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Movies => Good Movies => Topic started by: JPickettIII on November 21, 2007, 11:46:20 PM



Title: I Am Legend...
Post by: JPickettIII on November 21, 2007, 11:46:20 PM
Has anyone scene the previews???

It has Will Smith in it.  It looks good.  He is the last man on earth.

I think that it is funny, I was reading my Discover or Scientific American and there is a article entitled "No Man's Land".  It is about what could happen if man just dissapeared.  I would like to see this movie.

What do you guys think?????

Later,

John


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: RCMerchant on November 22, 2007, 06:53:25 AM
Being the film has been done twice before...(Vincent Price in The LAST MAN on EARTH and Charleton Heston in the OMEGA MAN) I guess we'll just have to wait and see. The Price version is an old favorite...but I'm not one of those who blindly thinks the original is better. It all depends. But comparing Will Smith to Vinnie...meh...

 If they stick closly to the Richard (the INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN,TheLEGEND OF HELL HOUSE) Matheson  story...well ,...I guess I'll have to wait and see.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Oldskool138 on November 22, 2007, 10:52:55 AM
That's also Richard "Twilight Zone" Matheson as well.  He wrote some of the best episodes of the original series.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: trekgeezer on November 22, 2007, 12:20:57 PM
I love The Last Man on Earth, Price does such an excellent job. I can take of leave the Omega Man.

I'm going to have to give the new version a watch before I judge it. What will ruin it for me is Will starts throwing his little Willisms around.

Robert Neville (the main character) is the last normal man on earth. Everyone else has succumbed to a virus which has transformed them into vampires.  I don't know how they will end this new version, but I hope they don't paint some rosie picture at the end. 


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Torgo on November 23, 2007, 08:21:27 PM
Looks interesting but some parts of the trailer remind me a bit too much of 28 Days Later which I despised.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Oldskool138 on November 23, 2007, 08:37:01 PM
As long as there are no "Aww, hell naw!" moments in the movie, I'll go see it.  I will walk out at the first Will Smith-ism.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: GoHawks on November 23, 2007, 11:08:31 PM
As long as there are no "Aww, hell naw!" moments in the movie, I'll go see it.  I will walk out at the first Will Smith-ism.

Has he ever made a movie without them?  It's like Schwarzenegger and his one-liners.  I'm predicting you'll leave within the first 30 minutes.

P.S.  I like Schwarzenegger and his one-liners.   :tongueout:


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Bonehead-XL on November 24, 2007, 07:58:39 PM
I actually am curious about this. Most early reports made it sound like a pretty straight remake of "The Omega Man," which I like alot but they really shouldn't name the film after the book if its just going to be a remake of TOM. However, after seeing the trailer, this appears to be much more thoughtful and quiet then I expected. At the least, the emphasis seems to be more on thrills then action.

Will Smith can be a good actor and has prove so several times in the past. ("Six Degrees of Seperation," "Ali," "The Pursuit of Happiness") Granted, none of those are great movies, but Smith actually acts in them beyond his typical persona. This appears to be more along those lines. In Fangoria, the director, Francis Lawerence, the guy who did "Constantine," which I liked, says he attempted to make a "mainstream art-house film" with "I Am Legend" which is also pretty promising.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Oldskool138 on November 25, 2007, 08:28:53 AM
("Six Degrees of Seperation," "Ali," "The Pursuit of Happiness")

That's "Happyness"   :lookingup:

I might be good movie but a homeless, crying Will Smith in a subway bathroom isn't my idea of an uplifting movie.  And the title is spelled wrong...


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Shadow on November 25, 2007, 12:40:46 PM
Of course the title is spelled wrong on purpose, as it ties in with something in the film. :wink:


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: trekgeezer on November 25, 2007, 05:48:42 PM
As long as there are no "Aww, hell naw!" moments in the movie, I'll go see it.  I will walk out at the first Will Smith-ism.

