I have this thing about the Fourth of July Summer Blockbuster Movie.  I generally always see it at some point over what is considered the weekend.  There have only been two of them though that I have seen opening night.  The first was Independence Day… featuring Big Willie Smith and a buttload of aliens.  I had zero regret about sitting in that packed theater… because it was a damn good movie.  The second movie I saw last night… and once again it featured Big Willie Smith in Hancock.  As a fan of the superhero genre, I walked in with really high hopes for this movie.

I left pretty disappointed.  Without giving away anything major about the movie, I have to say that it starts out pretty much the way you expect from the trailer… and it was good.  Smith delivers on a drunkard superhero with a complete disregard for public opinion.  The effects take a bit of a tip from the physics behind The Matrix, and the incorporation of new media such as YouTube was a nice modern ode to the evolution of communication. 

Then suddenly, midway through there is a plot twist.  Now not all plot twists are bad… in fact, this one could have been the same twist but with a different person, and it would have been awesome.  Instead, it changed the entire pace of the movie.  It went from a super-hero action movie to uber-geek chick flick in about 3 seconds.  It forever damaged the movie into a steaming pile of poo.  Seriously. 

There are just certain things I expect from a superhero movie:

• I expect a hero, as faulty as he may be.  Check
• I expect super-powers not too off the chart.  Check
• I expect a decent background story.  Vague, but check
• I expect a villain I will hate.  Not even close
• I expect a storyline that will keep pace and stick to the storyline established.  First 45 minutes, check… after that… it went all haywire

The absolute worst part?  The santization of it.  The movie was obviously scrubbed of such sequences as the super semen scene (where Hancock‘s ejaculation puts holes into his roof), and this ended up bringing the movie down to a measly 90 minutes.  I found this to be a tragedy of great proportions… although it makes the movie a ripe candidate for an Unrated version.

I do have to say one thing… Jason Bateman who I generally can’t stand got some pretty good reviews.  While I cannot whole-heartedly endorse him as the best thing since sliced white bread… he was actually pretty good in it… and for the most part the most believable character in the flick, so those reviews are well deserved.  As for Charlize Theron… yeah… can someone say Sybil?  She pulled off the emotional switch between loving the husband (Bateman) and hating Hancock (Smith) a little too well.  If anything can be learned from her character… too much news turns you into a big crank.

Next year I have hope… hope for Transformers 2 to make the holiday weekend what it should be… super.