Steve Barnes on "Hancock"

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Author Message   Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7254 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 01:47 pm:        Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Hancock (2008) WARNING: SAMBO ALERT ﾠ I'm sorry. I'm not going to sugar coat this, or beat around the bush. This is the most egregious example of what I've been trying to say, the most blantant Sambo movie since "Driving Miss Daisy"--no, it's worse. Will Smith is not Morgan Freeman. Will Smith can do any film he wants, and what he wants is to make successful films. Well, take a look at the critical reviews, and you'll see that he's probably blown it there. He'll have a huge weekend. And then boxoffice will drop like a frozen butterfly. I admire Will greatly, and don't blame him for this--he's just working the system, folks. ﾠ In my opinion, not one of the reviewers has put their finger on what went wrong. It's all "it was great for 40 minutes, and then it fell apart..." ﾠ No one knows? Really? No one lets themselves know. The truth is too painful, and everyone wants to believe that human beings aren't what they are. And this particular disaster comes out of that. Let me get to the meat of this, and then go on to say why this was one of the most painful, insulting movie-going experiences of my life. Tananarive was crying--THAT'S how bad it was. ## Hancock is about a superhero (Will Smith) who is an alcoholic bum. A P.R. guy (Jason Bateman) has his life saved, and decides to rehabilitate Hancock's image. Bateman's Wife, (Charlize Theron) doesn't much like the idea. ﾠ (SPOILERS GALORE. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK) ﾠ Hancock is revealed to be a god-like being, the last of his kind in the world...he thinks. The point at which the movie goes to shit is where Hancock is alone with Therone in the kitchen, and is powerfully attracted to her...and she throws him through a wall. You see, she is also a god, and in fact was his wife eighty years ago (they don't age). When they are near each other, they lose powers. ﾠ The fact is, that this is a brilliant set-up for a send-up of the superhero genre, and the first 30-40 minutes ROCKED. Then they ran into a problem we've discussed many, many times: 1) Statistics show that movies in which black men have sex underperform at the box office--badly. 2) Because this smacks of racism, no one will admit it's true...often, even to themselves. ﾠ This means that the natural erotic tension between these characters cannot be allowed to develop. It is glaringly, painfully obvious that there were extensive re-shoots and last-minute edits in this film. Smith and Therone refer to a kiss that we never see--which must have been clumsily excised at the last moment. ﾠ They also refer to Hancock being beaten eighty years ago in Florida (the South) while walking hand-in-hand with his wife. To raise the specter of the racism that horribly scarred my parent's generation while bowing to it's present-day manifestation is simply vile. So Hancock is doomed to live alone, forever...while Theron can have a husband and child. And we are treated to several tender kissing scenes between her and her husband. So touching. ﾠ The fact that she is a blond South African is some kind of sick joke. They cut the kiss from the kitchen, launch into an incoherant action scene, and the movie never, ever recovers. What's missing? The natural rhythm of boy-meets girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets girl. ﾠ Know what? There would have been many ways to write this so that they didn't end up together, really. But I doubt that for an instant anyone in the gaggle of writers who must have worked on this EVER looked honestly at the producers and said: "this is our problem. We can't have them end up together. We can't show them making love, or kissing. We can't even play with the erotic tension, because the audience isn't leaning forward in pleasurable anticipation...they're leaning BACK, away from the screen, hoping like hell we won' t show them Will's bare ass pounding away at a blond. What do we do?" If they were honest, they might have cast, say, a Latina, which would have diminished the color shock, and allowed the relationship to progress more naturally. Then, if they couldn't be together, you have a tragedy. And I could have bought that! Really, I wasn't looking for "Happily Ever After." Just an acknowledgment that I am a god damned human being. Will Smith has to know EXACTLY what's going on. But when Denzel tried to comment on this phenomenon years ago, he was accused of being a bigot. He now shuts up and takes the money. As does Will. And Eddie. And Sam. And everyone else. ﾠ Damn it, did she HAVE to be South African? Could they have found a less insulting metaphor? That he needs sacrifice so that the white man can •••• his white wife and have white babies, Hallalujah, Hallalujah? ﾠ Can any of you grasp how it feels to have spent my entire LIFE watching this, while people remain asleep and pretend it isn't happening? ﾠ ﾠ For God's sake, please no one hide behind the "It's Hollywood." Yeah, and New York Publishing. And Washington politics. And everywhere else. It's the heartland. Memphis. Florida. It's the whole world of people who can't look at their flaws and shortcomings, the fears that plague us all and the way we try to hide in groups and demonize the "other"--or at the very least believe they are less human than us. It is the human tribal instinct, in all it's ugly glory, alive and well in 2008. ﾠ And people wonder why I get pissed when they say that it was to Obama's advantage to be black. ﾠ Will Smith is the first star in history to have six 100-million movies in a row. Oh, Hancock will probably be his seventh. But it will be a real disappointment. Read the reviews. All of them will notice that "something" happened. Not one of them will know why. None of them will LET themselves know. Whites don't want to know because it triggers guilt and shame. And it is, frankly, to their advantage. Want to know one of the advantags of being white? You can be Seth Rogen and be thought sexier than Denzel Washington. Hell, if I was white, I'd pretend not to notice, too. When you're winning, you don't ask if the deck is stacked. ﾠ Many blacks don't even have conscious awareness--it triggers fear to feel so alone, outnumbered and outgunned by people who smile in your face, tell you they like you (and mean it) and apparently don't give a living shit that they are entertained my images that emasculate and dehumanize you. And don't for a second think that the psychology that allows a "Hancock" is disconnected from the psychology that allows eight cops to pump a hundred bullets into an unarmed black man. Oops! ﾠ As I work in this industry, I've been warned dozens of times not to talk about this publicly--usually by friends who genuinely care, and are worried I'll hurt my career. ﾠ But I have a four year old son. I don't want him wishing he had blond hair and blue eyes so he can get the girl. And when he notices that that's the way it is, I want to be able to look him straight in the face and say that I didn't lie, I didn't go to sleep, I did my part to create images of power, and to scream and rave and try to awaken the sleeping crowd. If you wake up, if you notice it, you have to either do something, or admit you don't give a shit. I think most people would care, if they were forced to notice. ﾠ This was just one of the worst movie-going experiences of my life. I thought we were further along than this. ﾠ If Will Smith can't get laid, Obama can't get elected. ﾠ John McCain should take heart. While I doubt he WANTS the world to be this way, I'm sure he'd be happy to reap the benefits in November. ﾠ My rating? For sleeping white people, a "C+." For anyone awake, an "F." Posted by Steven Barnes at 5:17 PM   Ntfs_encryption "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Ntfs_encryption Post Number: 3354 Registered: 10-2005 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 02:25 pm:        Yawn.....More stale race baiting coon commentary. Nothing here to read or internalize folks.....   Nels AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Nels Post Number: 1191 Registered: 07-2005 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 07:15 pm:        "If Will Smith can't get laid, Obama can't get elected." All said.