Hancock is not your average superhero movie. Sure Hancock, played by Will Smith, is bullet proof, super strong, can fly, and has other power's. On the other hand he is also down on his luck, lives in a beat up travel trailer, and is constantly drunk. Compounding these problems he has amnesia and does not seem age.
This movie explores what happens when a superhero loses everything and spirals into depression, and what it takes to pull them out. Hancock still basically cares, but because of his depression and drinking his control of his power's is not what it should be. In addition he has also largely lost his faith in humanity. When he tries to help he ends up causing millions of dollars in damage, and people call him names.
When Hancock saves a man named Ray Embry, at the cost of a train derailment, Ray decides to help him by working on his public image. It turns out that Hancock cleans up nicely, but his inner demons are harder to deal with. When his past catches up to him, and puts his new friends in danger he is forced into examining what he is doing and the effect it has on the world around him. He realizes that being a hero is built into him, cleans up his act, and becomes the hero of legend that he had forgotten he once was.
I like this movie because it shows superheros that are not necessarily loved and have major flaws. It portrays a man searching for redemption that just happens to have incredible gifts that magnify any self destructive urges he may have. Superpowers have a lot of mental traps that are often overlooked. A single superhero would have a lot of isolation issues, and an immortal one has all the issues old people have with changing attitudes and customs but on a larger scale.
In the end while Hancock may have superpowers, and immortality he still understands what it means to be human, and that makes it much easier to relate to him. This movie can be found at www.amazon.com as a stream or on disk.
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