Hancock a box office hit despite bad reviews

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Will Smith's box-office superpowers remain intact. Smith's "Hancock" - the story of a boozing, foul-mouthed superhero who dresses like a street bum - led the Fourth of July weekend with a $66 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That raised the total for Sony's "Hancock" to $107.3 million since it opened Tuesday night to get a jump on the holiday.

It was a familiar place for Smith, one of Hollywood's most-consistent draws. "Hancock" is his fifth movie to open at No. 1 over the Fourth of July. The others were "Men in Black" and its sequel, "Independence Day" and "Wild Wild West."

Any notions of demolishing black stereotypes -- and what else could have possessed Mr. Smith to do this? -- are dashed by the coarseness of it all, and by the narrative incoherence; a surprising plot twist turns a sloppy action-comedy into a totally different movie, and an even worse one.

From its opening shot of recalcitrant superhero John Hancock (Smith) sleeping off a permanent hangover on a Los Angeles bus-stop bench to its raggedy, barely explicable backstory, Hancock is a godforsaken (possibly literally) mess.

This movie fails so spectacularly - and on so many levels - that it's like watching a train plummet off a bridge.

In a summer when the broad deltoids of superheroes have been weighted down with the freight of existential despair (the Hulk is the new Hamlet; The Dark Knight the new Endgame) the timing seems perfect for a cynical, corner-cutting mess of a superhero like Will Smith's character in Hancock (Columbia Pictures). Alas, the movie is also a corner-cutting mess.

“Hancock” suggests new visual directions and emotional tonalities for pop. It’s by far the most enjoyable big movie of the summer.