Hancock

Hancock is currently streaming in Australia on BINGE, and in the US on Hulu, and it earns its premise rather than just borrowing genre trappings. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. With 10,331 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Will Smith sets the tone, and the world-building does the rest. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on BINGE.

Hancock arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. The world-building is meticulous, but it is the characters who carry Hancock through its more ambitious moments. Hancock is a down-and-out superhero who's forced to employ a PR expert to help repair his image when the public grows weary of all the damage he's inflicted during his lifesaving heroics. The agent's idea of imprisoning the antihero to make the world miss him proves successful, but will Hancock stick to his new sense of purpose or slip back into old habits? Will Smith and Charlize Theron lead a cast that makes the ambitious moments land. It hit screens in 2008. The rules of Hancock's world are consistent enough that the big swings never feel like cheating. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Viewers burned by ambitious sci-fi that could not sustain its premise should give Hancock a chance. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. Short enough to finish in one sitting, substantial enough to feel satisfying. Watch for Will Smith in particular — the performance elevates the material. Satisfying on multiple levels.