone else have bad blood by audiomachine.

Thanks

[jimslimbo]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunter Rider
Possibly Bad Blood by Audio Machine.

Yeah it is. Looked up that title after reading your post and your right. Thanks so much.

Is it possible that you have this track. If so could you post a download link. It would be much appreciated.

Or does anyone else have bad blood by audiomachine.

Thanks

[ShaneHelms]

Yeah, he played the younger Michael Myers in the Rob Zombie Halloween, right?

Yeah. His name is Daeg Faerch. Ugly looking kid. :o

[Dr Lee]

That kid Hancock rockets into space is a boy? *Puts on Glasses to re-watch the trailer*

[RickO'Connell]

So Charlize Theron gets Hancock's powers just by sleeping with him & it is a DNA type thing ? If that is the case & in regards to how Charlize gets his powers I guess there can be two possibilities with that

[nocomics]

This movie actually looks entertaining to me. I will definately check it out as I think Will Smith is a good fit for this movie. Kudos to Jason Bateman hes been showing up in quite a few movies as of late(smokin aces,juno,hancock).....

[Metal Spidey]

That kid Hancock rockets into space is a boy? *Puts on Glasses to re-watch the trailer*

Yup.

[The Apatow Crew]

Yeah, he played the younger Michael Myers in the Rob Zombie Halloween, right?thats correct.

[xwolverine2]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunter Rider
Possibly Bad Blood by Audio Machine.

Yeah it is. Looked up that title after reading your post and your right. Thanks so much.

Is it possible that you have this track. If so could you post a download link. It would be much appreciated.

Or does anyone else have bad blood by audiomachine.

Thanks

trailer music is impossible to find..lol

[BizarroAids]

I was excited before, and now after seeing this new trailer, I'm definately in for this movie.

I can't wait to see the changes to Han***** personality throughout the movie, from jerk to hero?? We'll have to see I guess.

And I'm really interested in knowing what is up with the Tornadoes and all that, and of course him fighting Charlize??:huh:

Anyway, it's a fun trailer. Best part was his interaction with the lady in the crowd.

Lady: "I can smell the liquor on you"
Hancock: "Cause I've been drinkin":woot:

[dark_b]

So Charlize Theron gets Hancock's powers just by sleeping with him & it is a DNA type thing ? If that is the case & in regards to how Charlize gets his powers I guess there can be two possibilities with thatif this is true and you wrotte this spoiler then you can bet that i will find you and i will brake everything :cmad:

:csad:

f... id

[dark_b]

wooow. the new trailer is 3 minutes long? :)

[Bren]

I can't wait to see the changes to Han***** personality throughout the movie, from jerk to hero?? We'll have to see I guess.

I'm not going to the film to see a character-driven story. Somehow I think I'll be the more satisfied of us :cwink:

[Prison Mike]

just saw the trailer again. I like it a lot. I really want to see drunk flying. Looks like fun.

[RickO'Connell]

if this is true and you wrotte this spoiler then you can bet that i will find you and i will brake everything :cmad:

:csad:

f... id

Thats a guess to how she gets the powers nothing fact. I am guessing that she has either always been one of his "kind" or Charlize & Bateman found out how to get Hancock's powers by someone sleeping with him & then that super powered person sleeps with another then that person gets powers as well & they want to create an army of super powered people :wow:

This thing can go any way really

[Sugarculted]

Saw the trailer with IM. Want to see it sometime soon! :D

[BlackLantern]

If superpowers can be transmitted by sexual contact, I feel that a donkey punch should be part of the process...

[Retroman]

The trailer was awesome!:up:

Here are some new pics from the Sony Pictures Taiwan site.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8875/ph021bt5.jpg

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4262/ph031vo3.jpg

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/7171/ph091rk9.jpg

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/6280/ph141qa0.jpg

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/2619/ph151yh2.jpg


Source: http://www.sonypictures.com.tw/movie/hancock/

[Retroman]

More....

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/7977/ph161it6.jpg

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/9334/ph181sw4.jpg

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/7104/ph201ll5.jpg

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/6152/ph221gj3.jpg

Hi-res (spoilerly)....

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/2641/12317nl2.th.jpg (http://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=12317nl2.jpg)

Source Links: 1 (http://tw.movie.yahoo.com/photoplayer.html?id=2535&type=movie&play=12317) 2 (http://www.sonypictures.com.tw/movie/hancock/)

[Dr Lee]

WTF is going on in the last pic?

[Symbiotic]

So who's the villain in the movie?

[Mr. Credible]

wow... are people still asking that?

[Symbiotic]

wow... are people still asking that?Sorry man but I haven't been following.

[SuperBatman]

I just Heard that this movie is going to be Rated R. Big Mistake or what?

[Gotham]

I just Heard that this movie is going to be Rated R. Big Mistake or what?

It's definitely testing out Will's draw with an R-rating.

[SuperBatman]

You know hasn't he proved that though with Bad Boys wasn't that Rated R? I can't recall

[Gotham]

You know hasn't he proved that though with Bad Boys wasn't that Rated R? I can't recall

Right, but I'd say Martin Lawrence carried half of that film.

[cerealkiller182]

Also Bad Boys 2, Ali (which got him an Oscar nominee), and Enemy of the State

But i mean, seriously, Will Smith is above ratings at this point in his carreer

[BlackLantern]

Enemy of the State is one of my favorite movies....I just enjoy it

[cerealkiller182]

i'd say its definitely underappreciated

[M.O.Steel]

i'm really looking forward to this

[Retroman]

I just Heard that this movie is going to be Rated R. Big Mistake or what?
Hold on a sec...i knew the script was R-Rated but i thought the movie was going to be Pg-13?:huh:

Edit - Here's a very interesting new article on Hancock's rating and how difficult it was it get it made (over 10 years of development!).It's said to be darker than the marketing campaign suggests.

From NY Times:
Summer Movies
A Man of Steel With Feet of Clay

By MICHAEL CIEPLY
Published: May 4, 2008
CULVER CITY, Calif.

TWICE in the last month visits to the Sony Pictures lot here went much the same way.

The normally efficient guards at the gate struggled with their computers. They were unable, on the first trip, to find a trace of the writer-producer Akiva Goldsman or, on the second, of the actor and director Peter Berg.

“Why aren’t these people in the system?” snapped an exasperated young man in the booth on the second visit.

Actually, both Mr. Goldsman and Mr. Berg are in the system. Sort of.

Lately the two men are fixtures at Sony, where they have spent the breezy spring weeks in meeting rooms and darkened stages, wrangling the last round of work on a film, “Hancock,” that will occupy thousands of America’s movie screens over the July 4 weekend.

In a larger sense, however, the two are exactly what they seemed during those hang-ups at the studio gate: consummate insiders with just enough of the outsider about them to keep the Hollywood system on edge.

Both make big movies for big companies. “Hancock,” with Will Smith — by some accounts the most valuable star in the world right now — will cost roughly $150 million to produce, and a similarly large amount to market worldwide.

Yet neither can resist the kind of movie that nudges a studio one step beyond its safety zone. “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” of which Mr. Goldsman was a producer, was a tale of love-struck assassins trying to kill each other; “The Kingdom,” directed by Mr. Berg, was an unlikely action caper set in Saudi Arabia.

“Hancock” is probably two steps past safe. This time Mr. Smith, who shares a penchant for pushing the envelope (think of “Ali,” undertaken when he was still an action-comedy star), plays a superhero who swills bourbon, hates his job and looks unnervingly like Mr. Berg, who was considerably bedraggled in the final weeks of work on his film. (According to Mr. Goldsman, Mr. Smith, on meeting Mr. Berg in one of his work-worn states, said: “Oh. Oh. He is Hancock.”)

Along with, among others, Michael Mann, one of the producers of “Hancock,” and James Lassiter, Mr. Smith’s longtime producing partner, the two belong to what Mr. Goldsman likes to call a loose collective of like-minded filmmakers. By their own account they keep pushing an increasingly corporate entertainment industry to do what scares it a little — and not just stick to a summerful of sequels and animated sure shots.

“It is more difficult, and more necessary, at the same time,” Mr. Mann said recently, speaking of the ticklish art of making movies that keep the system from boring itself, and the audience along with it.

So “Hancock,” whether it succeeds or fails, will most likely be remembered for having forced Hollywood to reach a bit farther than it likes to go. That has happened in the past with unconventional hits like “Star Wars,” “Titanic” and “The Sixth Sense,” and with dozens of flops like “Last Action Hero” and “Heaven’s Gate.”

Eleven weeks before the release of “Hancock” Mr. Berg and company were still testing the creative boundaries. Their picture has a spot on the schedule filled last year by Paramount’s toy-driven crowd-pleaser, “Transformers.” As of mid-April, however, it had been twice to the ratings board and tagged each time with an R, not acceptable for a movie that must ultimately be rated PG-13 to reach its intended broad audience.

“We had statutory rape up until three weeks ago,” Mr. Berg said, describing just one of the elements that has turned “Hancock” into an exercise in brinkmanship.

Sipping coffee in a studio kitchenette, having finally been allowed through the gate, three-day growth and worn Macalester Scots T-shirt notwithstanding, he spoke with a candor usually reserved for the retrospective DVD commentary.

The film, he said, remained surprisingly sexual, violent and true in spirit to an original script that was viewed as brilliant but unmakable when its creator, Vincent Ngo, first circulated it more than a decade ago under the title “Tonight, He Comes.”

Keeping it that way became what Mr. Berg called “an epic game of chicken.” The filmmakers, for instance, long ago conceded that their hero should not get drunk with a 12-year-old. But their concession was a bargaining chip, aimed at keeping a similar situation with a 17-year-old in the final version, which was still weeks from being locked as Mr. Berg spoke in April. Another touchy area, Mr. Berg said, involved flying, never mind driving, under the influence.

Asked about the process, Amy Pascal, Sony’s co-chairwoman, took a chipper view. “Will Smith playing a superhero in a movie that’s funny and has tons of action, that’s not so hard,” she said in a telephone interview.

Pressed a bit, however, Ms. Pascal acknowledged that “Hancock” does break some ground. “It’s scary in that it goes farther than we’ve gone before,” she said.

By Mr. Berg’s lights the executives became comfortable with the film only recently. That occurred when they settled on a marketing approach that played down drama in favor of action and humor. In one of the trailer’s highlights Mr. Smith heaves a beached whale out to sea and smashes a sailboat.

“The ad campaign for this movie is much friendlier than the film,” Mr. Berg noted.

