The Gilroy 07.02.08: Once Upon a Time Prince

Posted by Ben Quick on 07.02.2008

The man who would be king?

I want to start off by thanking Pizza Hut. Their courage to bring back the P'Zone has earned them a place in my heart forever! Damn, that thing is good! This article could never have been written without it.

Anyway, today Will Smith's new movie, Hancock, will be hitting theaters. I'm really on the fence about going to see it or not. On one hand, it looks like it could be fun. On the other hand, it looks like it could suck. There are only a few reasons that get me out to go see a movie in a theater.

1. I'm bored

2. My friends wanna go

3. I can't wait for the DVD

So, where does Hancock fall? Odds are I will be bored at some point in the near future, but "I'm going to spend eight bucks because I'm so bored" bored? I don't know about that. None of my friends have mentioned wanting to go, so number two can be scratched off. Finally, the "I can't wait" stuff is generally reserved for people who don't let me down very often. You know, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, Quentin Tarantino etc. Does Will Smith make the cut? I don't know about that either. Let me think about it...



Bad Boys

The title of the column is "Once Upon a Time Prince" right? Obviously, it's not a really clever swipe at Mr. Smith's days as the infamous Fresh Prince. Well, Will took the first swipe actually with this movie. When you're only known as a juvenile rapper and "that one kid" from that silly TV show making a foul-mouthed buddy cop action flick is a strong statement for saying you want to be something more. Now, Bad Boys doesn't rival Die Hard or Bullitt for the greatest action movie ever, but it's absolutely a crowd pleaser. It's the movie you don't own, but when TNT has it on you, well, watch it because it's fun. Bad Boys isn't a great movie, but what it did was show that Will Smith could be entertaining enough to be the lead in his own movie. It wasn't quite his coming out party though. He'd have that a little later.



Independence Day

When I said a little later, well, I meant now. You know, considering how much this movie has been pushed aside recently(When is it ever on a channel that's not the Fox Movie Channel?) it's easy to forget this was THE movie of the summer in 1996. Everybody went and watched Independence Day and enjoyed doing so. Hey, Top Gun proved cheesy works. I mean what else can you call a movie when the final act is the leader of the free world, Bill Pullman, taking to the skies in his fighter jet to save earth from an alien attack? Independence Day had a lot of heroes in its story, but only one really mattered way back in 1996. Despite the best efforts of Bill Pullman, Randy Quiad and the eternally creepy Jeff Goldblum, the only guy we were watching was the cocky fighter pilot in the story. Independence Day is a Will Smith movie. It's kind of bad and really cheesy, but it's Will Smith's kind of bad and cheesy movie. This is the movie that made Will Smith into a movie star. I couldn't leave it off.



Men in Black

If Independence Day made Will Smith a movie star, Men in Black cemented the fact. Will was coming off a big time splash in the biggest movie of the previous year, so he decided it would be cool to follow that up by taking a step back for the second biggest movie of 1997. One can only wonder what came in first... Anyway, while Will wasn't racking up awards for his performances, he was doing the only thing that is better in the film world, making money. To have back to back movies gross over $250 million so early in a career is a big time statement saying "I have arrived!" Now, I know I'm going on and on about money, but that's all I really have. I'm not a big fan of the movie. Still, there's no doubt that this was a big movie for Will Smith. After Independence Day a lot of actors might have struck out. Will settled for a home run. One's better than the other, I think.



Ali

I have an odd affection for this movie. Ali's a great movie by an excellent director. I think it's an awesome performance by Will Smith. I can't imagine anyone getting any closer to The Greatest than what he was able to do here. Still, as good as Smith was, I'm a massive Muhammad Ali fan and no one can truly do him justice. Still, what Will Smith did for his career with this movie was remarkable. This is where the subtitle of "The man who would be king?" comes into play. After such big popcorn movies as Independence Day and Men in Black, to go do a biopic about one of the most amazing figures of the 20th century is definitely making a statement. One thing that is so apparent when looking over Will Smith's career is his ability to be able to walk the line between movie star and actor. Normally one falls on one side of that line or the other. Will had the movie star thing down with the previous movies I mentioned, but Ali made a strong case that this guy was truly an actor.



Hitch

Okay, not a great movie, but Hitch demonstrates something that Will Smith has that any movie star absolutely must have to be, well, a movie star. Personality. Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, the list goes on and on. Along with the talent that all of the greats have had, one thing simply cannot be made up for. The audience has to like watching you. There's no great display acting in this movie. It's through and through, a chick flick. What else do you expect from a movie that's main premise is a date doctor? Will Smith had never done a romantic comedy and why not? Heck, if you want to get back on the money topic, this movie did make over $175 million. So, it didn't hurt the old career any. Still, what it does for Will Smith is a statement in charisma. All of the greats have to have that. So, that begs the question, if Will Smith has that appeal and the box office bank in spades, is he one of the greats?



The Pursuit of Happyness

Hitch was, "Hey, I'm a movie star!" So, following suit, Will Smith follows that up with "Hey, I'm an actor!" I'm sorry, I know some people thought this was too over the top, but this was a good movie. It didn't quite achieve the It's a Wonderful Life, Rocky or Forrest Gump level of "If I were a chick I'd probably cry. Seriously man, you can't cry!" Still, this was a touching movie. All due to the guy I've been rambling about for the last eighty paragraphs. This didn't only put to rest any questions about Will Smith for me, but it's a big reason why I'm really considering going to see Hancock. Maybe the last selection will change my mind.



I Am Legend

I both love and hate this movie. Well, hate might be too strong of a word, but I did have some issues with the film. First, the "zombies" or whatever they were supposed to be looked like something from a game on the original X-Box. The emotion of the movie is really broken up when you're expecting Master Chief to come busting in and whoop some flood-ass. Also, the ending was really weak. I won't go into it much more than that considering this is still a somewhat new movie. The real failing with I Am Legend was to do with the sci-fi aspects. So many other films have done the same things so much better. What really is an overwhelming success though are the aspects of being the last man on earth. The complete and utter isolation and what it would do to a person was really well done. Many have compared Will Smith's performance in this movie to that of Tom Hanks' in Cast Away. I'm going to go one step further and say that Will Smith gave the better performance. When I watch I Am Legend I care about Robert Neville in a way that I just don't with what Tom Hanks did in Cast Away. Tom Hanks will most certainly always be the better actor, but if Will Smith can out due one of his better performances, that says a lot.

_________________________

I once wrote a column praising Tom Cruise for all the good movies he's been in and the fact that no one has been able to make money like him. Well, with Cruise going crazy(or are we just now realizing it?), I'm really starting to wonder if the king of the film world isn't Will Smith. What actor can match the hits he's put out in the last fifteen years? Whether I go see Hancock or not, you know the movie's going to be a hit. It'll make somewhere between $150 to $200 million and we might even get a sequel or two. Why? It'll be a fun two hours. Will Smith just about always delivers on that.

I don't know it's sounding kind of tempting...

And that's why Will Smith is a movie star. Damn him!



See you there!