Has he ever made a movie without them?  It's like Schwarzenegger and his one-liners.  I'm predicting you'll leave within the first 30 minutes.

P.S.  I like Schwarzenegger and his one-liners.   :tongueout:


That's kinda funny considering that this movie project has been in development for several years and Arnold was the first actor attached to it.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on November 28, 2007, 08:31:21 PM
I'm looking forward to seeing this movie.  It comes out in early December here.  I really like Will Smith and his -isms.

I like the idea of the movie but I've never seen Omega Man with Charlton Heston.  I might watch that one first because it's more readily available.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Jim H on December 04, 2007, 05:15:59 PM
("Six Degrees of Seperation," "Ali," "The Pursuit of Happiness")

That's "Happyness"   :lookingup:

I might be good movie but a homeless, crying Will Smith in a subway bathroom isn't my idea of an uplifting movie.  And the title is spelled wrong...

The guy the movie is based on gave a speech at my school.  He came across as overly self-serving and arrogant, with a whole lot of false modesty.  It made me even less interested in the film.

That said, I Am Legend is getting very mediocre reviews.  Seriously, people pretty much say "it isn't really good or bad, just meh!".  So don't expect too much.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Ed Sigma on December 05, 2007, 08:11:51 AM
Well, I've been kind of hoping for this to do well, as I absolutely love the original novel, and quite a lot of Matheson's other work (don't forget he also did some of those Roger Corman Poe flicks), and I can think of much worse choices than Will Smith in the lead.  But this early review (http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3842&Itemid=99) does make me feel a little uneasy.  I've had a bad feeling they may have messed up ever since the director said they were going with the CGI route with the Not-Vampires (and what exactly is wrong with practical make-up effects?), and when I heard they were re-shooting the ending.  It probably won't stop me going to see it though, but I'm still expecting a dissapointment after the years of build-up.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Oldskool138 on December 05, 2007, 10:51:03 AM
I'm looking forward to seeing this movie.  It comes out in early December here.  I really like Will Smith and his -isms.

I like the idea of the movie but I've never seen Omega Man with Charlton Heston.  I might watch that one first because it's more readily available.

I was at the store yesterday and I found out that The Omega Man is on HD DVD!  LOL!  Wow!  It's come a long way since I saw it on TNT ages ago.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Mr_Vindictive on December 05, 2007, 03:34:32 PM
The Last Man On Earth is a favorite of mine.  Price doesn't play Neville as a badass, even though I believe Matheson thought of him that way in his original story.  That being said, it's a haunting and surprisingly faithful adaptation of the story.  Great film.

I have reservations about this new version but I'll probably check it out regardless.  I love the story enough to spend the money on a ticket for the film even if I feel that Smith was not the best choice in the world.  I also doubt that they will keep the ending the way it should be.  There was a huge message in that ending but Hollywood will destroy it for a happy ending.

Also, Ed Sigma, karma to you for your avatar. 


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: nada on December 05, 2007, 11:18:26 PM
Does Matheson's story have vampires or mutants?

In Last Man on Earth, Price fights vampires but in The Omega Man, Heston fights mutants. It just always seemed to me like vampires were shoehorned into the story because Price is more supernatural than scifi.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Mr_Vindictive on December 06, 2007, 01:15:54 AM
Nada,

Vampires, but they seem to be very much like the "ghouls" from Night Of The Living Dead.  Romero claims to actually have taken his zombie idea from I Am Legend.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Foywonder on December 06, 2007, 03:29:25 AM
From the reviews that are starting to trickle out someone might need to move this I AM LEGEND thread to the Bad Movies forum. So far word is not good.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: The Burgomaster on December 06, 2007, 06:45:18 AM
I just read Matheson's book I AM LEGEND a few weeks ago.  It's only about 150 pages and is a quick read.  It's also a very good last man on earth / vampire story.  THE LAST MAN ON EARTH with Vincent Price is reasonably faithful to the book.  THE OMEGA MAN has general plot and character similarities, but is quite different from the book in many ways.  Will Smith's version also looks very different based on the trailers.  But I'm still looking forward to it.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on December 06, 2007, 06:30:04 PM
I think the main trouble with the bad reviews could be because people who read the book are expecting the film makers to do it justice.  ANd we all know that NEVER happens.

