Despite my feeling that Will Smith was miscast, Hancock won me over in the first half. Smith does a fine job, it's just that we know with certainty that he's a softy from his previous roles -- and in interviews. This hardened, drunken, seemingly uncaring, superhero would have been better served by an actor we were less sure of. As "Hancock" warms, Smith becomes better cast.

That said, it's really Jason Bateman that deserves great praise. He's not only perfectly cast, but brings to this otherwise somewhat confused production a deep sense of direction and emotional immediacy -- and he's hilarious to boot. I give an A+ to Jason Bateman.

The story brings us a crisp fresh look at the superhero film. It also brings a caring careful script with a good heart, but all of that changes about midway. A rather unsettling scene occurs -- so unsettling, it looks like filmmakers actually truncated it, edited it nearly out. In any case, that scene could have been handled better and sold to audiences despite its bitterness. But the film failed it and, I guess, tried to fix by cutting. Anyway, I would have forgiven the error, but the moment becomes pivotal instead of simply deviant. This is the point at which the film stops being a fresh engaging story of courage, belief and friendship and becomes a somewhat stale superhero tale. That beautifully crafted emotive arc becomes bent out of shape.

"Hancock" is two films jammed together. The first part, I may even give an "A." But the second part is clearly a B movie. I'll average only to a B+ because of my high hopes that were dashed. It would have worked much better had they developed the first half into the full feature it deserved to be -- then saved that unsetting moment and beyond for the sequel.

-- Books by author/illustrator Ross Anthony --