That Sony would stake its summer on an unusually alienated superhero — even the Batman of “The Dark Knight” does not sleep on a bus bench — owes much to its enduring relationship with Mr. Smith. Beginning with “Bad Boys” in 1995, he has made seven films with the studio, all of them successes. “Will Smith in anything makes it even better,” Ms. Pascal said.

That Mr. Smith in turn would stake his platinum persona on such an unlikable (by design) character owes a great deal to Mr. Goldsman, who has made a career out of movies that are just subversive enough to let the biggest star feel he is sneaking past the studio gate.

The best of those films can look like sure bets in retrospect, but at the time they often were not. “A Beautiful Mind” had taxed Universal with its story of a schizophrenic mathematician. Yet Russell Crowe rode the role to an Academy Award nomination in 2002, and the movie won the Oscar for best picture and a writing Oscar for Mr. Goldsman.

Warner Brothers proved similarly skittish over its smash horror hit “I Am Legend,” a movie that starred Mr. Smith, with Mr. Goldsman as both a writer and a producer.

“It’s a silent movie, Will doesn’t make a single joke, we kill a dog and then kill” the hero, Mr. Goldsman said, describing studio reservations about his version of the “Legend” script.

Almost as dapper as Mr. Berg is grizzled, Mr. Goldsman is at ease in a sport coat and delights in playing the cheerful provocateur. Over a Cobb salad in Sony’s commissary, he recalled offering Mr. Ngo’s far more difficult screenplay to Warner executives, who were then busy trying to revive their Superman franchise. As he remembered it, they said: “No. No. No, no, no.”

Later he persuaded a college friend, Richard Saperstein, to acquire an option on the script for an independent company, Artisan Entertainment, where Mr. Saperstein was an executive. Mr. Mann, another friend, agreed to direct it, but at a crucial moment chose to do “Miami Vice” for Universal instead, though he remained a producer.

Artisan disappeared in a corporate shuffle. Vince Gilligan (the “X-Files” television series and the AMC series “Breaking Bad”) and John August (“Big Fish”) eventually did rewrites. First Jonathan Mostow (“Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”) and then Gabriele Muccino (“The Pursuit of Happyness”) were expected to direct, before Mr. Berg finally took over.

(Mr. Ngo declined to be interviewed for this article. His agent said that Mr. Ngo, who was born in Vietnam, intends to build a school in that country with his money from “Hancock.”)

Along the way Mr. Goldsman persuaded Mr. Smith to play the role and took the project once more to Warner — which again passed, allowing Ms. Pascal and Sony to step in.

“This is about why Superman can’t get a date,” Mr. Goldsman said, speaking of Warner’s reluctance to make a movie that dares to parody one of its most enduring characters. Hancock, he explained, cannot spend the night with a woman he meets at a party. “The physical impracticalities of this, this is what we play with,” he said.

The material is sufficiently risqué that Mr. Goldsman said he now believes the system — executives, agents, leery handlers — might have warned Mr. Smith away from it, had Mr. Goldsman not traded directly on a working friendship rooted in his earlier involvement with both “I Am Legend” and “I, Robot.” (Mr. Smith did not respond to requests, through his publicist, to be interviewed for this article.)

It also helped that Mr. Goldsman is no stranger to Sony, confusion at the guard stand aside. He has adapted both “The Da Vinci Code” and its sequel, “Angels & Demons,” for the studio and Imagine Entertainment.

Still, executives must be mindful of the risks into which Mr. Goldsman and his associates have drawn the company. It has its own superhero franchise to protect, in “Spider-Man,” and a star who has made Sony a fortune when he has been inspirational, as in “The Pursuit of Happyness” in 2006, or lovable, as in “Hitch” a year earlier.

But the best ones are always a bit intimidating. “So was Jack Nicholson in ‘As Good as It Gets,’ ” a Sony film for which he won an Oscar, Ms. Pascal said.

And, as Mr. Goldsman noted, the business still yearns, in its wary way, for life on the edge.

“Everybody knows that you want to break the box,” he said. “It’s just that the act of breaking the box is really frightening.”Source Link: (credit to Flashing-Lights from the imdb.com forums for the find):http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/movies/moviesspecial/04ciep.html

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

Right, but I'd say Martin Lawrence carried half of that film.


Martin Lawrence gave that film minus points that Smith had to earn back.

[fabman]

So is it going to be R-rated in the end or is the studio still trying to get a PG-13 rating!?

[the a1ant]

Wow - I had no idea the film was edgy.

Usually, I never agree with cutting a film down to reach a lower rating, but they've been marketing it as a lighter film, and it's a July 4th release, so at this point it make sense to make it PG-13. They seem to be trying their hardest to keep the spirit of the film intact, but lower the rating with the MPAA. If it keeps an R-Rating, It would make this film different, and be seen as risk in Hollywood, like the article states...but possibly a successful risk.

Has anyone seen the Unrated trailer? I guess I can see some of the many factors going into the rating

vNEZYytYX0U

[SuperBatman]

I've heard they appealed this twice and it still got the R Rating.

[fabman]

Yeah, but will they still be trying to get a PG-13 after gettin R twice?

[fabman]

I was thinking... maybe the SHOULD go all out and risk by releasing this pic with an R rating... I mean, in the '80's there were so many R rated blockbusters, such as Die Hard, the Schwarzenegger flicks, Robocop, why not try and 'save' this kind of movie. I mean, if there's anyone who can make an R rated summer blockbuster a success it's Will Smith!

I mean, thanks to Judd Apatow & Co. the R rated comedy is back, what about having R rated science-fiction and action movies again?

[GL1]

I think 300 did fine with an 'R' rating, I don't see why Hancock doesn't just go ahead and do the same thing. The statutory thing is pretty mind-blowing... I can't believe they had a 12-year-old in the original script... that's just... creepy. If they cut it down to PG-13, I think they can do some good business selling the Unrated version on DVD.

Interesting indeed... now I REALLY want to go see this movie, knowing it has some edge to it... no wonder it felt so bland and unappealing in the teaser... they're advertising the movie different than it is!

If they ever get it together, I gotta wonder... how could they top it for a sequel?

[cerealkiller182]

I always figured it would be PG13, so I dont mind if they cut it down PG13 (at least not as much as i would for other projects). Id favor the R though.

[Savage]

Oh hell yeah! Now I'm really excited to see this! Keep it R! Bad Santa with superpowers! :woot:

[fabman]

Yeah, if they cut it down to PG-13 I hope that they at least release the R-rated version on DVD.

[fabman]

Hey, now that we're talking about censorship.

I've got to know that Iron Man has been cut down for a '12' rating in Germany and The Dark Knight will either get a '16' rating (the first in the Batman series) or get cut down to a '12', aswell... the prologue already got a '16' rating over there. Quite exciting, the first '16' Batman in Germany... If that'll give the movie more cred in Germany (?) - Batman Begins was a huge flop over there! :D

[KenK]

Yeah, from a marketing standpoint, they have played up too many of the lighter moments in the film, and people will be blindsided if it's as dark and edgy as some of described it. Rape, statutory or not, isn't something for every PG-13 movie, that's for sure. Is it too late for them to keep it an R-rated film and just roll the dice, I don't know. Smith has had successful R-rated films in the past, but the marketing for the film is a bit of a bait-and-switch. Will it hurt the film's box-office potential? It might, but we're still dealing with Will Smith, who's been one of, if not THE most bankable film star in Hollywood. Since Independence Day, the man's only had what, two films make less than a hundred million dollars? The man took a low-key December-release drama like Pursuit of Happyness, and made it a blockbuster comparable to your average summer release. He did the same thing with Hitch which was a February release.

Eventually Will Smith will have a few more movies that don't quite make the big bucks as all his other films, but I don't think Hancock will be one of them. If anything, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the film might just break at least one box office record.

[dark_b]

Wow - I had no idea the film was edgy.

Usually, I never agree with cutting a film down to reach a lower rating, but they've been marketing it as a lighter film, and it's a July 4th release, so at this point it make sense to make it PG-13. They seem to be trying their hardest to keep the spirit of the film intact, but lower the rating with the MPAA. If it keeps an R-Rating, It would make this film different, and be seen as risk in Hollywood, like the article states...but possibly a successful risk.

Has anyone seen the Unrated trailer? I guess I can see some of the many factors going into the rating

vNEZYytYX0Ubecause of the word B....? because of that the trailer is R?

[fabman]

The trailer is not R, the word '*****' has just been censored in the U.S. version of the trailer...

[dark_b]

fabman this is a new trailer. the US trailer is 3 minutes long.

[The Apatow Crew]

because of the word B....? because of that the trailer is R?He also says Stick your head up his ass.

[fabman]

fabman this is a new trailer. the US trailer is 3 minutes long.

I know but there's nothing really new, except that it's edited differently and is shorter... it's not an 'R'-rated trailer. It's international, where they are less 'strict' with 'cusswords'. So, it hasn't been confirmed yet that the movie is going to be 'R'. It's got an 'R' rating twice by the MPAA, but we still don't know if Sony is going with that version or toning the movie down for a PG-13 rating.

[cerealkiller182]

When they makes an uncensored or r-rated trailer they usually make it known. Blood, nudity, or nicely placed f-bomb

[SonikDeath]

Yeah it is. Looked up that title after reading your post and your right. Thanks so much.

Is it possible that you have this track. If so could you post a download link. It would be much appreciated.

Or does anyone else have bad blood by audiomachine.

Thanks


i 2nd this request :woot:

[ShaneHelms]

" Cause I Been Drinkin ***** "

Haha. The B-word just made that 10 times funnier to be honest. Hopefully they will keep that in.

[BatJeff7786]

I hate the fact that studios don't think "R" movies will sell anymore. Look at 300 and V for Vendetta! They were hits too. They need to take a chance.

[TNC9852002]

They need to screw all of this PG-13 stuff...They should go ahead for it. I mean, it's Will Smith!

I'm sure if they went with an R rating, it'll still be among the top 10 highest grossing R rated films.

-TNC

[dark_b]

if you want to have a R superhero movie then i think its the best that you take a will smith movie.

[spideyboy_1111]

So i saw the movie tonight at a special screening. In culver city. The movie was alright, seemed to start off good but then spin out of direction. I'm not good at writing reviews so if you guys want to know anything ask me. I was suppose to be part of a focus group but it filled out. One of the interviewers told me that this was actually one of the worst screenings they've shown (not sure if that means of hancock or from this studio in general. though)

[spideyboy_1111]

They need to screw all of this PG-13 stuff...They should go ahead for it. I mean, it's Will Smith!

