There are few entertainers that have been able to transcend different forms of entertainment and excel at each of them.   Will Smith is one of those entertainers.  Starting as a rapper that appealed to all listeners, his fanbase grew and gave him an opportunity to try TV.  Finding that to be relatively easy, Smith moved onto movies.  His first movie was Six Degrees of Separation, which garnered him many accolades and set the stage for what was to come.  Following that with the trio of July 4th hits of Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men In Black, Smith declared the July 4th box office weekend as his to rule.  He even made fun of this in a promo for Wild, Wild West by pointing out he was taking 1998 off.  Yet WWW bombed and some of his invulnerability faded.  Yet, Smith has produced more hits than misses, so I would not bet against him.

That leads us to Hancock, the latest entry in the Will Smith library.

The story is a twist on the usual superhero outline:  Smith plays a hero that people hate.  Jason Bateman provides a good counter to Smith’s character as a PR guy saved by Hancock.

Then the story goes awry.

Rather than follow the simple path established, the director decides to go in many directions and what results is not very satisfying.  I want to know more of Smith’s backstory, backstory sacrificed to throw in fights that do not make sense.  I wanted to like this movie, but came out feeling “blah”.

My advice: see it at the dollar theater; to really see a story about a guy struggling with superpowers, check out Unbreakable with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.