I Am Legend - Trailer 2

[Richmond Clements]

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!

[the shutdown man]

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.

[Richmond Clements]

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!

[I, Cosh]

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.

[Buddy]

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.

[ThryllSeekyr]

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.

[I, Cosh]

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.

[Steve Green]

I think it was the USS Intrepid, which is a floating museum.

- Steve

Link: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/pages/ussintrepid" target="_blank">USS Intrepid

[Buddy]

I think it was the USS Intrepid, which is a floating museum.

Fair enough. I'll go with that.

[Peter Wolf]

 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 ?

[Albion]

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.

[WoD]

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.

[Tiplodocus]

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?

[the shutdown man]

"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.

[the shutdown man]

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....