I'm sure if they went with an R rating, it'll still be among the top 10 highest grossing R rated films.

-TNC

actually it wouldnt of... this movie totally wouldn't have worked R rated... unless they changed a whole bunch

[spideyboy_1111]

Yeah, from a marketing standpoint, they have played up too many of the lighter moments in the film, and people will be blindsided if it's as dark and edgy as some of described it. Rape, statutory or not, isn't something for every PG-13 movie, that's for sure. Is it too late for them to keep it an R-rated film and just roll the dice, I don't know. Smith has had successful R-rated films in the past, but the marketing for the film is a bit of a bait-and-switch. Will it hurt the film's box-office potential? It might, but we're still dealing with Will Smith, who's been one of, if not THE most bankable film star in Hollywood. Since Independence Day, the man's only had what, two films make less than a hundred million dollars? The man took a low-key December-release drama like Pursuit of Happyness, and made it a blockbuster comparable to your average summer release. He did the same thing with Hitch which was a February release.

Eventually Will Smith will have a few more movies that don't quite make the big bucks as all his other films, but I don't think Hancock will be one of them. If anything, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the film might just break at least one box office record.

theres no rape in the film...

[GL1]

actually it wouldnt of... this movie totally wouldn't have worked R rated... unless they changed a whole bunch

Howso?

Oh, and thanks for crushing my fragile faith in this movie. :bh:

[fabman]

theres no rape in the film...

Because the version you saw is the latest, from which this scene was cut out. They toned this movie down, trying to get a PG-13 rating.

[S.A.A.D.]

.................

[S.A.A.D.]

Hancock looks and sounds like crap IMO.

[Symbiotic]

http://aintitcool.com/node/36670

A review from AICN. MAJOR SPOILERS THROUGHOUT!

[spideyboy_1111]

Because the version you saw is the latest, from which this scene was cut out. They toned this movie down, trying to get a PG-13 rating.

rape wouldn't have even made sense... maybe in the original script that was written for "tonight he comes" 7 years ago.. but not this movie.

here is my jabbering spoiler filled summary. sorry for the run ons, i was in a hurry to type it out before class

The movie starts off as the trailer would have one believe... lazy azz suicidal depressed superhero who is immortal and can't die... he's tired of being the only one out there and has given up on himself. He saves the PR guy... who helps him get his feet back on the ground. He spends a week to a month (its not very long time) in prison (insert comedic part of him shoving one thugs head up another's ass) he stays in jail for a brief time even though he can escape whenever he wants. The city ends up needing him, he stops a bank robbery. Charlize's (whos the pr guys wife) character has about 5 scenes prior to the last 30-40 minutes of the film where she has very odd looks at hancock so u know somethings up. first innitial thought to me is he accidentally killed someone she loved.. (which would have been a better plot). instead hancock comes on to her, she flings him through the wall.... she's got powers too. they have a fight, and she explains to him that there the last of there kind. essentially the greeks called her Artemis, and the Egyptians isis etc... which i did find interesting but none of her powers scream either one of those gods to me. anywho... there "race" was made in pairs... if the pairs are together they become mortal... if there apart they have god like powers... Charlize's character has super speed, strength, durability apparently greater then han***** and aparently convenient weather control. They fight, in which you think Charlize will become a villain (but nope) she's just conflicted, Hancock always finds her... they're the last pair of there kind and he "ruins" her life every time he finds her. Yet Hancock can't remember anything before "80 years ago" at that time they were mortal and on a date, he rescued a girl from a mugging and got hit in the head and lost his memory... she left him. This is where the movie gets lost completely... and imo Charlize should have either been a villain (ala unbreakable with the pair thing) or gone the powerless route and done the hancock killed her relative thing... to stay on track with the "hero seeking redemption thing" instead it gets lost in the last 30-40 minutes of there strange past... and not explaining there existence very well... does charlize want them to have powers? does she really want to be with hancock? we don't know. the movie concludes with hancock losing his powers due to being too close to charlize, he gets shot, put in the hospital, old criminals he put in jail come to kill him, charlize shows up, gets shot (oops lost her power too) then hancock gets some back, fights them.. then passes out... eventually gets enough strength to leap as far away from charlize as he can.. they both heal.... shes a super living a mortal life on the west coast.. and he lives in new york being a super with a pet eagle... (falcon rip off anyone?) any who.. its a better action movie then I am legend, which i hated (anyone who read the book should hate the movie) and I robot.. so i guess that's some props. Charlize and Will smith did great in there rolls... but the movie just isnt written well

[fabman]

It may not make sense to you since you don't know the context... we don't even know how much has been cut out of the film...

[spideyboy_1111]

It may not make sense to you since you don't know the context... we don't even know how much has been cut out of the film...

context or not.. this is the version they initially wanted for the final product in theaters. Sure some cuts and some additions will be made, but the main story wont change within 2 months... and i doubt pick-up shots will happen within 2 months.

[fabman]

This is probably the latest version they are trying to release with a PG-13 rating. The version tehy initially wanted for the final product had a rape scene and some other stuff in it.

I expect it to be just 'non-conventional'. I guess people will hate it. But watcha gonna do - it's ****ing Peter Berg - Very Bad Things! He's the man!

[spideyboy_1111]

This is probably the latest version they are trying to release with a PG-13 rating. The version tehy initially wanted for the final product had a rape scene and some other stuff in it.

I expect it to be just 'non-conventional'. I guess people will hate it. But watcha gonna do - it's ****ing Peter Berg - Very Bad Things! He's the man!

did they ever film a rape scene? and what was the context of it? in the original script i knew it was really gritty... but they had rewritten it over 7 years to make it is what it is today

[the a1ant]

http://aintitcool.com/node/36670

A review from AICN. MAJOR SPOILERS THROUGHOUT!

Didn't read the review, but from reading the comments, I can tell why this has an R so far, lol. Merrick stated the review was negative, but another person in the comments said...

"I was pleasantly surprised. Will Smith is a hell of an actor. The action scenes are intense and filled with guilty superpowers. There is indeed a nice twist and a decent ending for a summer blockbuster. All in all you should go watch this film if you like fun summer popcorn. It's about 20x better than fantastic four..."

Hopefully with all of these screenings, they'll make the right changes to make sure it's a good final product.

[spideyboy_1111]

Didn't read the review, but from reading the comments, I can tell why this has an R so far, lol.

umm its not R rated... it's going to be pg-13 nothing was R about it

[fabman]

did they ever film a rape scene? and what was the context of it? in the original script i knew it was really gritty... but they had rewritten it over 7 years to make it is what it is today

Pete Berg said they did, but now cut it out. The film has got an 'R' rating twice by the MPAA. I think they should go all out on the irriverence of the film and bring back Pete Berg's original cut and release it with an 'R' rating.

Will Smith + controverse film + action + comedy + Charlize Theron = GREAT PUBLICITY.

Was the comedy still nasty as originally intended in the cut you saw, spidey?

BY THE WAY - There is supposed to be 'R' rated stuff in it, even with what was filmed, but they're toning it down. We'll see..

[spideyboy_1111]

Pete Berg said they did, but now cut it out. The film has got an 'R' rating twice by the MPAA. I think they should go all out on the irriverence of the film and bring back Pete Berg's original cut and release it with an 'R' rating.

Will Smith + controverse film + action + comedy + Charlize Theron = GREAT PUBLICITY.

Was the comedy still irriverent as originally intended in the cut you saw, spidey?

the movie started off with most the comedy, then the last 30 minutes became tooo melodramady... I really don't see how this movie could be rated R...

[the a1ant]

Yes, in the end it probably won't be R, but Sony has had to cut and re-cut the film because the MPAA kept giving it an R. This is why folks are talking about R-rated scenes in the film. The version you saw may have been another different edit...who knows...

[Symbiotic]

From the sound of the AICN review, it seems like the movie's gonna be a mess.

[spideyboy_1111]

From the sound of the AICN review, it seems like the movie's gonna be a mess.

its a huge mess.. read my review

[spideyboy_1111]

Yes, in the end it probably won't be R, but Sony has had to cut and re-cut the film because the MPAA kept giving it an R. This is why folks are talking about R-rated scenes in the film. The version you saw may have been another different edit...who knows...

i personally think and R rating would only hurt this film more

[Gotham]

Genuinely good concept. Hate to see it wasted.

[spideyboy_1111]

Genuinely good concept. Hate to see it wasted.

the first half is a good concept.. the 2nd half not so much... it got lost in 2 good concepts.. when it shoulda been one

[Symbiotic]

its a huge mess.. read my review*reads* Yikes. You know, I think I'll skip the theater viewing on this one.

[spideyboy_1111]

*reads* Yikes. You know, I think I'll skip the theater viewing on this one.

its a popcorn flick... you take nothing away from it but a few one-liner jokes.

Its Super-EX gf meets superman returns *yawn* lol but with actual good acting... yet mess of a story at the end

[Attikus]

Thought you guys might enjoy this...

Saw a super-secret advance screening of Hancock yesterday at the Bridge in L.A. Both producer Akiva Goldsman and Sony head Amy Pascal were in attendance. Akiva was looking mighty nervous as the movie was about to unspool... you see, this was a surprise screening for the common folks and not an industry event. No one in the audience knew which film they were seeing as they filed into the room...but everyone was secretly hoping it was the THE DARK KNIGHT. When one of the studio lackeys announced that the film we were seeing was Hancock the reaction was, to say the least, subdued. The usual pre-amble followed about how the effects were not totally rendered, some shots were not color corrected, etc.

Well, Mr. Goldman was right to be nervous... the film is an unmitigated mess... SPOILERS AHEAD--

I mean it. If you want to stay pure and not know a thing about slick Willie's Hancock then now's the time to go back to GTA4.

All right, for those of us still interested:

It opens with slick Willie on the roof of an LA building drunk as a skunk while a radio voice-over tells us in an obvious heavy exposition sequence what an ******* Hancock is... more public nuissance than hero, blah-blah... Hancock walks off the building and slams into the asphalt below destroying the pavement and several cars... he causes lots of property damage throughout the film (it kinda gets redundant, we get it he's a drunk, move on)... as Hancock lays on the smashed concrete while he's smashed from the all the alcohol consumption, a homeless guy walks up to him and calls him an ******* (I can't remember the last time I heard that expletive so often in a big budget summer film)... basically the film spends the next 30 minutes showing us what an ******* Will smith can be...

