I Am Legend

[Maxx]

*SPOILERS INCLUDED*

Ok, let me first say I absolutely loved the first half of this movie. It was excellent, Will Smith's performance was superb, you really got a sense of the isolation he felt and you felt a lot of sympathy for the character and what he's going through, with his psyche slowly unraveling. He was the last man on Earth, and it felt like it and it was good.

Add to that the excellent suspense moments when he starts encountering the monster. It reminded me alot of Alien and I couldn't wait for more. And then they start getting smarter, they start mimicking what Neville is doing and it seems like its going to set up for an excellent second half.

Instead, it turns itself into a bad action survival movie. I was waiting for them to go into detail about how the creatures are getting smarter, show some more examples of it, and then hopefully it would end in like the book does. No, instead we get 2 more people alive, which completely ruins the fucking concept of the movie! They destroy the films dynamic. You felt for Neville cause it was literally him against the world, with 2 more people, you don't feel so bad. Plus the characters are never developed, besides, oh right we're immune to and there's even more people up in Vermont. The creatures then stop getting smart and just attack relentlessly. Ugh, it had so much promise.

I will say that seeing it in IMAX is an incredible experience, my seat was doing a whole lot of shaking cause of the sound, which was awesome.

But ultimately, they should have just stuck with the whole Batman thing they had going for the first few minutes

[GoGo Yubari]

Yup. I saw the film on Monday and had incredibly similar thoughts. Honestly, the moment Sam died the movie started to suck, especially with Religious Symbolism Girl, who is the most annoying New Human Character inserted into any survival-type movie I have ever seen.

[DMN in the House]

So its not like the book, where the 'not dead' vampires are still as intelligent as they ever were, and try to sucker him in by sending the girl, only to attack him and kill him?

Because that would kinda suck. The story was awesome, if short. I'll still see the movie, though.

[GoGo Yubari]

So its not like the book, where the 'not dead' vampires are still as intelligent as they ever were, and try to sucker him in by sending the girl, only to attack him and kill him?

Because that would kinda suck. The story was awesome, if short. I'll still see the movie, though.

From the summary of the book that I read, it's... pretty much the antithesis of the book, really.

[8FOR!3]

I just saw it earlier today.

Second half really did suck, that's true.

Will Smith's a great actor though, he did a good job throughout.

[Jorden Snow]

I went and saw it on Friday night after I got off work. I had some special treatment since the theatre was closed, but the girl closing that night knew myself and a group of friends so she let us have a special showing of the movie. Was nice in there with a group of like 8 friends.

Either way, the movie was pretty good. I dislike most of Will Smith's movies, I just always picture him acting like his "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" character and can't seem to ever really get into his movies. I guess the fact that someone "well known" plays multiple characters just doesn't work for me, with him anyways. Ali was even hard for me to get into cause I knew it was Will, I was expecting Carlton to bust on the scene and start dancing any minute.

*** SPOILERS ***

Back to "I am legend" though, for what it was worth, it was a pretty good movie. I wish they would have stuck to the suspense parts of the movie more. When I go watch a horror film, i'm not normally one to jump or anything. With this, I didn't expect any of the parts so when Will was driving with his wife and daughter and the "night stalker" jumps at his window, holy shit.

The beginning of the movie was really excellently done. I enjoyed watching him survive in the world all by himself. His quirks were great, I loved the movie store bit. Just good stuff. Once the girl and the child showed up, it was kinda eh. Just took away from him being the last person alive, so that sucked.

I wish they would have expanded on the first part more though. Like for example, why did the outbreak happen? Sure it was a cure for cancer gone wrong, but what about it went wrong? I never quite did know, and I wish I would have. They left a lot up to the imagination, and I would have rather had them tell me the answers.

Best part of the movie is Fred though, I swear Fred fucking looked at him. Maybe he did too, maybe you were seeing it as Will did, because it certainly looked like Fred turned his head. But wow ... "Tell me your real Fred, TELL ME!!!" *gun shots* just excellent stuff right there. I honestly thought it was one of the "night stalkers" in Fred's clothes, just shaded enough to not be burnt by the sun, but nah ... it was Fred. Love how the "night stalkers" set him up, or at least I think they did.

Oh, and back on the not seeing it as anyone other then Will Smith, notice I've said Will this whole time? I'm not even certain what his name in the movie was.

[Vilge Duin]

So, right... I take it you can't get into any movie with a name actor can you?

The way you view it idiotic quite frankly.

[Gongsun Zan]

I don't get it. The book's plot (from what I read on wikipedia) was pretty awesome, but instead they go out and rewrite it into a same-old vampire movie. What the hell?

