Despite the fact that this is directed by the guy behind CONSTANTINE, I for one am getting pretty stoked about this.
Link: http://www.worstpreviews.com/trailer.php?id=568&it
Looks pretty cool, loved the book sooo much
Looks really good! I understand why he locked in at nights, but why does he going out in night?
how do i do grey cover-up thingy - then i can tell you what i rememeber
oh dont! I hadnt read the book!
That looks brilliant. And I've just read the Wikipedia article about the book and I really wanna read it.
-pj
I really like the look of this. Mind you, I liked the first teaser too, and I don't have this all-round hatred of Will Smith that so many seem to, but I hope he's in serious mode for this. It seems like it from the darker parts of the trailer anyway.
The book is great a definite recommended (one of the Sci fi masterworks series - book 2?) - really looking forward to this.
I love the book, cant believe something so short can be so awsome. Read it now, its perfect for one sitting at about 200 odd pages but not a wasted bit prose. And the mother of all endings. Very good and if the movire manages to be half as good we're in for a good show. Cant stand Omega Man and never seen Last Man the prev adaptions.
CU Radbacker
The Novel is an undisputed classic. The first trailer for the movie didn't fill me with much optimism. This second trailer is much better. I sincerely hope that there aren't to many changes from the book and that the themes(and the wonderful downbeat ending) are retained.
This is begining to look like a must see.
Oh shit. Looks like the dog dies then, I hate films where the dog dies.
Went along today and for the most part enjoyed it, but...
Why were the mutants all CGI and shit with it? In the never better 'Omega Man' they are real people who wear sun glasses and monk outfits and are clinically insane - and a lot more scarey because of it. Here it's just a lot of screaming and running.
The set up is good and flashbacks are peppered throughout which helps the pacing. The bits were Neville is unhinged, such as him talking to shop dummies, are a bit off puting and again failed to surpass Charleton who talked to himself in the cinema instead.
The final act that sees a woman and cute kid show up totally throws the whole film off and the ending is really unsatisfactory.
All in all a worthy effort that could have been so much better. 6/10
Oh and the dog gets bitten and he strangles it.
Got the book for Chrimbo and read it on the day. Fantastic book. I can't expect the film to come anywhere near it, but I'm still looking forward to the film.
- pj
The novel or graphic novel PJ? The Steve Niles book is great and a faithful reproduction of the novel. The Will Smith film retains the title, character name and set up but that's it. The stuff at the end, which makes sense of the title, is lost completely.
Just got back from the cinema and while my expectations were set suitably low, the film did end up being a refreshing antidote(pun possibly intended) to the usual syrupy, sentimental trash that passes for a Yuletide movie.
Been following this production for some time, since reading the book several years ago and having seen Charlton Heston's NRA endorsed version, The Omega Man.
For reasons I can't really account for-too much Veggie roast, Quality Street and discount Lager maybe, I didn't find myself as moved by Neville's plight as I thought I should.
The apocalyptic setting was superbly realised and there was an excellent committed performance from Will Smith, free from his usual Fresh Prince schtick! Credit to the animal trainer and the German Shepherd/s performance too.Infact perhaps they should create a specific animal Oscar, as they frequently act their human counterparts off the screen.
As feared, the end was rather fudged and far too rushed with many potentially interesting plot strands-the cured female victim, for example, being underdeveloped.
Also, making the infected flesh crazed Zombies was an unnecessary change from the book's more intelligent, reasoning creatures, robbing the film of a possible deeper interpretation and causing it to simply resemble just one more entry into the seemingly endless Zombie movie sub-genre.
As mentioned elsewhere, the film's major let down was the poor CGI realised plague victims. So much better to have used Prosthetics, in my opinion. For the most part these CGI creations took me out of the drama and at times gave me the impression I was watching a crass video game.
For all its faults, the film had enough bleakness for this viewer to recommend it.
But those who haven't already, should pick up the book immediately.
The film is not an adaption of the book, oh no, it is a remake of The Omega Man.
It's entertainting, has its moments, but is ultimately a pretty shallow and pointless movie.
There comes a point in the film, where if it had gone the way of the book (which has a much better ending than this or The Omega Man) it could have really been something.
Soak up the emotionless CGI, the gutless central message of the film and realise the central role could have been any hollywood A-lister's pay packet while you resist puking over the faux 11/9 gravitas of the movie.
Will Smith is a very likeable man, but this is a movie with no nutsack.
