MANILA, Philippines - When actors move up to the superstar level, they?re tempted to play it safe and keep giving viewers mere variations on the sort of film performance that made them popular in the first place.

This scenario of diminishing returns accounts for the abridged careers of some formerly big stars, because in the movie biz, over-familiarity does breed, if not contempt, eventual boredom.

One superstar who is in no danger of constantly referencing himself into oblivion is Will Smith. Yes, he?s had his clunkers, but on the whole, he?s provided viewers with enough variety in his projects and performances to keep them interested enough to make his movies gross billions of dollars.

Take his latest starrer, ?Hancock.? The film both pleases and surprises because it?s full of hooks and twists. Its central hook is its decision to cast Smith as the most unheroic superhero who ever lived.

At film?s start, Smith?s unconventional character, Hancock, is a drunk who saves people and solves crimes, but turns off the populace of Los Angeles because of his boorish ways and decidedly rancid appearance.

Anithesis of bravery

Why is this hero the antithesis of traditional bravery and nobility? It turns out that he?s an amnesiac who has nobody to love him, so he takes his loneliness out on others.

Enter a PR whiz played by Jason Bateman, who convinces Hancock to change his image and thus win the love and gratitude of the populace. At first, Hancock balks at the radical transformation, but he eventually agrees to give it a good try.

When the PR ploy works, Hancock is in seventh heaven?but not for long. Due to another twist that we can?t detail here for fear of you twisting our neck, Hancock discovers another major problem that shunts his life into yet another conflicted direction, and leads to the movie?s bittersweet denouement.

Let?s just say that new twist involves the PR man?s wife, portrayed by Charlize Theron, who turns out to be quite different from her initial ?sweet housewife? projection. And we?d better stop right there, for fear of letting the yowling cat out of the bag.

Despite this unnecessary lack of detail, the relationship between Smith and Theron?s characters adds a new layer to the film?s story and thematic pertinence. This leads to a beguiling study of superheroism itself, in contrast to the lives mere mortals live, and the intimations generated by this new twist.

Image makeover

It?s in this penultimate section that the two stars? gift flares with uncommon sheen and creativity. Yes, ?Hancock? is ?only? a movie about a scruffy ?hero,? but stars are occasionally able to make it more than that.

They do this by understanding their characters? unique issues, dilemmas and mind-sets, which lesser actors would merely gloss over.

It?s true that, when Hancock agrees to his PR friend?s image-makeover campaign, the movie loses some of its dynamism and becomes a bit of a predictable bore. But as one new hook follows another, that desultory impression is vanquished soon enough, as the film starts ?working? on different levels.

That?s why ?Hancock? ends up as a viewing treat: Its superhero rescues are excitingly staged, its characters? relationships are movingly depicted, its thematic comparisons between mortals and immortals are beguiling, and most of its disparate elements come into fine focus at film?s end.

Yes, the film can be escapist?but the good news is, the world that it escapes into is rich enough to merit our interest and involvement.

Maui vs Precious

Sexy Maui Taylor and Precious Adona are pitted against each other in the new film, ?Torotot,? produced by Viva Films and Production 56. Maui is especially pleased with her love scenes with Andrew Schimmer, and Precious has her own seductive highlights. Another plus for the film, which opens next month, is the fact that it?s directed by Maryo J. delos Reyes.