We cut to the scene in the trailer when he lands in the back of car being chased by cops on Highway, the asian robbers shoot Hancock, bullets bounce off him and Hancock pulls a Fred Flinstone, punching his feet through the floor of the car and bringing it to a halt. He lifts the car into the sky and impales it on the Capitol Records building... what an *******.

Then Hancock goes to a bar and gets even more drunk, it kinda reminded me of the scene in the excrable Superman 3 when Supes got wasted and started flicking peanuts at the mirrored wall. Anyhow, he's approached by a gorgeous African American girl who comes onto him hard core. Hancock brings her back to his lair-- two nasty, dilapidated motor homes that were stuck together and Hancock precedes to show her his... well, you're not gonna believe this part but he tells the chick that she has to get away from him when he's about to blow his load (the actual quote was "when I climb the mountain")... and then we cut to the exterior shot of the two motor homes rocking like crazy. Willie was giving her his hancock (I know I couldn't resist). Then we cut back inside and the girl flies across the room. Then three large baseball-sized holes are poked through the ceiling of the motor home like gunshots. Yup, this is a first in cinematic history. We get to see the results of super-ejaculate. I never thought I would see super-semen on the big screen... then again, the movie was at one time supposed to be called TONIGHT HE COMES. It all kinda makes sense now. I didn't know wether to laugh or cry... this was preposterous... it was at this point that I knew this was a debacle in the making... the conversation that Jason Lee spoke about in Mallrats which was intended to poke fun at a Superman type hero was actually committed to film. This was definitely a "what the **** were they thinking moment" if ever I saw one. The problem with this film is that it doesn't know if it wants to be a comedy or a serious action film. Maybe they never knew. But the film only got worse as it went along. The only bright spot was Jason Bateman. God bless Bateman for actually being the grouding force of goodness and smart humor in this mess... although, the way Hancock meets Bateman is cliched. Bateman's car is stuck on the train tracks while a train is careening toward him. A drunken Hancock saves Bateman but not before causing yet more property damage, which upsets the folks at the scene of the accident. Bateman invites Hancock to his house to meet his wife Charlize Theron and his adorable kid (the kid was great, Charlize did the best with her very underdeveloped role). There's an immediate weirdness and wariness between Charlize and Hancock (more on that later).

Bateman is a publicist with big kind heart... the kind of PR schlub that only exist in movies but you buy it because Bateman's so good. He offers to polish Hancock's image. Hancock ultimately takes the offer. Batemen tells Hancock that step 1 is to turn yourself in to the cops. Let the world miss you and then they will come begging for your services. Hancock reluctantly agrees. The whole thing about sending a superbeing to jail was a stupid idea... he can bust out at any moment but I digress. In jail, Hancock encounters many old enemies that he actually put there and then in an altercation, hancock actually shoves an inmates head into another inmates ass... you actually see this!!! You actually see a guy's head in another guys ass! And hilarity ensues. I just could not believe what I was seeing.

Later, a bank robbery occurs with many hostages and a massive shootout. The mayor calls on Hancock for help. In jail, Hancock rises, shaves his scruffy beard with his fingernails and puts on his nifty new supersuit (which looks like a leftover from the X-men franchise). Way to be original, costume design team.

Hancock confronts the redneck madman who has a pressure bomb trigger in his hand. If he let's go of the trigger everyone goes boom!. Hancock severs the bomber's hand saving everyone. The city is grateful, the cops are grateful and so begins Hancock's road to redemption and public image glory.

Also, throughout the film we see FLASHBACKS that show Hancock running thorough a rainy forest with a child in his arms. We always see the same flashback multiple times in the film with a voice-over by Smith about dying vs imoortality but get this-- the Flashbacks are never resolved or explained. i almost felt like I missed something. Like there was a reel missing (hell, maybe there is). It was exactly like the Flashbacks in BATMAN Forever (another Akiva masterpiece) in which little Bruce Wayne keeps seeing a diary beside his parents two coffins... but we never found out what was in the damn diary that so traumatised little Brucie!

Anyway, Bateman and his wife Charlize take Hancock to a fancy restaurant to celebrate his rehabilitated image. At the restaurant, hancock explains that he's not an alien, he's human... the last thing he remembers was waking up in hospital 80 years ago with two tickets to the movie Frankenstein in his pocket, but no other memory. More weirdness between Charlize and Willcock.

Later that night, they all return to Bateman's home. bateman is passed out drunk. Charlize is alone in the kitchen with Hancock. Hancock is about to kiss her when she suddenly picks him up and throws Hancock out the window with vicious force. OH MY GOD, Charlize is a superhero too!!! This is the big twist. Charlize later reveals that she and Will are descendants of Gods or Angels... she was at one time Isis. She also reveals that they were once husband and wife! We also find out that they are each others respective kryptonites. The more time they spend together, the weaker and more mortal they become... so they need to stay apart. She was at the movies with Willcock 80 years ago. They were on the raod to mortality when Will saw a man getting mugged. Will intervened and got clocked in the skull. He lost his memory and Charlize decided to disappear from his life because the world needs one hero-- Hancock!

Willcock wants his wife(Charlize) back and vows to destroy every living thing to get her (this is never really explored or developes but could have been very cool). It leads to a huge showdown between Will and Charlize... more needless property damage. Charlize is stronger than him. Bateman finds out that his wife is a superbeing. He's pissed. Bateman accuses Willcock of being selfish because he wants Bateman's life. Depressed, Hancock goes to a liquor store and buys more booze only to thwart a robbery in progress, except this time the bullets don't bounce off him. He's gunned down and bleeding. He's rushed to the hospital. Bateman and Charlize show up to. This is the climax of the film, so the mad bomber from the bank with the severed hand escapes from Jail and heads to the hospital. Hancock is in a hospital bed, Charlize by his side when the Bomber and his cronies show up and shoot Charlize. She's bleeding and dying. Willcock suddenly gets his suprestregnt back (I have no idea how since they're supposed to be each others kryptonite... I'm still not sure about the rules in this movie).

The doctor's are trying to rescusitate Charlize while Willcock fights the baddies... but the closer Charlize is to death the stronger Will gets... but if she gets better Will gets weaker... to be honest, it was all very muddy and needs to be better explained or edited... I was confused. Anyway, Will throws all the baddies out the windows except for the big villain who is knocked out by an angry Bateman who in turn saves Willcock.

Willcock sees that Charlize is dying and he jumps out of the hospital trying to get as far away from her as possible so she can regain her strenght/immortality/whatever. In the end, bateman and Charlize are together and happy while Hancock is in New York sitting atop the Chrysler building saving lives in the big apple.

In my humble opinion, if the filmmakers want to save this film, drop all the silly stuff, like the super-ejaculation, the inmates head in the ass, and the lousy opening sequence and just stick to a straight forward action film... otherwise this will be Will Smith's first box office dud since WILD WILD WEST.

But what really infuriates me is that with all the resources at their disposal, no one knew what film they were making. This film is the equivalent of being tone deaf. Don't get me wrong, I think Will Smith is an entertaning actor but this film, as is, does not work. Hence, the panic I was reading on the executives faces after the screening. This film is not as dark as it thinks it is and not as funny as it thinks it is. It's right down the middle and that's a dangerous place to be. IRON MAN got the tone right. The DARK KNIGHT knows exactly what it wants to be. HANCOCK is going into the most competitve summer season since the glorious summer of 1989 Half-Cocked.

You may call me,

MARLOWE

[Gotham]

There's actually a huge thread about Hancock. I think this will be moved.

[GhostPoet]

I don't buy it. I'll still see it. :)

[jewing3]

I can't believe this. I was supposed to go to the preview last night but we ended up getting there late because I don't have a car and had to wait on my friend. We got to the front of the line and they asked us our age and said "Sorry guys, not happening tonight." Then they let the older people behind us in to see the movie. I bet I was the only person in that line honestly wishing and hoping that it was going to be Hancock and then I don't get in. Just my luck.

I'm not going to read any of your reviews because I still plan on seeing it on June 2, but it seems like the reactions are really mixed over this movie. Everyone agrees the acting is good but in terms of the story, I have heard some people enjoyed it and some people hated it.

BTW, Attikus, what time did you get in line last night? I wasn't there until about 6 but I had planned on getting there at like 5:30 originally

[spideyboy_1111]

Thought you guys might enjoy this...

Saw a super-secret advance screening of Hancock yesterday at the Bridge in L.A. Both producer Akiva Goldsman and Sony head Amy Pascal were in attendance. Akiva was looking mighty nervous as the movie was about to unspool... you see, this was a surprise screening for the common folks and not an industry event. No one in the audience knew which film they were seeing as they filed into the room...but everyone was secretly hoping it was the THE DARK KNIGHT. When one of the studio lackeys announced that the film we were seeing was Hancock the reaction was, to say the least, subdued. The usual pre-amble followed about how the effects were not totally rendered, some shots were not color corrected, etc.

Well, Mr. Goldman was right to be nervous... the film is an unmitigated mess... SPOILERS AHEAD--

I mean it. If you want to stay pure and not know a thing about slick Willie's Hancock then now's the time to go back to GTA4.

All right, for those of us still interested:

It opens with slick Willie on the roof of an LA building drunk as a skunk while a radio voice-over tells us in an obvious heavy exposition sequence what an ******* Hancock is... more public nuissance than hero, blah-blah... Hancock walks off the building and slams into the asphalt below destroying the pavement and several cars... he causes lots of property damage throughout the film (it kinda gets redundant, we get it he's a drunk, move on)... as Hancock lays on the smashed concrete while he's smashed from the all the alcohol consumption, a homeless guy walks up to him and calls him an ******* (I can't remember the last time I heard that expletive so often in a big budget summer film)... basically the film spends the next 30 minutes showing us what an ******* Will smith can be...

We cut to the scene in the trailer when he lands in the back of car being chased by cops on Highway, the asian robbers shoot Hancock, bullets bounce off him and Hancock pulls a Fred Flinstone, punching his feet through the floor of the car and bringing it to a halt. He lifts the car into the sky and impales it on the Capitol Records building... what an *******.