If you take the movie on it's own merits, it should be fine.  After all the purists screamed when Smith did I Robot.  I am an Asimov fan but I didn't take exception to the fact the movie just took the whiff of a SF idea and made it their own.

Unless of course the movie is dreck for its own sake, then the booing might be justified.  It will be like most things - some people will love it, some will hate it.  I never go by what the critics say.  They get paid to be narky b@stards.  If they gave movies 5 out of 5 each time they'd be out of a job.

I wil see it, but because I'm stingy, I'll wait for it to come out on DVD.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Foywonder on December 06, 2007, 09:50:41 PM
No; the bad review is coming from those simply saying it's a bad movie. Consensus seems to be the same: Will Smith is badly miscast, the CGI used for the monsters is shockingly bad, and the new (just reshot a few weeks ago) ending is terrible.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on December 06, 2007, 10:30:45 PM
Awesome!  Now I want to see it even more!


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Sister Grace on December 07, 2007, 07:20:33 AM
I refuse to go pay ten dollars to watch this at the theatre...I can't take more than ten minutes of anything with will smith in it. Not to mention Last Man on Earth is one of my favs and i don't want to see it butchered. As a kid we often watched old re-runs of wild wild west at my house on saturday mornings..lets just say i don't want to see what will smith done to wild wild west be repeated in another classic...


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: BoyScoutKevin on December 08, 2007, 04:50:19 PM
Well, if this one turns out as bad, as it sounds it well, they might have to do a fourth version of Richard Matheson's story, as he has been quoted as saying that he was unhappy with the earlier versions with Vincent Price and Charlton Heston, and hoped the version with Will Smith would finally do his story justice.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Susan on December 09, 2007, 10:37:01 AM
well the movie can only be an improvement, i never did like the book. One of those books that started off good but didn't go the way i was expecting. dwelled too much on that woman


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Scott on December 17, 2007, 08:30:27 PM
Saw I AM LEGEND a couple nights ago and it's a poorly executed film with worthless backflashes, bad cgi, and yes Will Smith trying to be Will Smith. This is a major dud and it makes 28 DAYS LATER look like a masterpiece. The film seemed to be a vehicle for some social statement that makes Smith's character a Colonel who finds the cure for this virus. This idea is ok, but the film just doesn't do anything for the audience to hope nor cheer him on. We honestly felt more for the dog. The theater was packed. Everyone just kinda walked out. Better yet go see THE MIST if you can still find it in the theaters.

(4 out of 10 Stars) :thumbdown: Wait for it to come out on commercial TV.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Oldskool138 on December 17, 2007, 10:07:27 PM
(4 out of 10 Stars) :thumbdown: Wait for it to come out on commercial TV.

To coin a phrase, "Awww, hell naw!"   :wink:

I knew they'd "F" up the story...Plus, Will Smith is too Will Smith for his own good.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Eric45 on December 18, 2007, 11:38:16 AM
I posted a review at StompTokyo for this.

Honestly, I thought Will Smith's performance was good, and the first 2/3s of the movie excellant, (Although the Vampires, Dark Seekers in the movie, do look awful, compare them to the Crawlers in The Descent to get a idea of what they should have done.)  Its the final act that falls apart.

http://badmoviezone.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=f4f10e06bad971443b8879fec9eb723b;act=ST;f=5;t=11346;st=0 (http://badmoviezone.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=f4f10e06bad971443b8879fec9eb723b;act=ST;f=5;t=11346;st=0)


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: AnubisVonMojo on December 18, 2007, 12:50:56 PM
Well, if this one turns out as bad, as it sounds it well, they might have to do a fourth version of Richard Matheson's story, as he has been quoted as saying that he was unhappy with the earlier versions with Vincent Price and Charlton Heston, and hoped the version with Will Smith would finally do his story justice.


