Soon into the superhero spectacular "Hancock," before the machinery has fully kicked in, and the story is still wreathed in blissful ambiguity, you see the star Will Smith sprawled on a Los Angeles bench. Dirty, disheveled, in full distressed costume and character, and within easy sloshing reach of a bottle, he looks lost and alone, much like all the human detritus that washes up in every city and remains mostly unnoticed. But there's no ignoring Hancock, who has amazing powers. He can fly, for starters, and soon enough he's blasting straight into the heavens, the first homeless superhero in movies - Superbum!

Alas (bummer), though he can look the part, Hancock isn't literally homeless, just rootless, troubled and bedeviled. He drinks hard, swears at children (who curse him in turn), rarely shaves, never smiles. Worse, he has lousy superhero style, with sneakers and shorts (no cape), a grubby watch cap pulled over his forehead and buggy sunglasses that hide his (X-ray?) eyes. His takeoffs and landings are a mess: Sloppy and violent, they invariably leave a heap of trouble and general rubble in his wake. He's Pothole Man, Train Wreck Man, but mainly he's Seriously Ticked Off Man, which, given that he's also a black man in Los Angeles, suggests that this superhero story comes with some bite, even a few nibbling sharp teeth.