Hancock (film) Hancock (film) Hancock is a 2008 American superhero comedy film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock (Smith) from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars. Eventually one person he saves, Ray Embrey (Bateman), makes it his mission to change Hancock's public image for the better. The story was originally written by Vincent Ngo in 1996. It languished in "development hell" for years and had various directors attached, including Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Jonathan Mostow, and Gabriele Muccino before
Hancock (film) Smith avoided playing Hancock "as a goofball" and instead portrayed him as a more subtle and serious character. Stephen Farber said that "Hancock" was a good showcase for the leads, affirming that Smith shone in a film that was only sporadically worthy of his performance, while Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent said that despite the mix of themes "the laughs are frequent and genuine (no forced slapstick), the fight scenes exciting and the emotional stuff quite moving ". Jim Schembri concluded that the film was "refreshing, savvy, fun and fast". He said it managed to mix comedy and action