The TV Addict 

If an initial teaser trailer for a film doesn’t hook me right away, I usually slot the film into the “meh” category of anticipation. HANCOCK is different though. I have to give credit to the people who put the HANCOCK trailers together, because each subsequent one we’ve seen has built interest in me, to the point where with this most recent trailer, I can honestly now say that I’m really pumped for it.

It’s not just the cool special effects, Will Smith playing an anti-hero, or that it seems like this film is actively aware it’s a summer blockbuster and completely reveling in that fact. It’s that the trailer – while giving away a lot of SFX and humor scenes – isn’t showing us much on plot. Yes, it alludes to Hancock’s transformation from zero to hero (sorry, I’ve always wanted to use that expression. It wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped), but there are only slight hints as to what Big Bad he really faces at the end. There seems to be a lot of destruction (two tornadoes, for example), and at one point it looks like he’s swirling around in battle with someone else in a way that can only mean that person is super-powered. But we still have no idea what the story really builds towards, which is great. Makes me want to go find out.

Also, the fact that recent news that HANCOCK got an “R” rating twice before snagging a “PG-13” rating indicates it may be a darker (read: interesting), more mature film than we all thought.