Then Hancock goes to a bar and gets even more drunk, it kinda reminded me of the scene in the excrable Superman 3 when Supes got wasted and started flicking peanuts at the mirrored wall. Anyhow, he's approached by a gorgeous African American girl who comes onto him hard core. Hancock brings her back to his lair-- two nasty, dilapidated motor homes that were stuck together and Hancock precedes to show her his... well, you're not gonna believe this part but he tells the chick that she has to get away from him when he's about to blow his load (the actual quote was "when I climb the mountain")... and then we cut to the exterior shot of the two motor homes rocking like crazy. Willie was giving her his hancock (I know I couldn't resist). Then we cut back inside and the girl flies across the room. Then three large baseball-sized holes are poked through the ceiling of the motor home like gunshots. Yup, this is a first in cinematic history. We get to see the results of super-ejaculate. I never thought I would see super-semen on the big screen... then again, the movie was at one time supposed to be called TONIGHT HE COMES. It all kinda makes sense now. I didn't know wether to laugh or cry... this was preposterous... it was at this point that I knew this was a debacle in the making... the conversation that Jason Lee spoke about in Mallrats which was intended to poke fun at a Superman type hero was actually committed to film. This was definitely a "what the **** were they thinking moment" if ever I saw one. The problem with this film is that it doesn't know if it wants to be a comedy or a serious action film. Maybe they never knew. But the film only got worse as it went along. The only bright spot was Jason Bateman. God bless Bateman for actually being the grouding force of goodness and smart humor in this mess... although, the way Hancock meets Bateman is cliched. Bateman's car is stuck on the train tracks while a train is careening toward him. A drunken Hancock saves Bateman but not before causing yet more property damage, which upsets the folks at the scene of the accident. Bateman invites Hancock to his house to meet his wife Charlize Theron and his adorable kid (the kid was great, Charlize did the best with her very underdeveloped role). There's an immediate weirdness and wariness between Charlize and Hancock (more on that later).

Bateman is a publicist with big kind heart... the kind of PR schlub that only exist in movies but you buy it because Bateman's so good. He offers to polish Hancock's image. Hancock ultimately takes the offer. Batemen tells Hancock that step 1 is to turn yourself in to the cops. Let the world miss you and then they will come begging for your services. Hancock reluctantly agrees. The whole thing about sending a superbeing to jail was a stupid idea... he can bust out at any moment but I digress. In jail, Hancock encounters many old enemies that he actually put there and then in an altercation, hancock actually shoves an inmates head into another inmates ass... you actually see this!!! You actually see a guy's head in another guys ass! And hilarity ensues. I just could not believe what I was seeing.

Later, a bank robbery occurs with many hostages and a massive shootout. The mayor calls on Hancock for help. In jail, Hancock rises, shaves his scruffy beard with his fingernails and puts on his nifty new supersuit (which looks like a leftover from the X-men franchise). Way to be original, costume design team.

Hancock confronts the redneck madman who has a pressure bomb trigger in his hand. If he let's go of the trigger everyone goes boom!. Hancock severs the bomber's hand saving everyone. The city is grateful, the cops are grateful and so begins Hancock's road to redemption and public image glory.

Also, throughout the film we see FLASHBACKS that show Hancock running thorough a rainy forest with a child in his arms. We always see the same flashback multiple times in the film with a voice-over by Smith about dying vs imoortality but get this-- the Flashbacks are never resolved or explained. i almost felt like I missed something. Like there was a reel missing (hell, maybe there is). It was exactly like the Flashbacks in BATMAN Forever (another Akiva masterpiece) in which little Bruce Wayne keeps seeing a diary beside his parents two coffins... but we never found out what was in the damn diary that so traumatised little Brucie!

Anyway, Bateman and his wife Charlize take Hancock to a fancy restaurant to celebrate his rehabilitated image. At the restaurant, hancock explains that he's not an alien, he's human... the last thing he remembers was waking up in hospital 80 years ago with two tickets to the movie Frankenstein in his pocket, but no other memory. More weirdness between Charlize and Willcock.

Later that night, they all return to Bateman's home. bateman is passed out drunk. Charlize is alone in the kitchen with Hancock. Hancock is about to kiss her when she suddenly picks him up and throws Hancock out the window with vicious force. OH MY GOD, Charlize is a superhero too!!! This is the big twist. Charlize later reveals that she and Will are descendants of Gods or Angels... she was at one time Isis. She also reveals that they were once husband and wife! We also find out that they are each others respective kryptonites. The more time they spend together, the weaker and more mortal they become... so they need to stay apart. She was at the movies with Willcock 80 years ago. They were on the raod to mortality when Will saw a man getting mugged. Will intervened and got clocked in the skull. He lost his memory and Charlize decided to disappear from his life because the world needs one hero-- Hancock!

Willcock wants his wife(Charlize) back and vows to destroy every living thing to get her (this is never really explored or developes but could have been very cool). It leads to a huge showdown between Will and Charlize... more needless property damage. Charlize is stronger than him. Bateman finds out that his wife is a superbeing. He's pissed. Bateman accuses Willcock of being selfish because he wants Bateman's life. Depressed, Hancock goes to a liquor store and buys more booze only to thwart a robbery in progress, except this time the bullets don't bounce off him. He's gunned down and bleeding. He's rushed to the hospital. Bateman and Charlize show up to. This is the climax of the film, so the mad bomber from the bank with the severed hand escapes from Jail and heads to the hospital. Hancock is in a hospital bed, Charlize by his side when the Bomber and his cronies show up and shoot Charlize. She's bleeding and dying. Willcock suddenly gets his suprestregnt back (I have no idea how since they're supposed to be each others kryptonite... I'm still not sure about the rules in this movie).

The doctor's are trying to rescusitate Charlize while Willcock fights the baddies... but the closer Charlize is to death the stronger Will gets... but if she gets better Will gets weaker... to be honest, it was all very muddy and needs to be better explained or edited... I was confused. Anyway, Will throws all the baddies out the windows except for the big villain who is knocked out by an angry Bateman who in turn saves Willcock.

Willcock sees that Charlize is dying and he jumps out of the hospital trying to get as far away from her as possible so she can regain her strenght/immortality/whatever. In the end, bateman and Charlize are together and happy while Hancock is in New York sitting atop the Chrysler building saving lives in the big apple.

In my humble opinion, if the filmmakers want to save this film, drop all the silly stuff, like the super-ejaculation, the inmates head in the ass, and the lousy opening sequence and just stick to a straight forward action film... otherwise this will be Will Smith's first box office dud since WILD WILD WEST.

But what really infuriates me is that with all the resources at their disposal, no one knew what film they were making. This film is the equivalent of being tone deaf. Don't get me wrong, I think Will Smith is an entertaning actor but this film, as is, does not work. Hence, the panic I was reading on the executives faces after the screening. This film is not as dark as it thinks it is and not as funny as it thinks it is. It's right down the middle and that's a dangerous place to be. IRON MAN got the tone right. The DARK KNIGHT knows exactly what it wants to be. HANCOCK is going into the most competitve summer season since the glorious summer of 1989 Half-Cocked.

You may call me,

MARLOWE

ha! you were there with me?

ooo nvm.. the AICN guy was there....

I do agree with him though, and for a packed theater, the crowds reactions weren't good

[BlackLantern]

Its called satire....the suit is supposed to look like a ripoff of something...have people just gone retarded this movie season??

[spideyboy_1111]

Its called satire....the suit is supposed to look like a ripoff of something...have people just gone retarded this movie season??

dude, the movie is retarded...

its starts off as a comedy and becomes a soap opera... it doesn't know where it's going and has 2 good ideas... problem is those 2 good ideas arn't executed 100% and derail eachother

[jewing3]

I've read that the original script for Tonight He Comes is out there somewhere? Could someone PM me if they know where I might find it?

I've become much more interested in what this movie was supposed to be. After reading through some reviews, I hope they release it with an R rating...

[BlackLantern]

I don't bother with AICN anymore...all they do is whine and complain...and insult anyone who genuinely likes anything....cries of "PLANT!!!" and "childhood raping" are frequent there.

[spideyboy_1111]

I've read that the original script for Tonight He Comes is out there somewhere? Could someone PM me if they know where I might find it?

I've become much more interested in what this movie was supposed to be. After reading through some reviews, I hope they release it with an R rating...

The movie i guarantee wont be R rated... even if they filmed some darker scenes, they wouldn't fit with the rest of the movie and it's not enough time to re shoot 50% of it.. hell even 10% is too late to re shoot

[jewing3]

^yeah, but the MPAA has already rated it R twice so they are obviously already having trouble getting a PG-13 slapped on it

[spideyboy_1111]

^yeah, but the MPAA has already rated it R twice so they are obviously already having trouble getting a PG-13 slapped on it

the version was saw was PG-13... and to be honest an R rating would have made the movie worse

[Savage]

the version was saw was PG-13... and to be honest an R rating would have made the movie worse

My guess is that's the reason it felt like a mess. Maybe a lot of scenes integral to the movie were cut. I know for a fact it happened with Daredevil in order to get a PG-13 rating.

[terry78]

This may be the first time I hear people on here actually lobbying for a lower rating.

[spideyboy_1111]

This may be the first time I hear people on here actually lobbying for a lower rating.

well if it got an R rating it would only be for a scene or 2 that's been cut out... which imo wouldn't fit the rest of the movie.

[spideyboy_1111]

My guess is that's the reason it felt like a mess. Maybe a lot of scenes integral to the movie were cut. I know for a fact it happened with Daredevil in order to get a PG-13 rating.

it's really hard to explain if you hadn't scene it.. but the way the movie is set up, the R rating just seems out of place... even with a scene or 2 added it wouldn't even help with the confusing parts

[spideyboy_1111]

and again, the movie is a decent flick.. not great.. OK, but not great. id give it a 6.5-7 out of 10... i enjoyed it more then irobot and I am legend which i felt both of those sucked

[the a1ant]

I liked iRobot and I Am Legend, so guess I'll like Hancock too. Hopefully they can fix any screw-ups with this film before release, and maybe find a smoother transition from comedy to drama. I recall reviews on IMDB also stated that the very dramatic elements towards the end sorta came out of nowhere. They've been doing quite a bit of screenings and getting feedback, so heres hoping to a good outcome from all of that.

[spideyboy_1111]

I liked iRobot and I Am Legend, so guess I'll like Hancock too. Hopefully they can fix any screw-ups with this film before release, and maybe find a smoother transition from comedy to drama. I recall reviews on IMDB also stated that the very dramatic elements towards the end sorta came out of nowhere. They've been doing quite a bit of screenings and getting feedback, so heres hoping to a good outcome from all of that.

ya... it was kinda like my super ex gf in the first half.. and then the comedy leaves and it becomes super(emo)man returns but with more action

[spideyboy_1111]

http://www.sonypictures.jp/movies/hancock/

so this is pretty much all you need to see of the movie... lol the footage shown is pretty much all the funny parts in the movie and pretty much the summary of the whole first half...

throw in a super powered Charlize and there conveluted origin, a fight scene between the 2 and a 2nd idea that wasn't needed and soap opera melo-drama and there you have the movie...

