This has been the decade for the revival of the superhero.  In fact, it's surprising that capes or tight costumes haven't become the fashion trend.

"Hancock" is the latest in the line, but this isn't your typical hero.

Starring Will Smith, "Hancock" introduces us to a man with super-power strength who flies to fight crime with a bottle of whiskey in hand.  He always gets the job done, but often time with disregard to any finesse that most other heroes usually display.  His ability to create more havoc in the aftermath has left the people of Los Angeles cursing his name more often than cheering it.

Such is the case when all Hancock needs to do is remove a car stranded on train tracks; instead, he flips the car onto the other cars behind it, and then in a drunken stupor forgets to get off the tracks himself, causing the train to derail.  Lucky for him, the man he just saved is a public relations expert.

Less worried about his totaled car, and more enamored with the potential of his new P.R. task, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) convinces Hancock to heed all his advice in hopes of befriending the people of Los Angeles once again.  Ray's passion to makeover the bumbling hero never falters, but it's his wife Mary (Charlize Theron) that's not so receptive to the idea.  Cold look after cold look, it makes one wonder if Mary is concerned about her husband's reputation or if there's some hidden history between her and Hancock.

Besides a drinking habit, we don't know much about Hancock, mostly due to the fact that he has amnesia.  And it's through his reimaging journey with Ray that he begins to discover some things about himself, including that he may not be the only one of his kind.

Smith turns in a good performance, delivering a hero that we can actually connect to.  He shows a lighter, more human side in his character than say a Superman or Batman, and stays just far enough away from the 'goofball' line that would turn the movie into something that might make it seem like a spoof or silly comedy.

Bateman's character is equally enjoyable, as his enthusiasm for Hancock helps the audience root for his success.  It's Theron who doesn't seem to fit in this puzzle, who doesn't seem comfortable in her role at times.  It’s almost as if the producers threw her into the mix simply to add one more big name to the marquee.

Somewhere along the way the movie loses direction.  Director Peter Berg ("The Kingdom", "Friday Night Lights") seems to forget if he's making a hero movie, a summer thriller, or a drama.  It seems like all three could be balanced in a superhero movie, but Berg certainly didn't find the formula for blending them properly.  What starts out as an exciting, quirky hero story in the beginning turns into a dark drama by the end.  The audience is never given the chance to build up an emotion, and even the story line dangles at points (ex. the discovery of Hancock's past is almost an afterthought by the end, after the film has spent the previous 45 minutes focusing on it).

In all, this movie had the elements for being something great.  The idea of a story involving a hero that has to deal with real world consequences and real world problems (lawsuits, drinking problems) is original and brings the hero a little closer to the average Joe.  But a lack of a focused story line and a focused director ultimately brings down this movie.

Expect to be entertained briefly, but don't expect to see Hancock again anytime soon, especially when the superhero movie genre is revived again in the next 30 years.

Hancock

Overall Rating:  **1/2 (2 1/2)

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KEY

* - Awful - [Don't waste your time or money]
** - Fair - [Worth a DVD rental]
*** - Good - [Average, worth seeing if the genre interests you]
**** - Excellent - [This one will be the water-cooler buzz for a while]
***** - Stellar - [Don't miss this for anything...an instant classic]