Go and read 'I am Legend' by Mathesson and have yourself a treat. It's entertaining and you may even have a few thoughts after you've read it. Don't worry if you've just left the cinema feeling your brain has just absorbed the equivelant mental of a big mac, it's an entirely different experience, story and end.
I should probably just find a lonely spot and have a good shout, it would probably make me feel better.
Yours
A twat on the internet.
BTW why was he spraying water on his door step and later on his jacket? I know in the book there is the holy water to deter the vampires but there was no spiritual element here, and that plain made no sense. Unless he had a dusty step and jacket and just wanted things ship-shape.
The original book - I put it on my Amazon wish list (along with nothing but graphic novels) my wife bought it and was surprised to find it was a normal book and even went so far as to double check the internet to make sure there hadn't been some kind of mix up.
- pj
"BTW why was he spraying water on his door step and later on his jacket? I know in the book there is the holy water to deter the vampires but there was no spiritual element here, and that plain made no sense. Unless he had a dusty step and jacket and just wanted things ship-shape."
That's a really good point! Maybe a dropped plot strand. Any other theories?
The Vincent Price version is in the public domain and you can watch it online :
Link: Last Man On Earth
...and if you're a fan of 'last man on earth' stories there's also:
- The Quiet Earth, which looks at what it would be like to be the last person in New Zealand after which it looks at what would it be like to be the last middle-aged anglo-saxon man in New Zealand if you had a jolly young woman to have it off with, after which it examines the idea of having to share the jolly young woman with an enormous Maori guy
I've just watched I am Legend.
It was pish.
Nothing happened for the first hour (which was the best hour) then nothing worth anything happened in the second hour (or 40 mins or whatever the running time on it is).
And yeah, what's the deal with the water??
It clearly is a reference to something that was cut, but why leave the other water bits in??
And at the start Dr Krippen is talking about measles then the tv host says 'so you cured cancer'.... did I miss something there.. measles to cancer in about 2 seconds... when was cancer brought into the conversation? Krippen never mentioned cancer
The only bit of any interest was when the creatures set a trap for him, I thought 'so, they have an ability to learn, not so savage after all, I wonder where this interesting plot point will take me....' answer NOWHERE. It wasn't even mentioned again the fact that they copied him and set his own trap on him.
I hope i got those spoiler tags right!
spoilers off?
In the book he systematically tries the various myths and legends about vampires to see if it's all a load of bollox, one of those things is to try the idea that vampires don't like running water. Maybe it's that (or maybe the writers changed it to Holy Water, then thought better of it and didn't actually mention it, it'll all be on the DVD).
- pj
Just had a thought about the water on the jacket and steps... maybe he was cleaning up blood, as it seems to attract the bad men.
Just a guess!
looks like a DVD for me as i do love the book and dont really want another version of Omega man.
CU Radbacker
The more I think about it the more this film annoys me - why for example did Will Smith survive the virus? In the Omega Man Neville injects a test serum at the last minute to survive, are we to accept that top germ boffin Smith was lucky enough to be one of the 1% of 1% to survive? So it would seem.
SPOILERS
Can't really buck the board status quo here. It was alright at first but went downhill once the CGI zombies came ou to play.
When Big Willie was strangling the dog it looked like he was inserting a suppository, and when he started asking the doll to say hello I had to resist the urge to comply with his request in the style of Lionel Richie.
Ultimately this film reminded me of the need for puritanically downbeat arthouse cinema, as at least these films remind us that not everything can be healed by Bob Marley and Shrek.
I quite fancy the film, despite the general bad feeling you've all had towards it.
I feel like I'm at my first AA meeting saying this (and maybe I should keep it for that other thread) but I really wasn't impressed with the book. Maybe it's just the weight of expectation after hearing so many people go on about it for so long but, while it was a pleasant enough way to spend a Sunday afternoon, it was pretty forgettable stuff.
I still fancy seeing this even after reading the thread.Havent read the book either .I have only seen the trailer .
I haven't read the book but I have seen the old Omega Man film with Charlton Heston. I liked that film a lot. It's kind of put me off of watching this film as I figure, the old one works, why do a remake?
That being said I preferred the 70s version of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (the one with Geof Goldblum) to the original black and white. To be fair, that's the first one I saw, but I do think it is the better film with better acting thann the original.