Actually Kev, if you count Asylum movies (and, come on, nobody does  :wink:), there's already a fourth adaptation: I Am Omega (http://www.tombofanubis.com/Reviews/A/IAmOmega.html), as starring Mark Dacascos! Yay!

My problem with adaptation movies has always been this: if you're not going to be faithful to the book (like the way they took such liberties when making The Omega Man), then why the Hell are you even bothering to keep the title of the source material? Out of the four adaptations, this is the first to actually use the name and it sounds like they should have just done what everyone before them did and use a different title. This way people who like the movie don't have to defend the studios' decisions to change things. It's so much easier to just say, "Inspired by Richard Matheson's 'I Am Legend'" than it is to call it I Am Legend and just take the backlash from the book's fans. Then again, we've seen Will Smith do that plenty of times over the last 10 years, so obviously nobody gives a s**t about the fanbase that comes attached with a franchise so long as they can make non-fans happy and make $76 million on opening weekend... I don't care either way, I gave up on any of this s**t making sense years ago.  :lookingup:


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Nev on December 19, 2007, 10:48:20 AM
I posted a review at StompTokyo for this.

Honestly, I thought Will Smith's performance was good, and the first 2/3s of the movie excellant, (Although the Vampires, Dark Seekers in the movie, do look awful, compare them to the Crawlers in The Descent to get a idea of what they should have done.)  Its the final act that falls apart.

[url]http://badmoviezone.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=f4f10e06bad971443b8879fec9eb723b;act=ST;f=5;t=11346;st=0[/url] ([url]http://badmoviezone.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?s=f4f10e06bad971443b8879fec9eb723b;act=ST;f=5;t=11346;st=0[/url])


i agree i was kindof surprised at will smith's acting the first hour of the film.  i thought it was good and then.....

the movie just tanked into 28 days later-esque crap.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Patient Zero on January 01, 2008, 05:13:26 PM
I just saw the movie. I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in my life. :bluesad:
I mean, I Am Legend is one of the greatest books I've ever read. I knew, judging from the trailers, that the movie wouldn't be totally faithful to the source material, but hey, I was cool with that. War of the Worlds (2005) took a ton of liberties with the book, and it was still a great movie. Just so long as it retained the point of the book, I would be satisfied.
The movie doesn't even get that right.
***WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS***
At the end of the book, it is revealed that some of the "vampires" Robert Neville was slaying were actually normal people (or, at least, as close to normal as they were ever going to get) Yes, they were infected, but they managed to stave off the worst of the symptoms (such as psychosis) through artificial means. To them, Robert was a monster, a creature who could walk in sunlight and kill unsuspecting "people" as they hibernated during the day. The theme of the book can basically be summed up like this...
"We're not the monsters, you are."
In the movie, however, the "Dark Seekers" are just your average pseudo-zombie monsters with no conscience whatsoever. Instead of "I am Legend," the movie becomes "WILL SMITH VS. TEH VAMPIRES!!!!111" Thus, the entire point, the lesson, the soul of the novel is completely missed by a mile.
On its own merits (i.e., not being compared to the book) the movie is like a roller coaster. There are some high points,(the death of Neville's dog actually elicited some emotion from me) and a lot of low ones (there are a lot, and I mean a lot of scenes where, literally, nothing happens. It doesn't escalate the tension, it's just boring.). Futhermore, the CGI left a lot to be desired. In fact, if you look hard enough at the crowds of Dark Seekers, you'll see that a few of them look exactly the same. I don't mean due to the effects of the disease, I mean they are wearing the same freaking shirts, torn in the same freaking places. In a video game, this would be okay. In a movie, it's borderline unacceptable. (forget that, it's just plain unaccceptable)
Is it really that hard to put some people in pale makeup, fake blood and fangs, and set them loose in the streets?
The movie is partially redeemed by a few well done scenes, but it's not enough to save the movie from... a 2.5 out of 5.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Andrew on January 01, 2008, 05:17:37 PM
Spoilers continue.

