I don't recall ever seeing a superhero perform a super deed while drunk. Maybe there has been one somewhere in the past, but if that's true, the moment might have escaped me. I think I saw a television rerun once in which Superman was tipsy, but maybe that was just some drug cocktail given to him -- Librium mixed with Kryptonite, perhaps.
Another thing about superheroes is that they're always nice people. They do their thing -- rescuing babies and corralling the bank robbers and the like -- but they rarely make a mess and usually offer a smile after their good deed, along with a pleasant thank you.
Oh how times have changed. Meet Hancock. He's a mess. Not only is he an alcoholic, but he's also a misanthrope. Homeless, too. For the purposes of the new movie "Hancock," he's also a klutz. The public hates him. He can stop a crime in progress, but afterwards it's "Hey pal, who's going to pay for the damage to the police cars, and sidewalk, and storefront?" So Hancock is miserable. His life might as well be over, but I guess there's one thing a superhero can't do -- commit suicide. This nasty, bitter, unloved character is at the heart of the film, which for half of its 92-minute length is entertaining, if not flat-out excellent.
There are a number of misses amid the first-half hits. But you ride with it. It's weird watching Will Smith play this reprobate, because in another picture of his, he was an endearing homeless man who had a typical movie-style heartbreaking son tagging along. Is Mr. Smith telling us something about how he felt about one of his previous features? Not winning the Oscar? Not a blockbuster box office?
Smith is actually a little out of his element playing a Scrooge-type character. I certainly hope there's no "A Christmas Carol" in his future. But he hangs on until the film goes haywire. I like the idea of a homeless guy sleeping on a bench turning out to be a superhero, and screenwriters Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan keep you interested. But eventually things go a-cropper. Maybe it's because of director Peter Berg's inability to properly handle a key point in the transition to failure. That key point involves the character Charlize Theron plays. She's married to a press agent (Jason Bateman) who is saved from a speeding train by Hancock. To express his thanks, Bateman brings Hancock home for dinner and a shower and some wine. He also makes him an offer no hated superhero should refuse -- free help in burnishing his image.
Bateman thinks his guest should wear better clothes, be seen out at night in local clubs (the film is set in Los Angeles), and always say "please" and "thank you." Not demolishing everything in sight just to rescue an old lady would help, too. But something is amiss at the dinner table. Theron hates Hancock. She seethes contempt. Why? That's a plot point you shouldn't be told if you plan on seeing the movie. Suffice it to say, they may have a past -- although I thought I heard a reference to Hancock being a superhero for 80 years.
Sadly, it's all downhill from dinner. You get two movies in one, neither fully satisfying. The comedy is not as funny as everyone thinks it is. The poignancy that everything needs is lacking. Theron can't do comedy as well as she can do drama. She needs more practice -- maybe a special appearance on a sitcom would help. Smith seems vaguely unhappy in his part. Did he envision a movie different from what Berg developed? Bateman delivers the film's best acting.
Regardless of the answer, "Hancock" is a little too half-hearted in how it gets around to explaining the actual existence of such a melancholy protagonist. If you're going to try something clever, you really need to go full-throttle. I'm thinking audiences who saw focus-group sneak previews didn't like the darkness -- therefore, some things were watered down. To my way of thinking, Hancock needed to be even more brooding and broken. That he isn't hurts the movie.
In the 1930s, an inexperienced British journalist named George Hogg was sent to China to cover the war involving Japanese invaders. He's truly out of his element, but he lucks into a huge story -- the massacre of civilians by Japan's occupying forces. He's soon captured by them and very nearly executed.
The movie is called "The Children of Huang Shi" and is a true story drawn from Hogg's experiences in China during this dark prelude to World War II. It's not telling tales out of school to write that Hogg is rescued from the executioner's sword by a man named Chen, played by Chow Yun-fat. How this happens is part of the film's early dramatic tension.
Soon Hogg, still green behind the ears, encounters an Australian woman named Lee (Radha Mitchell), who is one of those beautiful, adventurous souls always found on the periphery of all of the world's humanitarian crises -- an angel of mercy helping the shattered citizenry of a nation at war. She manages to find food and medical supplies where none should exist. Her love of the Chinese amazes Hogg. He's a little bit smitten, as well.
The film settles into a rhythm that engages the audience. Hogg will meet a caring Chinese woman (Michelle Yeoh) who appreciates the importance of something as simple as a grain of rice. He will also become involved with an orphanage in peril, and it's here that "The Children of Huang Shi" rises to the occasion. The kids are compelled to take their own great march.
The Chinese scenery, including the Gobi Desert, is spectacular, thanks to extraordinary cinematography by Xiaoding Zhao. Director Roger Spottiswoode, working from an uncluttered screenplay by Jane Hawksley and James MacManus, never gets fussy in how he tells Hogg's story, letting the man's story provide the energy the movie needs. A very good Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays the journalist and keeps us interested in an enthusiastic man whose life becomes markedly more complex as things go on. In fact, all of the acting is top-notch.
"The Children of Huang Shi" is a rare treat. It's a wonderful film that delivers a little bit of history about events many Americans know nothing about, and it's a movie that believes in simplicity -- clear-eyed storytelling detailing facts that will intrigue an audience.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 8 2008 |