Didn't stop them doing another remake (in the 90s I believe) called
"Bodysnatcher" (not too bad but not as good as the 70s one). And just the other day I saw trailers for another film called "Snatched" (or some such name) with Nicole Kidman.
what can be healed by Bob Marley and Shrek, apart from a shortage of Bob Marley and/or Shrek?
It was awlright but not great .I wasnt bored but not that much happens in it.
Lots of loose ends here in this film.
How were the Zombies able to climb walls?
WIll Smith was a lab scientist but was also an officer in the army.Seems unlikely.
How *exactly* does a cure for cancer [whatever that was - it was never explained] become an airborne virus ? Not explained at all.
Also Measles was mentioned too.
How did the lovely lady save will smith from the zombies and how did she know where he lived ?
If i was will Smith i would have had fun with some of those tanks and armoured cars that were around.
Great scene driving the 4by 4 around and squashing and running over Zombies that were attacking.
Bemused about the splashing of water around on steps outside the house unless the zombies have an aversion to it but they didnt seem to .
I have always fancied being in that situation and having a free roam of the entire city with no one around.
I hated this film, mainly because it scared the shit out of me.
I hate scary films. If I'd realised it was effectively 28 Days Later in New York, I wouldn't have gone to see it.
- Trout
I hope South Park satirises this film in a similar fashion to Wild Wild West. "I'm a bad ass scientist memorising Shrek in a dystopic hood. Jiggy jiggy mope mope."
"How *exactly* does a cure for cancer [whatever that was - it was never explained] become an airborne virus ? Not explained at all."
I think it was designed to be an airborne virus, except a nice one, that would cure cancer. That's why she mentioned measles, they had somehow mutated it into a cure, so you could "catch" the cure. Or something like that, maybe I just totally misunderstood. Either way, the cure then mutated into the virus. I think.
"How *exactly* does a cure for cancer [whatever that was - it was never explained] become an airborne virus ? Not explained at all."
I think it was designed to be an airborne virus, except a nice one, that would cure cancer. That's why she mentioned measles, they had somehow mutated it into a cure, so you could "catch" the cure. Or something like that, maybe I just totally misunderstood. Either way, the cure then mutated into the virus. I think.
Read the book over Christmas and really enjoyed it (despite the horrible bleakness of it all). Will probably go and see the film and moan about it.
"I think it was designed to be an airborne virus, except a nice one, that would cure cancer. That's why she mentioned measles, they had somehow mutated it into a cure, so you could "catch" the cure. Or something like that, maybe I just totally misunderstood. Either way, the cure then mutated into the virus. I think."
It looked like Emma Thompson in the film.She was waffling on and gave a ridiculous analogy of driving a cop car .
I cant even be bothered to try and work it out and you probably have as much idea as i have.Why conduct experiments with viruses in a built up area anyway ? [backslash]
Anyway its irrelevent .We the audience dont need to know these things ! Lets get to the action !
"Read the book over Christmas and really enjoyed it (despite the horrible bleakness of it all). Will probably go and see the film and moan about it."
That's the spirit!
Of course! It's the English way!
On a related note, H(onky)MV currently has The Omega Man in the sale for £3, brother.
Just got back from seeing it - birthday present from the better half. She thought it was boring. I thought it was boring. Had a cracking Chinese first though, so on average - good night. Now it's a bottle of wine and the last episode of the Shield (series 1) to counter act the effect of the movie.
BTW - the 'water' was to cover his scent...it's why he used it on the steps and on the blanket!
I think reading the non-spoiler parts of this thread and a couple of luke warm reviews helped me.
We went along to see this yesterday, and I thought it was great. I don't mind admitting, like our King, that I was shitting it in places. Particularly when the dog chased the deer/antelope whatever-it-was into the dark building.
Personally, I'd have ended it maybe 3 or 4 minutes sooner, but all in all, a liked it a lot.
Can't wait for the Batman/Superman movie on the billboard!
I also quite liked it. I thought Will Smith did a really good job of slowly going insane for the first 90 minutes or so (basically anything before the girl showed up) and there were some genuinely creepy and well-directed bits. For example, while looking for the dog in the building, seeing the deer's nose poking around the door, and thinking it's the dog. I for one, thought that was creepy. And the "patrons" in the video store.
But, they dropped the ball on the CGI vampires. They just looked cack. The strange thing is, there were actors playing some of the "lead" vampires, like the "alpha male" as he's listed in the credits, so I don't know whether they did motion capture, or just scanned the faces or what, but it just looked dodgy. I guess they just wanted creatures with a skinny, wasted look, but I still think they should have gone for people in make-up.