The Vincent Price version, "The Last Man On Earth," does a marvelous job of preserving the twist.  Price does an excellent job of conveying his horror at killing the innocent, thus becoming the monster - their monster.  We also get a feeling for a lost opportunity, because he performed a transfusion (using his own blood) to cure the one girl of the disease.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Yaddo 42 on January 01, 2008, 08:31:13 PM
Saw it a week ago, I liked it for the first 2/3 until the woman and the kid appeared, I thought they were going to stick to the original ending from the book until part way through her time there. It would have been too much of a leap from the Dark Seekers to her, so I figured they weren't going to stick to the original ending at that point for sure. There were some holes later on that bothered me, especially when I thought about it more. And the deus ex machina ending was a bit much for me as well.

The Dark Seekers (and the CGI animals) were too fake looking and it was too hard to tell them apart or see that even they saw each other as individuals. On another board they were discussing that the female SMith captured was supposed to be the mate of the pack leader, I had trouble seeing this since to me the movie just made it seem like until near the end it was just mad that he had captured one of their group.

While I could buy they were adapting it seemed a bit much to think they could copy his own trap and use it against him when they seemed to have little else other than numbers and a pack mentality. I fault the screenwriters for not fleshing them out more.

I thought Smith was much better than he is most films, actually acting and getting some real worn down emotion out of a man who was truly alone and trying to stay mostly sane. Plus he managed to come off as the right mix of bitter and clincal when doing his tests on the rats and the Dark Seeker. I wish he'd go down this path more as an actor, less of the Smithisms and movie star cliches, and avoid manipulative crap like The Pursuit of Happyness altogether, ( I couldn't even finish watching that movie).

I recommended it to some people whose taste I knew, but thought it could have been better. I told a girl at work who only semi-liked it, since she didn't like how the ending played out (trying to avoid spoilers here just in case), what the ending of the book was (she's never going to read it). She was horrified, like I had smacked around Santa Claus right in front of a bunch of kids. Then again this is a woman who says she doesn't like movies where people die, guess the boyfriend wanted to see it, the very premise that even makes the movie possible deals with most of the world's population dying to begin with.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on January 02, 2008, 10:51:10 PM
She doesn't like movies where people die?  Wow, that basically cuts out at least 95% of movies doesn't it?


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Yaddo 42 on January 04, 2008, 12:54:37 AM
That was my thinking, or maybe she just meant movies where main characters die onscreen. I didn't get a chance to follow up.

To think I wanted to ask this girl out at one time, boy would we have had a hard time picking movies or videos to see. Couldn't even begin to explain the appeal of the Lone Wolf and Cub films to her.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: RCMerchant on January 04, 2008, 07:19:07 AM
Freind took me and my kids to see it yesterday.
.CGI effects-I don't like CGI effects...when you can tell the monster was once human....tha'ts spooky. When you can tell the monster is a fancy cartoon....that's stupid and uninteresting.
.Dull. Lotsa time wandering around....the vampires were unconvincing...and they moved TOO fast! These were supposed to be diasesed people...not super-powered comic book villians! C,mon,now! Typical Hollywood bullsh1t!
 This movie basically pandered to the 12 year olds in the audiance. No real thought was put into fleshing out ANY of the charecters. I could have cared less if Will Smith,the kid,or the woman died. The dog was the best actor  in the film.
 In fact....maybe if they DID kill Will Smith FIRST,and let the dog carry the rest of the movie...I may have enjoyed it more! Whatta waste of time. :thumbdown:

