Hancock

"There are heroes. There are superheroes. And then there's Hancock."

2008 1h 32m EN

😐

6.4

MID

🥫

42%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.4

IMDB

★6.4TMDB · 10,539🥫42%Rotten Tomatoes●49Metacritic★6.4IMDB · 534,419

FantasyAction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Hancock is a down-and-out superhero who's forced to employ a PR expert to help repair his image when the public grows weary of all the damage he's inflicted during his lifesaving heroics. The agent's idea of imprisoning the antihero to make the world miss him proves successful, but will Hancock stick to his new sense of purpose or slip back into old habits?

“There are heroes. There are superheroes. And then there's Hancock.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Will Smith
John Hancock
Charlize Theron
Mary
Jason Bateman
Ray
Jae Head
Aaron
Eddie Marsan
Red
David Mattey
Man Mountain
Maetrix Fitten
Matrix
Thomas Lennon
Mike

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Peter Berg
Writers: Vincent Ngo, Vince Gilligan
Languages: English, French, Japanese, Vietnamese
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$150M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 18 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, Japanese, Vietnamese.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

247+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Peter Berg, shot by Tobias A. Schliessler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Powell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Paul Rubell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter Berg directs. Tobias A. Schliessler behind the camera. John Powell scores. Paul Rubell cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, Japanese, Vietnamese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$150M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Made its money back 4.2× over at the box office.
3Released 18 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, Japanese, Vietnamese.
5247+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Peter Berg, shot by Tobias A. Schliessler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by John Powell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Paul Rubell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Will Smith and Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "There are heroes. There are superheroes. And then there's Hancock.".
11IMDB entry: tt0448157 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1210,539 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
13Classified under 14 themes, including "love of one's life", "flying", "alcohol", "advertising expert".

The technical file

Cinematography: Tobias A. Schliessler
Original score: John Powell
Editing: Paul Rubell
Production design: Neil Spisak
Costume design: Louise Mingenbach
Makeup / hair: Pierce Austin
VFX supervisor: Tim Hawkins
Sound: Yann Delpuech
Stunt coordinator: Simon Crane
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $150,000,000
Box office: $629,400,000
Return: 420% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Hancock (2008)
Rotten Tomatoes: 42% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 49/100
IMDB rating: 6.4/10 · 534,419 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

4 wins & 14 nominations total

Also by

Peter Berg

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

GenerationofSwine2023-01-11
★ 1/10
Yeah, this stank. Hancock had character at the start of the film, but that slowly faded away by the second half, that just sort of floundered until it ended. It lacked the humor that comes with a lot of Will Smith's other outings, and it lacks the charisma that usually seeps out of Smith. It just seemed to fail on every front.
Filipe Manuel Neto2023-04-20
★ 4/10
Despite being one of the great films of Will Smith's career, it is a weak and uninteresting film. I think almost everyone who has seen superhero movies, especially the bigger budget ones, has wondered how it's possible that those heroes are so destructive: in order to eliminate an enemy or a danger, they destroy half a city as collateral damage. This film works precisely on top of that: Hancock is a superhero who doesn't seem to want to be one, and who doesn't know how to deal with it. As a result, and despite being effective at what he does, he is quite destructive and unpopular until the day he gets an image manager. Although Will Smith is one of those actors that I never really appreciated very much, I have to admit that he did a lot of good to bet on this film. The character is perfect for the actor, who seems to be as charismatic as he is grumpy, and Smith's effort turns out to be the big reason to see the film. Smith gives us a very well done job and manages to bear the effort and responsibility of the protagonist with great capacity. Charlize Theron also deserves a positive note for the work she left us in this film. Jason Bateman brings to life the most likeable and palatable character in the film, but he doesn't have the material to match his colleagues. Unfortunately, beyond the work of Smith and his co-stars, the film doesn't really have much else to offer us. The script starts from a very interesting idea, but fails to flesh it out and develops it in a very inefficient way. The result ends up being a frankly uneven film, where a good beginning leads to a dull stagnation and, later, a highly predictable and tiring ending. On a technical level, we can highlight, on a positive note, the quality of the cinematography and CGI effects used, as well as the effective and properly used soundtrack. Everything else is simply boring and not worthy of particular mention.
Andre Gonzales2023-05-24
★ 8/10
I like this movie because it's different from your typical superhero character. He cracks me up to. They have some pretty cool fight scenes in this.