[fabman]

well if it got an R rating it would only be for a scene or 2 that's been cut out... which imo wouldn't fit the rest of the movie.

It doesn't work like that... it's not like they cut out only two scenes... often they tone down and trim the scenes that end up in the flick. So you can't know how the original cut is / would be.

[Savage]

Yeah, at times it could be taking out entire subplots like that statutory rape thing. Daredevil removed an entire story about a prostitute which actually had a lot to do with the main plot and once removed the movie just felt like an empty series of random events.

[dark_b]

looks like producers are getting cold feet.
this will not end good.

[Savage]

They should just go ahead and release the movie they wanted to make. To hell with producers and their PG-13 for more money.

[BlackLantern]

They should just go ahead and release the movie they wanted to make. To hell with producers and their PG-13 for more money.

the producers work for the studio and the studio cuts the checks...so saying 'go to hell' is hardly an option..

[Savage]

In this case it is. Make a good movie and people will see it. Quality determines a movie's staying power.

[Retroman]

It's amazing how fast the mood in this thread changed after a couple negative reviews. Let's wait until we see the movie to judge if it's good or not. That's what i'll be doing.:o
I liked iRobot and I Am Legend, so guess I'll like Hancock too. Hopefully they can fix any screw-ups with this film before release, and maybe find a smoother transition from comedy to drama. I recall reviews on IMDB also stated that the very dramatic elements towards the end sorta came out of nowhere. They've been doing quite a bit of screenings and getting feedback, so heres hoping to a good outcome from all of that.
The fact that they are screening it tells me they are looking to make it the best possible movie they can.
Yeah, at times it could be taking out entire subplots like that statutory rape thing. Daredevil removed an entire story about a prostitute which actually had a lot to do with the main plot and once removed the movie just felt like an empty series of random events.
Bingo!:up:

[KenK]

Yeah, at times it could be taking out entire subplots like that statutory rape thing. Daredevil removed an entire story about a prostitute which actually had a lot to do with the main plot and once removed the movie just felt like an empty series of random events.

Exactly. Every reference to Matt and Foggy having something court-related to do in the theatrical version tied into that subplot!

Also funny that, despite getting a lower rating for the film, a love scene was ADDED to the Theatrical version!! :woot:

[Retroman]

Hancock standee at at theatre in Maine, courtesy of Nebulant (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebulant/). According to him it took about 6 hours to finish, and its huge!


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2477924010_37b25727d3_b.jpg

SOURCE LINK:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebulant/2477924010/

[GL1]

Which is why, like DD, this movie will be a LOT better on DVD.

Hopefully they can pull something out of their butts to make the dramatic elements at the end of the movie make sense in PG-13...

[Cinemaman]

It reminds me T3 times, when trailers looks awesome, but the film itself completely sucked :( :down

[the a1ant]

http://www.bestbuy.com/summer/index.html#

**Under the 'Hot Offers and Sweepstakes' section**

There's a sweepstakes beginning tomorrow (May 11) at Best Buy for HANCOCK. Enter by June 7 for a chance to attend the movie premiere in Los Angeles and a private party with the cast.

[milesaway]

Umm, I don't know what this guy is on about but I completely loved this movie, Though I can clearly see why some people would hate it seeing as brain dead cinema is what's in at the moment ala Cloverfield, e.t.c, the last act was what made it for me, it was the perfect blend of action, comedy and drama, not to mention incredible acting from the 3 leads. The final themes of the last act was what sold it for me and apparently that's what most of this other users hated. Hancock esentially is a confused, lonely, and self hating troubled soul, the hospital Climax was brilliant, you also got to feel the pain of Bateman's character an every day guy who suddenly has to deal with the betrayal of a friend(Hancock), and you could get to see the frustrations of his character a superhuman man is trying to steal your wife from you how do you compete, do you even stand a chance. The last act ends with two people who love each other so much but can't be together, the last act is pretty sad, romantic and dramatic all at the same time, If you love watching Dramas, then this last act will be the breath taking deal clincher for you, if you are one of those ADD viewers looking for just some dumb action Movie true and true and can't stomach a movie that dares to break away from the cliche patterns viewers have grown accustomed to, then stay home. This is definitely my favorite will smith movie, Jason Bateman is the glue that really holds this together, I'd say he's the heart of the movie. It has great action sequences, great Laughs, and a pretty damn good kleenex moment, and they all work in my opinion. I'd rate the movie an 8/10, I can't wait to see it agian in July 2nd, and see what they changed.

[hammerhedd11]

Umm, I don't know what this guy is on about but I completely loved this movie, Though I can clearly see why some people would hate it seeing as brain dead cinema is what's in at the moment ala Cloverfield, e.t.c, the last act was what made it for me, it was the perfect blend of action, comedy and drama, not to mention incredible acting from the 3 leads. The final themes of the last act was what sold it for me and apparently that's what most of this other users hated. Hancock esentially is a confused, lonely, and self hating troubled soul, the hospital Climax was brilliant, you also got to feel the pain of Bateman's character an every day guy who suddenly has to deal with the betrayal of a friend(Hancock), and you could get to see the frustrations of his character a superhuman man is trying to steal your wife from you how do you compete, do you even stand a chance. The last act ends with two people who love each other so much but can't be together, the last act is pretty sad, romantic and dramatic all at the same time, If you love watching Dramas, then this last act will be the breath taking deal clincher for you, if you are one of those ADD viewers looking for just some dumb action Movie true and true and can't stomach a movie that dares to break away from the cliche patterns viewers have grown accustomed to, then stay home. This is definitely my favorite will smith movie, Jason Bateman is the glue that really holds this together, I'd say he's the heart of the movie. It has great action sequences, great Laughs, and a pretty damn good kleenex moment, and they all work in my opinion. I'd rate the movie an 8/10, I can't wait to see it agian in July 2nd, and see what they changed.

....what? Have you even seen it?:whatever:

[milesaway]

Yes,:cwink:

[The Apatow Crew]

I saw the tv spot for this at the movies today. It looked great on the big screen.

[milesaway]

I saw the tv spot for this at the movies today. It looked great on the big screen.

i'v e yet to see a trailer of this movie at the movies, what movie did you see it with.

[The Apatow Crew]

i'v e yet to see a trailer of this movie at the movies, what movie did you see it with.No it was just playing before the previews played. I go to regal cinemas and they have a 20 min thing called first look and they showed the tv spot.

[Superhobo]

Yes,:cwink:

Yes...wink?

Is this supposed to imply you didn't see it, or something?

[The Apatow Crew]

Hancock standee at at theatre in Maine, courtesy of Nebulant (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebulant/). According to him it took about 6 hours to finish, and its huge!


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2477924010_37b25727d3_b.jpg

SOURCE LINK:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebulant/2477924010/

My theater has one of these in the lobby. Its right next to a Hellboy 2 stand thingy. its almost as your leaving you see it on the left exiting.

[milesaway]

Yes...wink?

Is this supposed to imply you didn't see it, or something?


No, WTF, it's to Imply that I have seen it, why would i say I have seen it when I haven't, Is today opposite day?

[the a1ant]

Hancock standee at at theatre in Maine, courtesy of Nebulant. According to him it took about 6 hours to finish, and its huge!

SOURCE LINK:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebulant/2477924010/

I hope they release a serious-looking poster with him in his costume, showing the eagle design on his back. They'll probably just have comedic posters though.

Umm, I don't know what this guy is on about but I completely loved this movie, Though I can clearly see why some people would hate it seeing as brain dead cinema is what's in at the moment ala Cloverfield, e.t.c, the last act was what made it for me, it was the perfect blend of action, comedy and drama, not to mention incredible acting from the 3 leads. The final themes of the last act was what sold it for me and apparently that's what most of this other users hated. Hancock esentially is a confused, lonely, and self hating troubled soul, the hospital Climax was brilliant, you also got to feel the pain of Bateman's character an every day guy who suddenly has to deal with the betrayal of a friend(Hancock), and you could get to see the frustrations of his character a superhuman man is trying to steal your wife from you how do you compete, do you even stand a chance. The last act ends with two people who love each other so much but can't be together, the last act is pretty sad, romantic and dramatic all at the same time, If you love watching Dramas, then this last act will be the breath taking deal clincher for you, if you are one of those ADD viewers looking for just some dumb action Movie true and true and can't stomach a movie that dares to break away from the cliche patterns viewers have grown accustomed to, then stay home. This is definitely my favorite will smith movie, Jason Bateman is the glue that really holds this together, I'd say he's the heart of the movie. It has great action sequences, great Laughs, and a pretty damn good kleenex moment, and they all work in my opinion. I'd rate the movie an 8/10, I can't wait to see it agian in July 2nd, and see what they changed.

Cool :up: I know some reviewers said they didn't like the 'out of the blue' transition to the drama, but I'm glad this isn't just a straight-up comedy, like the previews would have you believe. Hopefully the transition from comedy to drama will be made smoother in additional editing.

[carrrnuttt]

....what? Have you even seen it?:whatever:

If you're rolling your eyes about Cloverfield, he does have a point. Though the depth of the movie as far as figuring things out once you have seen it is undeniable, as a movie/as seen in theatres, the movie did not require your brain to be on whatsoever, for you to enjoy it as a flick. In my humble opinion, anyhow.

This is why Iron Man is almost universally loved. Brain on or off, it's still an enjoyable movie. I guess the sudden drop to drama and seriousness in this movie is considered a negative fallout for those wanting an "ADD-type movie," as milesaway described. And you can't blame those expecting it either, considering Will Smith can evoke those expectations.

[Gotham]

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/05/10/hancock-reshoots-in-times-square/

Hancock reshoots.

Reshooting a few scenes?

[the a1ant]

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/05/10/hancock-reshoots-in-times-square/

Hancock reshoots.

Reshooting a few scenes?

So glad to hear that :up: :up:

**

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat150800050000&type=category

New Contest

Enter for a chance to win a VIP trip to the HANCOCK premiere!

Best Buy is giving away 25 trips for 2 to give you a chance to celebrate Summer like a celebrity. Winners receive:

*Airfare and 2-night stay in Los Angeles.
*Tickets to the premiere and after-party.
*A private Best Buy party with the cast of HANCOCK.
*$500 in spending money!

