I Am Legend - Trailer 2

[dweezil2]

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.

[paulvonscott]

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.

[Buttonman]

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.

[pauljholden]

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

[dweezil2]

"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?

[M.I.K.]

The Vincent Price version is in the public domain and you can watch it online :

Link: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1663597729999672400" target="_blank">Last Man On Earth

[Floyd-the-k]

...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

[Buddy]

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!

[Buddy]

spoilers off?

[pauljholden]

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

[Buddy]

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!

[Radbacker]

looks like a DVD for me as i do love the book and dont really want another version of Omega man.

CU Radbacker

[Buttonman]

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.

[Roger Godpleton]

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, Cosh]

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.