Edited December 16, 2007 by Gongsun Zan

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

Maybe I missed it when I got re-fills on my popcorn, but I didn't pickup the "the night seekers are getting smarter" part. In fact, Neville says at one point their de-evolution was complete and lacked all human social characteristics.

[GoGo Yubari]

Maybe I missed it when I got re-fills on my popcorn, but I didn't pickup the "the night seekers are getting smarter" part. In fact, Neville says at one point their de-evolution was complete and lacked all human social characteristics.

Were you getting a refill when Neville freaked out over one of his own mannequins not being where it was supposed to be, leading to him getting caught in the same trap he used to catch one of the night etc. etc.s earlier in the film? Because that's where the idea comes from.

[Maxx]

See I like how he always splashed something on his steps, but they never mentioned what it was or why he was doing it. I think it was vinegar, but still no explanation, thanks Francis

[ROC]

I don't get it. The book's plot (from what I read on wikipedia) was pretty awesome, but instead they go out and rewrite it into a same-old vampire movie. What the hell?

[Jorden Snow]

So, right... I take it you can't get into any movie with a name actor can you?

The way you view it idiotic quite frankly.

[DMN in the House]

Yeah, sounds nothing like the book. In the book, there are 'dead' vampires, and 'not dead' vampires. The dead are, obviously, recently dead people who the virus killed, and they are relatively stupid, and just want to kill/eat him. They gather outside his house, and try to get him to come out by yelling at him, throwing things at his house, and in the case of the women, stripping. They're on the level of animals. Then, towards the end, there are 'live' vampires, who, I believe, have a small immunity to the virus, so it didn't kill them. They can spend short periods in the sun, and are as intelligent as they would be normally. They send a girl to him, and she spies on him, before telling him who he is, and telling him to leave, because they want to kill him. He dosen't, they capture him, and she helps him commit suicide. Its a really good story, because its not really a book in and of itself, its the major part of a collection of short stories.

[CQI13]

A lot of times it's really hard, to be honest. One of the reasons I liked the first SAW so much was that the two in the room and the guy who played Jigsaw I'd never seen before. So it seemed more realistic. Glad it's idiotic to you.

Edited December 17, 2007 by CQI13

[MyKILLv2.0]

I am on par with everyone about this movie. I really enjoyed the first hour of the movie, and after the dog died, and it appeared that the creatures were growing in intelligence, I turned to my date and said "this is about to get REALLY good".

However it's like at that point they called up Michael Bay, and say "Ok Mr. Bay, start blowing shit up". From about the mid point onward (Sam's death), they never explained anything, they never developed anything other then adding two storyline characters (to which they NEVER gave any character development). They just blew shit up, and ruined what was a great movie to that point.

Meh, shows you what the fuck I know. Luckily, my date was hot, so the movie wasn't a total waste. Judging by reading everyone's take on the book, I should go read the book. What is the name of the book?

Edited December 17, 2007 by MikelSweeten

[DMN in the House]

The book is also named 'I Am Legend'. You'll probably find it easiest in softback, there's a version with a pic of Will Smith on the cover. The story is actually only the first half, but the other short stories in the book are pretty good as well. I enjoyed 'Dance with the Dead' almost as much as I enjoyed 'I Am Legend'.

[Jorden Snow]

A lot of times it's really hard, to be honest. One of the reasons I liked the first SAW so much was that the two in the room and the guy who played Jigsaw I'd never seen before. So it seemed more realistic. Glad it's idiotic to you.

Actually, the guy in the room (not the writer/director, but the doctor) was Wesley/Dread Pirate Roberts in Princess Bride. And he was also in Liar, Liar.

[Vilge Duin]

So, right... I take it you can't get into any movie with a name actor can you?

The way you view it idiotic quite frankly.

A lot of times it's really hard, to be honest. One of the reasons I liked the first SAW so much was that the two in the room and the guy who played Jigsaw I'd never seen before. So it seemed more realistic. Glad it's idiotic to you.

Edited December 17, 2007 by Vilge Duin

[zero]

I saw it just for the Batman Prologue, but I was honestly pleasantly surprised. I was pissed when I saw it was taking place in the middle of Times Square, plus the whole bridge blowing up in the trailer made it look like some war was going on, but luckily that was not the case.

I can understand why they didn't go with the Still Living/Not Living route, but yeah, the extra characters in the second half felt tacked on. Still not a bad movie at all, Will Smith was fantastic, which usually his movies bore me to tears. I feared it would be far worse, but I dug it.