BLU-RAY REVIEW

Hancock

Featured In Issue 137, December 2008

Picture5
SoundNR
WSR Score4
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
27900
(MPAA Rating):
PG-13/Unrated
(Rating Reason):
Some intense sequences of Sci-Fi action, violence and language
(Retail Price):
$39.95
(Disc Type):
Two Disc Set: BD-50 & DVD 5
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
92/102
(Color Type):
Black & White
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
A, B & C
(Theatrical Year):
2008
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
11/25/08
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Peter Berg
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

Hancock (Smith) is Los Angeles' own superhero, but the residents of the City Of Angels just wish he would go away. Over the years Hancock has saved many an Angelino's life, but he takes no notice of the carnage of crumbling buildings and crashed cars he leaves in his wake—his most recent "good deed" cost the city $9 million in rebuilding costs. When Hancock saves Public Relations Agent Ray Embrey (Bateman) from being quashed by an oncoming train, Ray decides to give Hancock a bit of a professional image makeover, which will soon have the good citizens of the city proud to call Hancock their own. (Stacey Pendry)

Special features are on Disc Two and include the following seven featurettes: Superhumans: The Making Of Hancock (13 minutes), Seeing The Future (16 minutes), Building A Better Hero (eight minutes), Bumps And Bruises (ten minutes), Home Life (11 minutes), Suiting Up (eight minutes), and Mere Mortals: Behind The Scenes With Dirty Pete (four minutes); a digital copy of the movie; and previews. Additional special features on the Blu-ray™ include an on-set visual diary for use in Picture-In-Picture mode; BD-Live functions, which will get you a behind-the-scenes sneak peek of Quantum Of Solace; and additional Blu-ray previews.

The anamorphically enhanced 2.40:1 DVD's black levels are deep and consistent, and the nicely rendered shadows can make for a pleasingly dimensional-looking image. Resolution is quite good, but there are times when compression artifacts can distract. The bright, bold colors can really pop from the screen, but they are also somewhat oversaturated, looking unnatural at times. Contrast is also overblown, and fleshtones have unnaturally hot highlights. Source artifacts are not noticeable, and edge enhancement is not a distraction. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc features very good resolution and consistently deep blacks. Fleshtones are still hot and contrast is still overpumped, but the picture is impressive. (Danny Richelieu)

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack features an active mix, with each of the channels incorporated nicely. The LFE channel is used often, and even the deepest reaches of the bass region are delivered in a taught, quick manner. There can be impressive uses of phantom imaging around the room and individual channels are seperated well, making it easy to pinpoint the imaged effects. The front stage sounds amply wide and deep, adding to the effectiveness of the mix. Fidelity can sound natural, but there are many instances when clipping distortion, a harsh digitization, and compression distortions detract from the experience. The Blu-ray Disc's lossless Dolby TrueHD encoding is a noticeable improvement, with the distortions of the DVD cleaned up noticeably. There are still occasional instances when the audio sounds clipped, though. (Danny Richelieu)