DVD OF THE WEEK

HANCOCK *****
Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
Dir: Peter Berg

Well, knock me over with a feather! After assiduously avoiding Hancock, I forced myself to sit down with it and was actually blown away. For not the first time it would appear that a very worthwhile film was totally derailed at the cinemas by a stupidly misrepresentative advertising campaign.
And, when I watched it, fortunately the good folk at Video Ezy Brookfield had hipped me to the essential information you need to know before seeing this film.
It is NOT a comedy.
But who would have known that from the movie ads, where Will Smith is presented as a drunken superhero bum accidentally causing massive chaos with his stumbling intoxicated rescue attempts? Cue Arrested Development's Jason Bateman as a PR guy wanting to sort out Hancock's public image. It's a comedy, right?
Actually, no. It does have some very funny moments but this is definitely not a comedy. Instead it dares to take seriously the premise that Hancock is a superhero, along with the isolation and social problems which go with that. The closest comparison would be M Night Shyamalan's underrated Unbreakable, though this has a far lighter touch, more interesting characters and a lot more action.
The other complaint at cinemas was the third act 'twist”, which isn't a twist so much as a revelation. And, given the new DVD cover, that's not going to be much of revelation. It is that Jason Bateman's girlfriend also has superpowers. Remarkably, even after this potential shocker, the film only gets better, and manages an ending that is absolutely right.
Much praise must go to Will Smith (his best in ages) and a fantastic Charlize Theron, bringing real depth and humanity to their roles. And for director Peter Berg for keeping such control over the tone of a film that could easily have been a real mess but turns out to be a most unexpected triumph.

I never really got into the old TV show but the film of Get Smart (****) is a whole lot smarter than you might expect and manages to be consistently entertaining, if not perfect. The plot imagines Maxwell Smart as a frustrated information analyst unexpectedly sent into the field, after all other agents are exposed, and partnered with Anne Hathaway's scrummy Agent 99. Steve Carrell keeps his mannerisms in check and does a fine job as Max and the supporting cast, from Alan Arkin to a sadly underused Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) are just fine. There is an occasional tendency to overegg things and throw in unnecessary unrelated gags, but overall it's a fun way to pass a Saturday night.

Bruce and Lloyd: Out Of Control (**) is a Get Smart companion piece, putting centre stage two minor characters (the most obvious comedy relief) for an adventure that happens simultaneously to the main story. It's cheap and has a few good laughs and is quite short. More like a DVD extra really.

Michael Caine and Demi Moore star in Flawless (**), which promises to be a return to the sparkling British heist caper movies of the sixties. In fact, only the setting is old and though there is an ingenious element to their plan to rob the diamond traders where they both work, the film tends to plod and loses its focus when considering minor characters and subplots. Ultimately the only thing sparkling here is the diamonds.

Teeth (****) is a very strange film and I liked it a lot. It is, however, tricky to describe in a family newspaper, being a coming-of-age comedy horror about a girl with the rare (and thankfully fictitious) condition vagina dentata. Yes, that's teeth. In exactly the place you imagine. After her initial shock wears off this proves quite handy in dealing with the obnoxious schoolmates who try and force themselves upon her. A B-movie with a heart full of delightful weirdness and primal fear, you will have seen nothing like this before, guaranteed.