I think I will write something about it, Lisa. All this has made me realize I've been acting really weird about this.

I think I will write something about it, Lisa. All this has made me realize I've been acting really weird about this.

Then, miraculously we run into another super-power, Ray can convince a guy with 0 functioning brain cells to totally turn his life around. Despite massive DTs and alcohol dependency, he convinces Hancock to stop drinking, try to stop doing more damage than the original offenders, etc. Meanwhile, as a white moviegoer watching with black friends, I'm praying that its not going to go for some cheap "black man loses it and rapes white woman" schtick while he's staring at Charlize's character and she's staring back in a horrified manner. Which channels the older movies about the terror white women feel around black men. Since the previous film events have been sooo badly thought out, I didn't feel that this would be too low for this movie to sink. We already had a bad black man and the naive whitey, why not throw in the stupid kid who idolizes an athletic black man, and the white woman who's scared/aroused by him….

The authorities forgive his prior bad behavior to the point of working with Hancock just meant that Ray's mindcontrol powers work in an Area of effect. There's no way that crappy situation worked out in that fashion. Now, had they worked in some attack on a dam or malfunctioning nuclear reactor or something that could not have been handled by the authorities on hand… but no, it s a hostage situation with some regular schmoes, not even the vice president or a visiting "Miss Rhode Island". Yeah, right.

So, yeah, while I was squirming, I might have missed some of the relationship nuances. I was so relieved when they turned out to be alien constructs that I forgave a lot of the crap, but come on. They never explained why Mary's character was written as an idiot, by that I mean–Hancock's not all that stable, why not meet him out in the desert and remind him of your history without all the histrionics. Let him make a decision where if it does go badly, there's fewer folks to be killed (except no one can die in the early part of the film, my bad). At the very least, you can explain that you don't want to lose your family and life, where you can control the situation to some extent. Not right there in front of your house, after you've started trashing it, where all the neighbors can see, where the garbagmen or joggers can see, etc. Its not that hard to foresee.

So the big emotional bits where he forces his trashed body away from her dead corpse was awesome, I cried, it would have been even more kickass if it had been for naught and everyone there had to deal with some actual human consequences, but nah.

She wakes up from death, the family stays together, Will Smith poses in latex and has a CGI bird. Cue the music and the credits.

Time to count the ticket sales, that shit is amazing.

And I don't think the writing/ direction of the second half is really up to snuff. It didn't ever feel to me that there was any justification; narrative, emotional or otherwise for putting me through that discomfort with the plot twist. I'm coming round to the idea that it might have been an admirable decision to include something that might confuse the audience or even make the audience angry with the film; but because of the subsequent poor storytelling I left the theatre and I was STILL ANGRY; which I'm fairly sure WASN'T the intention.

Hancock's prison cell drawings clearly show him and a female from different eras.

There are numerous, long reaction shots on Theron's character to Hancock, much more focused on than others in the story. Also, Theron's character has to play things pretty close to the vest – she doesn't know if Hancock recognizes her or not, if he doesn't because of the head injury in the 1920's, she doesn't want to tip her hand, and she doesn't want to upset the life she's built for herself in the present.

Theron (can't remember her character's name right now) warns Hancock numerous times that he has to stay away, go away, etc. Even going so far in one line of dialogue to say "You have a bruise on your hand. You have to leave." Yeah, it's not obvious, but it does speak to her knowledge of their weakness around each other.

It is explained that the characters are drawn to each other, again and again throughout the centuries, it was only a matter of time before they found each other again.

As to your criticism that you were left reeling with Theron's reveal, I'd say that you were experiencing the same things that Hancock felt at that moment – which is a strong indicator that the filmmakers did a damn good job of putting you right in Hancock's shoes. World flips upside down, and you learn a WHOLE lot in a really short amount of time, just like the character.

This COULD all be the casual racism talking.

(by the way, The Iron Giant is a staggeringly good film and using it's name to put off people who might want to disagree with this article is a dirty trick)

My theory is that it was so despised by the internets because it took away the singlular power of the geek audience – obsessively complete knowledge of a particular subject matter – in this case, superheroes. Hancock doesn't really riff off of any well-known superheroes, unlike something like The Incredibles.