[The Apatow Crew]

Iwas on the site looking at the weeks deals and saw that and filled it out.:yay:

[the a1ant]

Iwas on the site looking at the weeks deals and saw that and filled it out.:yay:

It's limit one entry a day, so I'm going to fill one out each day :p

[BlackLantern]

It's limit one entry a day, so I'm going to fill one out each day :p

Thats' amusing and sad all at the same time....

[The Apatow Crew]

Thats just like the guy buying 100 lotto tixs and not winning anything while the one guy who just gets one wins the lotto. lol.

[the a1ant]

That's what always seems to happen. :p And I didn't literally mean every single day. I was being a bit sarcastic, sheesh! :D

[spideyboy_1111]

Yeah, at times it could be taking out entire subplots like that statutory rape thing. Daredevil removed an entire story about a prostitute which actually had a lot to do with the main plot and once removed the movie just felt like an empty series of random events.

ya but that was noticably missing... there were gaping plot holes.. like "how did the police know to go for kingpin? and where was coolio from the trailer. this had no gaping confusion holes... just a train wreck origin... only thing that could have helped would have been Charlize talking to Will more.. which would have nothing to do with an R rated scene.. it would have actually added to the confusion

[spideyboy_1111]

They should just go ahead and release the movie they wanted to make. To hell with producers and their PG-13 for more money.

then they best go back to filming.. which there not going to do

[spideyboy_1111]

It's amazing how fast the mood in this thread changed after a couple negative reviews. Let's wait until we see the movie to judge if it's good or not. That's what i'll be doing.:o

The fact that they are screening it tells me they are looking to make it the best possible movie they can.

Bingo!:up:

actually screenings usually indicate that a studio is unsure of a movie... so they bring in the GA to watch it.. and attempt to fix whats broken. (if possible). usually its just cutting scenes, and working with timing and editing. Usually a movie with a screening means the studio is aware they may have garbage on there hands.

[CrypticOne]

Hancock standee at at theatre in Maine, courtesy of Nebulant (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebulant/). According to him it took about 6 hours to finish, and its huge!


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2477924010_37b25727d3_b.jpg

SOURCE LINK:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebulant/2477924010/

HA! This is pretty cool.

[spideyboy_1111]

Umm, I don't know what this guy is on about but I completely loved this movie, Though I can clearly see why some people would hate it seeing as brain dead cinema is what's in at the moment ala Cloverfield, e.t.c, the last act was what made it for me, it was the perfect blend of action, comedy and drama, not to mention incredible acting from the 3 leads. The final themes of the last act was what sold it for me and apparently that's what most of this other users hated. Hancock esentially is a confused, lonely, and self hating troubled soul, the hospital Climax was brilliant, you also got to feel the pain of Bateman's character an every day guy who suddenly has to deal with the betrayal of a friend(Hancock), and you could get to see the frustrations of his character a superhuman man is trying to steal your wife from you how do you compete, do you even stand a chance. The last act ends with two people who love each other so much but can't be together, the last act is pretty sad, romantic and dramatic all at the same time, If you love watching Dramas, then this last act will be the breath taking deal clincher for you, if you are one of those ADD viewers looking for just some dumb action Movie true and true and can't stomach a movie that dares to break away from the cliche patterns viewers have grown accustomed to, then stay home. This is definitely my favorite will smith movie, Jason Bateman is the glue that really holds this together, I'd say he's the heart of the movie. It has great action sequences, great Laughs, and a pretty damn good kleenex moment, and they all work in my opinion. I'd rate the movie an 8/10, I can't wait to see it agian in July 2nd, and see what they changed.

ummm half-cocked had some very pointless action in it... sooo i think you should step down from insulting those who didn't enjoy it. I can bash the movie all i want, but its a decent flick i've admitted that. Great? hell no... but i have no doubt some people will enjoy it... but it's nothing i've really never seen or read before. felt very generic to me. It also felt (was with a few video production majors as well who agreed) that the movie didn't know what it wanted to be. a comedy? or a drama? sure sometimes they mix, but in this case they really didnt.

[spideyboy_1111]

I hope they release a serious-looking poster with him in his costume, showing the eagle design on his back. They'll probably just have comedic posters though.



Cool :up: I know some reviewers said they didn't like the 'out of the blue' transition to the drama, but I'm glad this isn't just a straight-up comedy, like the previews would have you believe. Hopefully the transition from comedy to drama will be made smoother in additional editing.

he only has 2 scenes (both real small) with him in costume... once during a bank robbery and essentially the last scene of the "comedy" portion of the film... and once again at the very end of the film for about 2 minutes... his costume is on film i'd say for only about 15min tops

[spideyboy_1111]

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/05/10/hancock-reshoots-in-times-square/

Hancock reshoots.

Reshooting a few scenes?

THANK GOD!... this movie if they do it right, can be a great film...

[GL1]

... only thing that could have helped would have been Charlize talking to Will more.. which would have nothing to do with an R rated scene.. it would have actually added to the confusion

If you can't conceive of Will Smith and Charlize Therone can have a R-rated scene together, then you, my friend, simply lack imagination. :woot:

...but it's nothing i've really never seen or read before. felt very generic to me. It also felt (was with a few video production majors as well who agreed) that the movie didn't know what it wanted to be. a comedy? or a drama? sure sometimes they mix, but in this case they really didnt.

Wow... you can't see how cutting R-rated themes can leave a movie without cohesive direction or originality? I mean, come on, dude.

On the reshoots:
If Hancock used to wear the costume "back in the day" then his comments of "I'm not wearing that" and "It's a little tight" make more sense... and are a bit funnier.

[fabman]

THANK GOD!... this movie if they do it right, can be a great film...

Meh... I'm looking forward to the Director's Cut at this point... why do they have to ****ing water down this flick...

[dark_b]

reshoots to me personal mean that the movie will be PG13

[fabman]

reshoots to me personal mean that the movie will be PG13

Exactly. Reshoots = bad news!

[PJBoy]

http://superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=7195

[dark_b]

yeah this is bad news. they are basicly now changing the movie to make it fit the standtards. bad news IMO.

[Dark Donnie]

It was only a 12 hour shoot, and that was for a flashback scene. I doubt it will alter teh rating.

[Gotham]

yeah this is bad news. they are basicly now changing the movie to make it fit the standtards. bad news IMO.

I don't think they did that much reshooting. Nothing that would drastically alter the film, anyway.

[dark_b]

ok i didnt know that.

[Dark Donnie]

That's what some guy wrote who was in the crowd. He said it was a flashback scene cause alot of the extras were given 80's style clothes.

[dark_b]

That's what some guy wrote who was in the crowd. He said it was a flashback scene cause alot of the extras were given 80's style clothes.
yet bateman gives him the suit in the present time.

[Dark Donnie]

yet bateman gives him the suit in the present time.

Well someone brought up a point that perhaps Will wore that suit before, hence the "fits kinda tight" line or whatever it is.

[dark_b]

interesting. yeah could have been an old suit.
i giess we will have to see.

[spideyboy_1111]

If you can't conceive of Will Smith and Charlize Therone can have a R-rated scene together, then you, my friend, simply lack imagination. :woot:



Wow... you can't see how cutting R-rated themes can leave a movie without cohesive direction or originality? I mean, come on, dude.

On the reshoots:
If Hancock used to wear the costume "back in the day" then his comments of "I'm not wearing that" and "It's a little tight" make more sense... and are a bit funnier.

ummm a sex scene would have been very akward... Charlize is married to bateman's character and has a kid (not her kid, but still a kid) and doesn't end up with hancock soo it'd feel kinda akward.

I've actually seen this movie man, i know what there working with.

He didn't use to wear the costume, he doesn't remember his past at all (which is a huge plot of the film). and is given his costume by batemans character. So "back in the day" he didn't have that costume.

[spideyboy_1111]

That's what some guy wrote who was in the crowd. He said it was a flashback scene cause alot of the extras were given 80's style clothes.

which doesn't make sense, because in the cut i saw he has no memory of his past... he first realized he had powers when he woke up in a hospital 80 years ago... sooo unless he played hero in the 80's then it doesn't really make sense. esp some event had to of happened between the 80's and 00's to make him feel so depressed...

the rape scene... could possibly have been the sex/ejaculation through the roof scene... which consisted of a very horny girl wanting sex with a drunk hancock... she could have ended up being underage... she left in a hurry after hancock "finished" in the cut i saw.... him finding out she was underage could have been a possibility.

[dark_b]

thanks for the spoilers. i was really glad to read them..............sarcasm.

[spideyboy_1111]

thanks for the spoilers. i was really glad to read them..............sarcasm.

meh, its nothing huge:o half of said spoilers were in the filming report from the hype today

[the a1ant]

You should put some of that info in spoiler tags though.

Re: His past. Maybe they're adding to it with the re-shoots, and maybe he did in-fact have the costume back in the day?

There could have been more filming in secret besides the public filming in Times Square, so who knows what they're changing/adding.

Exactly. Reshoots = bad news!

Not always. Sometimes it can be a good thing for a film :up: We'll see...

[Dark Donnie]

which doesn't make sense, because in the cut i saw he has no memory of his past... he first realized he had powers when he woke up in a hospital 80 years ago... sooo unless he played hero in the 80's then it doesn't really make sense. esp some event had to of happened between the 80's and 00's to make him feel so depressed...

the rape scene... could possibly have been the sex/ejaculation through the roof scene... which consisted of a very horny girl wanting sex with a drunk hancock... she could have ended up being underage... she left in a hurry after hancock "finished" in the cut i saw.... him finding out she was underage could have been a possibility.

That's what im saying....people on set said the re shoots were flashbacks with people wearing 80's clothes

[Dark Donnie]

Set Video from Saturday

http://mymoviesdatabase.blogspot.com/2008/05/will-smiths-hancock-doing-late-reshoots.html

[PJBoy]

Set Video from Saturday

http://mymoviesdatabase.blogspot.com/2008/05/will-smiths-hancock-doing-late-reshoots.html
Nice!

[Gotham]

Set Video from Saturday

http://mymoviesdatabase.blogspot.com/2008/05/will-smiths-hancock-doing-late-reshoots.html

Very cool. :up:

[Savage]

Huh...What time was this? I was right there on saturday.

[carrrnuttt]

which doesn't make sense, because in the cut i saw he has no memory of his past... he first realized he had powers when he woke up in a hospital 80 years ago... sooo unless he played hero in the 80's then it doesn't really make sense. esp some event had to of happened between the 80's and 00's to make him feel so depressed...

