The only real obstacle Ledger may have to overcome, aside from the usual competition that will arise come Oscar season, is the stigma of a superhero movie. Big budget summer flicks aren’t generally give much consideration when it comes time to hand out some hardware unless you want to talk about sound and special effects. I don’t think will be a problem in this case, as The Dark Knight has garnered incredible reviews, all of which are quick to mention his incredible turn as The Joker. The positive wave of publicity the film is receiving will help legitimize it against the more standard Oscar fare to be released later in the year.

In the end, superhero movie or not, this was a career defining role for Ledger, and it’s been said many times, it’s a shame that he won’t be around to continue to evolve and navigate his career path like many before him.

First, 28-year-old Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko:

And girl #2 is 22-year-old British actress Gemma Arterton:

I recommend the movie as a summer popcorn flick that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. That being said, if you’re still unsure and asking yourself “OK already, what IS the Hancock twist”, you can find out all about it at this link. It goes without saying, the link is very spoiler heavy!

Whose flexing their comedic muscles? With a cast like this, it better be funny - Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte, Brandon Jackson, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Jay Baruchel, Matt Levin, Andrea De Oliveira, Reggie Lee, Matthew McConaughey

Directed by: Ben Stiller - He wrote and directed one of my favorite comedies of all time, Zoolander. He’s one of the biggest comedic stars on the planet, and I have to say, this one looks good to me based on the trailer alone. Like really, really, ridiculously good looking.

Who signed up for this comic book romp? One of my person faves is tackling the role of Bruce Banner, hopefully my boy Edward can make this movie pop - Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Christina Cabot, Lou Ferrigno, Martin Starr, Ty Burrell

Directed by: Louis Leterrier - Shot some good action in The Transporter movies, it’ll be interesting to see how his style translates to a special effects heavy film. I wasn’t part of the popular opinion for the recent Hulk flick with Eric Bana, I thought it was pretty good and a passable attempt. Certainly was on the slow side and could’ve used some more action, and I have a feeling that’s what we’ll get having commissioned the talents of a guy who helped make Jason Statham an action star.

Whose showcasing their green screen acting chops? Well stocked cast - Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Kick Gurry, Paulie Litt, Roger Allam, Ji Hoon Jung, Melvil Poupaud, Richard Roundtree, Christian Oliver

Who gets to yell “CUT?” The Wachowski Brothers - We pretty much all know these guys, creators of The Matrix trilogy. Neo would totally find a way to win this race.

What went right? The best thing I can say about this movie is that it did get better as it progressed. This is relative of course, as the first half was a complete disaster of surprising proportions. I still can’t believe how bad it was, and found myself contemplating how bad it was more often than I could pay attention to the movie. I don’t think I expected a masterpiece, but I thought I was going to attend a passable movie experience that satisfied my desire to see a big budget flick with some solid action. Needless to say, that’s not what this movie is. It’s just bad.

What went wrong? I guess I’ll start with the effects, because you probably need really good effects shots to make a movie like this work. I’ve seen some other reviews online praise the effects work, and there are some good shots, but for the most part they lacked the punch to make the movie look authentic. The worst offense is poor green screen shots, making certain scenes look completely unrealistic and destroys any chance of being engrossed in the story. I don’t want to complain about the acting, because I think the lack of an authentic feel probably made the actors look worse than the performances they delivered. The story is thin, as one would expect out of a popcorn flick, but if your story is going to be thin you need to make up for that in other areas or it stands out even more than it would have otherwise. I think this movie made me realize that I don’t like narrators all the much, I noticed myself being annoyed at this moderately used element for whatever reason. I won’t go into any specifics regarding the story, if you’re like me you’ll probably watch the movie anyway no matter how many negative reviews you read. Speaking of which, this thing has pulled of a fairly epic bad-reviews-to-budget ratio. It’s currently sitting at 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is quite impressive given the effort put into it.

The Bottom Line: If you’re on a budget, feel safe in your decision to skip this one. Bad effects and a bad story do not a good movie make. 2/10.