Did you shove a man's head up another man's ass?

Hancock
(Extended Version)

(2008)

A blockbuster that dares to do something different? What a shocker! I'm not really sure why such scorn was heaped upon the third act developments in this. There's a shift in tone, sure, but I never lost interest in the story being told or felt the film was somehow "cheating" me from whatever was expected to occur - which could only have been standard action movie fare.

Will Smith and Charlize Theron are good, Jason Bateman as dependable as ever. Peter Berg's visual style doesn't necessarily do the effects any favours, but it does allow the film to have the feel of a superhero in a real milieu.

I'm glad it's proved critic-proof in the States, an interesting case of the public apparently liking that a film strays from the run-of-the-mill. It may not go in for the more "R" rated potential of the original script (title "Tonight He Comes", with all that implies) but that doesn't mean it has no edge to it.

The extended version charmingly includes the super sperm scene that was an - ahem - residue of the earlier less-compromising adult script.

****

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Now In Full Color, with a Happier Ending

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