As for the Batman/Superman poster, that was a nice touch. I read somewhere that there was a Green Lantern film poster in the video store, so I was keeping an eye out for that, but I couldn't find it.
I read somewhere that there was a Green Lantern film poster in the video store, so I was keeping an eye out for that, but I couldn't find it.
Yeah- I spotted that one too!
Saw this tonight and thought it was pretty good, with only the egregiously upbeat ending counting against it in my book. While the vampires/ zombies/ infected /whatever weren't as good as they could have been, the only scene where I felt the CGI really got in the way was when he's mowing them down on the docks.
I thought it did an excellent job of portraying somebody who's gone utterly fucking mental (for a quite understandable reason) but still remains a good guy. I also appreciated the way the film showed the vampires learning and becoming organised without feeling the need to ram it down our throats by making a big speech like "Oh, who could possibly have set this trap which is exactly like the one I set for them earlier?"
While a bit trite, the appearance of the chick and her boy at end was just the kind of parallel with his own family that Hollywood scriptwriters can't resist, but it also served the purpose of showing how far removed from other people he's become in the way the bird he kidnaps does in book.
I suppose I can see where, if you went into it with a real hard-on for the book, you'd be pissed off at what had been changed or omitted, but I don't so I wasn't. Ultimately, as with many adaptations, it was a decent film, but maybe not a decent film of the book.
Now I shall answer some questions. Primarily from PeterWolf.
Lots of loose ends here in this film.
How were the Zombies able to climb walls?
With their hands?
Will Smith was a lab scientist but was also an officer in the army.Seems unlikely.
Not sure. Presumably techy/boffin types have to have rank within their own part of the army and this unfortunately can make them the superior to "real" soldiers as well.
How *exactly* does a cure for cancer [whatever that was - it was never explained] become an airborne virus ? Not explained at all. Also Measles was mentioned too.
The woman at the start had developed a cure. They were using a genetically modified (in the fifties, it'd've been radioactive) form of the measles virus as the vector to "infect" people with the cure. At an unspecified point after this, the virus mutates and becomes airborne (like in Outbreak) infecting everybody.
How did the lovely lady save will smith from the zombies and how did she know where he lived?
With bright lights and guns. She had been waiting for him all day and he told her where he lived while he was concussed (11 Washington Square.) To be fair, this doesn't reveal why a native of Sao Paulo who had just arrived in NYC knew where this was.
If i was will Smith i would have had fun with some of those tanks and armoured cars that were around.
Yes.
Here's one for you....
How did the Blackbird (when he was hitting the golf balls) get on to the aircraft carrier?
That plane needs about 10 miles of runway to land on.
Accrodong to the rules of Vampire: The Masquarade. ( A White-Wolf RPG.)
The rules andlaws concering vampires were that if tha Vampire was a religious person. Then that person as vampire would be thus effected by religous artifacts/holy water. Merely because they were embarrassed by suhs thing now that they were vampires.
I'm not so sure about Holy Water, though.
They were definitly afraid and effected by sun light.
How did the Blackbird (when he was hitting the golf balls) get on to the aircraft carrier? That plane needs about 10 miles of runway to land on.
I did think that was a bit stupid myself.
I think it was the USS Intrepid, which is a floating museum.
- Steve
Link: USS Intrepid
I think it was the USS Intrepid, which is a floating museum.
Fair enough. I'll go with that.
I just read the cosh post that cleared up most of those points for me as i havent read the book .
The USS Intrepid post solved that problem.I didnt know about it and thought it would be very unlikely that an aircraft carrier would be in the centre of new york.
The wall climbing bit is just done for effect as it would have been too easy for them all to gather outside the front door or break in that way.
It was never explained in 28days/28 weeks later what rage was either.
Presumably now the antidote was found then the survivors then have to create it in large amounts in Lab enviroment .Would the survivors kill off the rest of the zombies or capture them somehow and cure them ?
Also would there be anyone among the survivors who would know how to synthesise the antidote since Will Smith died at the end of the film ?
I initially thought the aircraft carrier was odd but as I watched that scene I did notice the area around the planes was roped off and there was a litter bin too so I figured it must be a museum.
You could see on one of the planes where the engine was painted red to look like the after-burner (is that the right term) was lit - and they did look like a museum.
Well, I actually quite enjoyed this even though I know I shouldn't have.
