Some melodrama and a superwoman later, it loses steam.

It becomes an entirely different film, one not really premised on the bad-superhero comedy idea, and the film is then oddly without a sense of humour, and its vague interest in satire vanishes completely.

The strain of messianism in Will Smith movies is becoming ever more pronounced.

Even though toned and watered down heavily, Hancock’s first hour (the uncut version) still conveys most of the character’s core, and the struggles he faces as a barely tolerated superhero in the streets of Los Angeles.