Dude. Talk about turning your brain off.

According to you, and everyone else that has seen this movie, he has no memory BEYOND him waking up in hospital, 80 years ago.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the 80's is equivalent to being 80 years ago or above. You'd think he'd memories of the 80's, no? I mean, I have memories of the 80's, and I was born in the 70's. :o

And yes, there may be a chance he played hero in the 80's. I mean, he's had his power all this time, right?

:dry:

[Savage]

Chance nothing. Look at the pic in that link. It was definitely his original costume.

[carrrnuttt]

Chance nothing. Look at the pic in that link. It was definitely his original costume.

I was being facetious with that remark, in deference to this statement:

sooo unless he played hero in the 80's then it doesn't really make sense.

^All I could think of was Bill Engvall saying: "Here's your sign."

[spideyboy_1111]

Dude. Talk about turning your brain off.

According to you, and everyone else that has seen this movie, he has no memory BEYOND him waking up in hospital, 80 years ago.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the 80's is equivalent to being 80 years ago or above. You'd think he'd memories of the 80's, no? I mean, I have memories of the 80's, and I was born in the 70's. :o

And yes, there may be a chance he played hero in the 80's. I mean, he's had his power all this time, right?

:dry:

gah.... it's so frustrating talking to people who haven't seen it... yes beyond 80 years... but the cut i saw implied he's been in depression and never really played superhero. With an 80's flashback, that adds even more confusion because you now have to throw in a situation that makes him depressed. The back story that needed to be added was prior to his memories.. not post memory loss

[spideyboy_1111]

I was being facetious with that remark, in deference to this statement:



^All I could think of was Bill Engvall saying: "Here's your sign."

:o im not an idiot, ive seen the god damn movie, i, as stated am obviously aware he could have had the costume before... the movie implied it to be not so... and like i said in previous post, adding an 80's flashback doesn't solve matters.. just adds more to the problems

[carrrnuttt]

gah.... it's so frustrating talking to people who haven't seen it... yes beyond 80 years... but the cut i saw implied he's been in depression and never really played superhero. With an 80's flashback, that adds even more confusion because you now have to throw in a situation that makes him depressed. The back story that needed to be added was prior to his memories.. not post memory loss

Damn dude.

You act like you have a total grip on this movie, just because you saw an EARLY cut.

Relax your sphincter man.

Let the people actually working on this movie worry about the creative stuff, and don't worry about losing your "position of authority" with this movie, since there are actual scenes you haven't seen now. :whatever:

[spideyboy_1111]

Damn dude.

You act like you have a total grip on this movie, just because you saw an EARLY cut.

Relax your sphincter man.

Let the people actually working on this movie worry about the creative stuff, and don't worry about losing your "position of authority" with this movie, since there are actual scenes you haven't seen now. :whatever:

well i guess you just had to be there then... the execs were not happy and seemed very concerned as if they knew it was going to fail anyway... one even told me she felt it's a lost cause... so whatev... i just get tired of people acting like i don't know what i'm talking about

[dark_b]

i didnt know that there are already 4 international trailers
http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2008/DEFGH/Hancock/trailer.php

[GL1]

well i guess you just had to be there then... the execs were not happy and seemed very concerned as if they knew it was going to fail anyway... one even told me she felt it's a lost cause... so whatev... i just get tired of people acting like i don't know what i'm talking about

What you're saying doesn't lead to the conclusions you're making. It's not a trust thing or an intelligence thing, you're just giving incomplete lines of logic, that's all.

We established a while back that Peter Berg has a history of making great movies that freak out execs. Their lack of confidence, in this case, is irrelevant.

On the 80s scenes vs 80 years of inexplicable depression... In your opinion, how many lines would have to be changed to take away the implication that he had "never really played superhero?" Two lines? Three?

In your opinion, how many lines would have to be changed to imply that Bateman's Character modeled the costume on Hancock's "80s Costume?" Could an 'missing line' from the scene where gives the costume to Hancock do this?

[fabman]

On the other side, spidey... just because YOU didn't like it, it doesn't mean the movie's crap. Ever since you've seen Hancock, you made your damn opinion a FACT... You're important, we got it... Next!

[GL1]

To be fair... he did say it was a good movie, just not great.

[spideyboy_1111]

What you're saying doesn't lead to the conclusions you're making. It's not a trust thing or an intelligence thing, you're just giving incomplete lines of logic, that's all.

We established a while back that Peter Berg has a history of making great movies that freak out execs. Their lack of confidence, in this case, is irrelevant.

On the 80s scenes vs 80 years of inexplicable depression... In your opinion, how many lines would have to be changed to take away the implication that he had "never really played superhero?" Two lines? Three?

In your opinion, how many lines would have to be changed to imply that Bateman's Character modeled the costume on Hancock's "80s Costume?" Could an 'missing line' from the scene where gives the costume to Hancock do this?

playing superhero before or not is irrelevant... i honestly don't see how that part helps the movie... its charlize and han***** characters prior to 80 years ago that need to be focused on, not a random event in the 80's

[spideyboy_1111]

To be fair... he did say it was a good movie, just not great.

lol thanks for noticing :). I notice people have a really hard time taking criticism for a movie they want to see... open mind people... just remember like most movies.. what may suck to some, or even most, you may still like

[GL1]

playing superhero before or not is irrelevant... i honestly don't see how that part helps the movie... its charlize and han***** characters prior to 80 years ago that need to be focused on, not a random event in the 80's

Dang... You've just confirmed a suspicion, and I was trying to get through spoiler free-ish. Good times. I'm out before I learn too much more.

[spideyboy_1111]

lol you can see Charlize with powers flipping a truck in one of the trailers... it's hardly a secret

[dark_b]

lol you can see Charlize with powers flipping a truck in one of the trailers... it's hardly a secretno you dont see it. in the trailers you dont see who throws the truck.

[GhostPoet]

This movie is going to do amazing at the box office. Mark my words. :)

[spideyboy_1111]

This movie is going to do amazing at the box office. Mark my words. :)

all will smith movies do well at the box office.... doesn't mean there all good though. :o

[spideyboy_1111]

no you dont see it. in the trailers you dont see who throws the truck.

well if people think charlize would take this roll just to be a small character then there dumb... lol, i saw her role coming a mile away.

[GhostPoet]

all will smith movies do well at the box office.... doesn't mean there all good though. :o

I'd say I loved 90% of them. Except for Pursuit of Happiness. Which was a great movie...just not MY kind of movie....

[Dark Donnie]

Will Smith rarely if ever makes a bad film, I personally didn't like MIB2, other then that....

[Warhammer]

well if people think charlize would take this roll just to be a small character then there dumb... lol, i saw her role coming a mile away.

Sounds like a hindsight bias to me. :o

[spideyboy_1111]

Will Smith rarely if ever makes a bad film, I personally didn't like MIB2, other then that....

Liked:
Independence Day
Men in Black


Liked but overall was a bad movie:
Wild Wild West
Men in Black 2
Hitch


Hated:
Badboys
Badboys 2
Enemy of the State
I robot
I am Legend (people cared more about the dog then anyone in the movie, and the books ending was a billion times better, they bastardized it and used horrible CGI)
Hancock (i didn't hate it... but didn't love it)

Good film, but not my cup of tea:
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Ali
Pursuit of Happyness

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Maybe Bad Boys and Badboys II can go under not you're cup of tea?

I mean, they were really genre films hitting a certain demographic. Which is something alot of his films seem to do, I think.

Which makes a problem sometimes for telling how good a movie, ever since genres have become so obvious, it's as if certain flicks cater to only one type. It's just strange how that works nowadays.

Han****.

[spideyboy_1111]

Maybe Bad Boys and Badboys II can go under not you're cup of tea?

I mean, they were really genre films hitting a certain demographic. Which is something alot of his films seem to do, I think.

you realize same could be said for pretty much every movie.... :o

[GhostPoet]

Liked:
Independence Day
Men in Black


Liked but overall was a bad movie:
Wild Wild West
Men in Black 2
Hitch


Hated:
Badboys
Badboys 2
Enemy of the State
I robot
I am Legend (people cared more about the dog then anyone in the movie, and the books ending was a billion times better, they bastardized it and used horrible CGI)
Hancock (i didn't hate it... but didn't love it)

Good film, but not my cup of tea:
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Ali
Pursuit of Happyness


You hated enemy of the State, I Robot and I Am Legend!?!?!?!

Oh wow...

[Starbird]

Enemy Of the State was my fav. Will Smith movie.

[Dark Donnie]

Liked:
Independence Day
Men in Black


Liked but overall was a bad movie:
Wild Wild West
Men in Black 2
Hitch


Hated:
Badboys
Badboys 2
Enemy of the State
I robot
I am Legend (people cared more about the dog then anyone in the movie, and the books ending was a billion times better, they bastardized it and used horrible CGI)
Hancock (i didn't hate it... but didn't love it)

Good film, but not my cup of tea:
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Ali
Pursuit of Happyness

Again that is your opinion, but I would venture to say that the majority of people disagree with you:oldrazz:

I really don't know whats to hate about Bad Boys 1 or 2 to be honest. The films accomplished what they set out to do. They were entertaining action films, with some real funny moments. I don't think it set out to win oscars. Also I personally loved Enemy of the State, thought it was a pretty good thriller with good performances from Smith and Hackman.

Others, I Am Legend I thought was a good film, people get so hung up on the source material. I could honestly care less how the book ended. I enjoyed this ending. While I agree the CGI wasn't spectacular, I don't think it hindered the film. With Hitch I thought it was a good romantic comedy and Smith and Mendes had some pretty good chemistry together.

[Warhammer]

You already saw Hancock? :confused:

[Dark Donnie]

You already saw Hancock? :confused:

Yeah he saw an early screening

[Warhammer]

Ahh, gotcha. I went back and read the news of reshooting, too. Either way, I just hope the final cut is good.

[PJBoy]

Hated:
I am Legend (people cared more about the dog then anyone in the movie, and the books ending was a billion times better, they bastardized it and used horrible CGI)
Hancock (i didn't hate it... but didn't love it)
You hated I am Legend?! First one that I've seen! :whatever:

And Hancock I prefer to watch before say something.

[terry78]

I think you really have to try hard to hate Will Smith. Really, you do. Most movies he's been in, even if they bombed, he did a decent job in, he has a likeable presence. That's all that is.