I caught it at the Odeon Leicester Square - took my big brother out for his sixtieth birthday. Goodness that's an expensive cinema.
Anyway, I thought all of the deserted streets were brilliantly realised and Will Smith did a good enough job. It definitely drops a notch when the Vampires come out en masse but the early scenes (Neville looking for his dog in the Warehouse and the bit where they set a trap for him) were very good at making things scary.
A couple of bits I really liked were the blink shot of his wife and child cooking bacon and eggs for him and the way that as the vampires overwhelm his defences in the final assult it was all very frantic and desperate. There was no showy special effect slow mo as they walked into his traps and he utters witty one liners.
OK the Bob Marley basil and Shrek bits were appalling but I'm a sucker for a happy(ish) ending with noble sacrifice and clean slates start anew kind of utopias so I wasn't appalled by this as many of you obviously were. (I'm reminded of a throwaway line in Gremlins 2: "CASABLANCA; now in colour and with a happy ending").
But the thing is, I think I enjoyed it because I lowered my expectations and only judged it on it's Will Smith Summer Blockbuster merits rather than as an adaption of a seminal Science Fiction Novel.
But is that right?
I remember seeing BLACK HAWK DOWN and thinking what a stonking action film it was (loose remake of ZULU). But then went off to find out a bit more about what actually happened and the historical and political context. As a result, I know reckon the film is pretty much a travesty (and wish it weren't based on real events). Should you watch a film without having to refer back to it's context all the time?
"Should you watch a film without having to refer back to it's context all the time? "
I think so. I have a friend who really didn't enjoy I Am Legend mainly because of the comparisons to the book, and she just couldn't switch off and watch it ourely as it's own film. Similarly with the historically-based films, I don't know if you've ever seen The General, with Brendan Gleeson, but it's based on the life of an Irish gangster named Martin Cahill. Personally, I love the film, but it takes more than a few liberties with the truth, at times portraying Cahill as a light-hearted scallywag who got his kicks by running rings around the Gardai while he committed armed robberies. (Of course, it also shows him crucifying one of his gang members on a pool table, but the emphasis is more on his lighter side)
My point is, if you let context or source get in the way, you can deny yourself a chance to actually enjoy the film.
I should have added in, my main point in bringing up the General, is that I know several people who won't watch it because they feel it glorifies Cahill. Looking back over my message, I don't think I put that across....
bought the audio book on itunes - it's brilliant. the voice of the guy who reads is gravelrific, a tad remeniscent of lord vader: Robertson Dean
Just thought I'd resurrect this thread for a moment, since I found this link on Aintitcool which has the original ending to I am Legend. They call it "vastly superior", I'm not so sure I'd go that far, but having watched it, I do think I prefer it to the actual ending.
Link: See for yourself....
That was miles better as an ending.
Yeah, I liked it. I'm not so sure about the "driving off into the sunset" part, but the extremely tense scene in the basement is better (and oddly moving) than charging into the bad guys with a grenade methinks.
Yeah, better ending there... some of it was in the original traier.
This is the alternate ending included on the forthcoming 2-Disc DVD. It's an interesting take, but I think they went with the right ending in the theatrical cut. Also it kind of reminded me of the naff ending they used in the original theatrical cut of Blade Runner for some reason.
That was a much more satisfactory ending than the hand grenade version.
A much more positive ending and also an interesting interaction between Will Smith and the infected.
It actually made more sense in the context of the build-up towards the ending. The fact that the big bad appeared to have a motive for persuing Will's character so vigourously was not really explored, or the fact that they had 'intelligence' and were not mindless - they did set a trap after all. This ending makes it all a bit more rounded for me, and also left it open-ended which I felt was something that was needed on a movie of this scale - it was 'end of the world as we know it stuff' after all, and that's hard to wrap up in just one movie.
It makes me want to watch the whole thing again now.
Dweezil, do you know if this ending is just an extra on the DVD, or is it a director's cut kind of affair?
I think the reason it was so positive was why I disliked it, seemed trite-but I'm a cynical fucker, so that probably explains that.
I'm guessing on the DVD it will be one of those seamless branching affairs(or not so seamless if you own the Alien Quadrilogy) but I've not read conformation of this yet.
Yeah, I just checked cd-wow (cos for some reason I can never find a DVD's special features on Amazon) and it says the second disc in the 2-disc set contains the alternate version of the film.
It might explain why the writing credits at the end said it was 'based on the screenplay by'.