Hancock
HEADLINE: ** A Yucky Mess **
Title: HANCOCK
Quality: * * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VVV
Sex: S
Nudity: NN
RATING: PG-13
RELEASE: July 2, 2008
TIME: 92 minutes
STARRING: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, and Eddie Marsan
DIRECTOR: Peter Berg
PRODUCERS: Akiva Goldsmith, Michael Mann, Will Smith, and James Lassiter
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Ian Bryce, Jonathan Mostow and Richard Saperstein
WRITERS: Vy Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment
CONTENT: (PaPaPa, AbAb, LLL, VVV, S, NN, AA, DD, MM) Weird, very strong pagan worldview featuring ancient angels or gods who drink, curse, have physical relationships, and sometimes help people and sometimes hurt people, with a strong anti-biblical, anti-design implication by implicitly condemning the design of the Creator; frequent foul language, some of it from the mouths of young children, includes 57 obscenities and two profanities; an extreme amount of violence includes jamming a man's head up somebody's rear end, cutting a man's hand off and later cutting his other hand off, stabbing, shooting, beating, men and women fight viciously and hurting each other badly, man hurling pre-teenage boy into the air, man causes train wrecks and car wrecks, man threatens to hurt old woman, man crudely advises boy to kick the bully in the groin very hard, and much, much more; so-called gods or angels are passionately interested in each other, very mild bedroom scene; brief image of painting of nude buxom woman and low-cut costumes and dresses; alcohol use and overt drunkenness, man intentionally gets drunk; references to drug use in a prison; and, a strong problematic message that true love has to be abandoned because it hurts both parties, a strong message of adultery, dishonesty, and fraud.
GENRE: Science Fiction
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
Please address your comments to:
Michael Lynton, Chairman/CEO
Amy Pascal, Chairman - Motion Picture Group
Sony Pictures Entertainment
(Columbia Pictures/TriStar/Screen Gems/Provident/Triumph Films)
10202 West Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232-3195
Phone: (310) 244-4000; Fax: (310) 244-2626
Web Page: www.spe.sony.com/
SUMMARY: HANCOCK stars Will Smith in the title role as a drunken, mean superhero who reforms his image until his wife, who is also a god-like being with super powers is revealed and Hancock starts losing his invincible powers. HANCOCK is a messy, poorly scripted, somewhat repulsive anti-hero comic book movie with anti-Christian implications, an excessive amount of foul language (some of it put into the mouths of children), some extreme violence, and a subplot featuring adultery and bigamy.
IN BRIEF:
HANCOCK stars Will Smith as a drunken, mean superhero who wrecks the city while he's stopping bad guys and saving lives. When he saves the life of a PR expert named Ray, Ray tries to help Hancock clean up his image, including going to jail for the damage he's caused. When Hancock gets out of jail, however, the movie reveals that Ray's wife, Mary, is also a superhuman being who was married to Hancock before Hancock lost his memory. Being together with Mary, however, causes Hancock to lose his powers. This proves to be a problem when a really bad guy shows up.
HANCOCK is a messy, poorly scripted, somewhat repulsive anti-hero comic book movie. Will Smith has made movies with pro-Christian content. HANCOCK has anti-Christian content. It not only seems to have Greek mythological roots, but also a smattering of Scientology. Obscene words are put into the mouths of children. Also, drunkenness, adultery and extreme, disgusting violence are justified. Besides renouncing true love, this movie has several plot holes and goes in too many directions.
One can only wonder why anyone would make this movie, especially Will Smith.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
