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Movie fans may well ask themselves if there´s any such thing as an original story anymore, and the answer is probably no. These same movie fans may also ask if there are any original compelling characters to be found, and the answer is certainly "yes." In a market where every hero that appears on screen in skin-tight spandex, leather, or -- in the case of 300´s Spartans -- nothing at all has previously appeared in two-dimensional form in a comic book or graphic novel, it´s refreshing to find a character both created on spec and that flies through the air.

Hancock is that character, originally created by screenwriter Vincent Ngo and brought to life this summer by Will Smith under the direction of Peter Berg after a decade of languishing in the purgatory of Hollywood development. The supporting cast includes the lovely and talented Charlize Theron and the always-funny yet understated Jason Bateman.

Smith plays John Hancock, a superhero with an attitude: he sleeps on city benches, drinks rotgut bourbon by the case, and wields his powers with a clumsy hand that does more damage than the crimes he stops. Ultimately, he´s alienated from the rest of the world not only because he´s the only superhero on the payroll, but because he´s just not a likable guy. But he has heart -- he saves Ray Embrey (Bateman), a struggling Public Relations hack, from certain death when his car is stuck on the railroad tracks (destroying the entire train, its contents, and several other cars in the process). To return the favor, Ray offers to run Hancock´s PR and make him lovable instead of loathable, and Hancock befriends both Ray and his wife, Mary (Theron).

Hancock is a black comedy. We laugh at Hancock´s hijinks, his rough personality, and at Ray´s deadpan reactions as he shepherds the difficult superman through the process of reinventing himself as a good guy. Hancock is at its best not as satire but as an abstract portrait of a superhero who is his own villain -- and not in the obvious manner that The Hulk is Bruce Banner´s own worst enemy. Unfortunately, Hancock does not leave us with just this to chew on and instead sets up two distinct villain plots, and only one of them works.

In the first, Hancock is confronted by another superhero with the same skillset. This is a standard of the genre: make the hero fight himself, only stronger (just this year, see both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk). In Hancock, this twist gives us a brief glimpse into the hero´s origin (other than "I woke up one day and I was invincible!") and the setup of the Hancock universe´s core mythology. This works to the extent that we see it coming a mile away, but even a brooding hero needs some external pressure before he can really shine -- just ask Batman. It also gives the film a hook for the sequels, if any are warranted.

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