Hancock turns the standard superhero movie inside-out: The title character (Will Smith) can fly, has superstrength, and is invulnerable, but he's also a sloppy, alcoholic jerk who causes millions of dollars in property damage whenever he bothers to fight crime. When he saves the life of a public-relations agent named Ray (Jason Bateman, Arrested Development), Ray decides to improve Hancock's image–starting by having Hancock surrender himself to the authorities and go to prison for his lawless behavior. The idea is that once he's in prison, the crime rate will go up, and people will start to realize Hancock might be of value after all. This is only the first act of Hancock–from there, the movie takes several clever turns that shouldn't be revealed. Hancock isn't a great movie (among other things, director Peter Berg overuses close-ups with a hand-held camera to a degree that may cause motion sickness), but it is an extremely entertaining one. The script, which holds together far better than most superhero movies, has a propulsive plot, good dialogue, some compassion for its characters, and even an actual idea or two. The spectacular action at least gestures towards obeying the laws of physics, which actually makes the special effects more vivid. The three leads (Smith, Bateman, and Charlize Theron as Ray's wife, Mary) deftly balance the movie's mixture of comedy, action, and drama. All in all, a smart subversive twist on a genre that all too often takes itself all too seriously.Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
Review by Matt Collar - Allmusic.com
The idea of collecting tracks off several of jazz legend Herbie Hancock's albums from the influential '60s Blue Note years through to his Grammy-winning 2007 album River is a nice idea that doesn't quite come together on Verve's Then and Now: The Definitive Herbie Hancock. Obviously designed to showcase the whole of Hancock's career post his 2007 Grammy win for River: The Joni Letters, Then and Now doesn't really give you the full picture. With only five tracks devoted to his '60s/'70s recordings (arguably his most essential and defining period), there's just not enough "then" here to really qualify this as a "definitive" collection. Not to mention that Then and Now basically ignores Hancock's '70s recordings, opting for merely an "edit" of "Chameleon" and the album version of "Watermelon Man," which comes out of chronological order near the end of the collection. Add in that you only get a live version of "Rockit" and you're left with less a definitive view of Hancock's career and more of a thumbnail sketch.
None can argue that Herbie Hancock's Blue Note recordings are mostly jazz milestones, the somewhat overlooked Warner Bros. period remains one of his most creatively adventurous, and enduring. The three albums presented here all offer different sides of Hancock after he left Miles Davis. All are presented here in their entirety, with copious notes by Bob Blumenthal, who interviewed Hancock for the package.