 Oh...one more thing. I hadn't been to a large theater in a looooooong time. I seen this in Kalamazoo...not the local Strand.   I went to the concession stand. A thin,small box of Rasinettes would have cost me $3.91 $3.91. :buggedout:
Popcorn .F@cking POPCORN -small bag...VERY SMALL was almost 5 bucks!!!! Whatta f#ck is going on here!?!? I looked at the kid standing behind the candy counter and asked him..."Are you serious? " He said-'Yessir...." He didn't even blink. We sat throughthat whole stupid f5cking movie with NO POPCORN ! It was the WORST movie going experiance I had ever had. No wonder the dam thing was nearly empty. ARGGHHH!!!
If I had known that such highway robbery was going on in the concession stand...I woulda brung my own! It seemed odd when we walked in why people wer'ent lined up to buy popcorn or candy...NOW I know why. I'll stick to dollar night at the Strand for now on! It's old and run down...but at least the prices are still affordable!
   


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Oldskool138 on January 04, 2008, 07:44:34 AM
Oh...one more thing. I hadn't been to a large theater in a looooooong time. I seen this in Kalamazoo...not the local Strand.   I went to the concession stand. A thin,small box of Rasinettes would have cost me $3.91 $3.91. :buggedout:
Popcorn .F@cking POPCORN -small bag...VERY SMALL was almost 5 bucks!!!! Whatta f#ck is going on here!?!?

Less people go to the movies nowadays because of DVD's (and since they release them about four months after a movie has had it's run at the theaters) and the general crapiness of movies.  The theater needs to find a way to balance that out so they jack up the prices on snacks.

Do what I do.  Go to a convenience store and sneak in the candy ahead of time.  The squeaky voiced teens taking your ticket is not going to pat you down or anything.  Soda is a bit of a problem but then again, I've snuck in a six-pack of beer into the theater on multiple occasions.   :cheers:


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Neville on January 06, 2008, 11:06:33 AM
Finally saw it last week. I had been warned against the ending, but I already imagined they would go for a more crowd-pleasing ending.

[SPOILERS FOLLOW]

Despite this, I enjoyed it inmensely, specially the scenes with Smith and his dog going through their usual routines. Even dumbing down the mutants didn't hurt much, you could see here and there they were more clever and organised than Neville thought.

Once thing did surprise me, though, is that they tried to stay faithful to the book until the very end, it just didn't make much sense having the "Shrek" scene, where Neville seems to empathise with the ogre, or having the woman acting suspiciously. If the had kept the original ending though, they would have made perfect sense.

[SPOILERS]

Anyway, I'd say it's a worthwhile film, and I'd go as far as saying that it's better than the previous adaptations. Now, if they had kept the original ending we may be speaking of a masterpiece here. But what they came up with instead is just insulting.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on January 07, 2008, 11:14:18 PM
Oh...one more thing. I hadn't been to a large theater in a looooooong time. I seen this in Kalamazoo...not the local Strand.   I went to the concession stand. A thin,small box of Rasinettes would have cost me $3.91 $3.91. :buggedout:
Popcorn .F@cking POPCORN -small bag...VERY SMALL was almost 5 bucks!!!! Whatta f#ck is going on here!?!?

Less people go to the movies nowadays because of DVD's (and since they release them about four months after a movie has had it's run at the theaters) and the general crapiness of movies.  The theater needs to find a way to balance that out so they jack up the prices on snacks.

Do what I do.  Go to a convenience store and sneak in the candy ahead of time.  The squeaky voiced teens taking your ticket is not going to pat you down or anything.  Soda is a bit of a problem but then again, I've snuck in a six-pack of beer into the theater on multiple occasions.   :cheers:

I haven't been to the movies for a VERY long time.  High prices for the tickets, concession stand and general rudeness of the movie going public are what turn me off.  Plus, if the movie isn't a cracker, I feel the need to go a-wanderin'.  So I only watch movies once they come out on DVD.  It's easy to press pause and go make coffee, go to toilet, do the dishes and then come back  :bouncegiggle:

The last time I went to the movies, my sister took me to Gold Class to see Revenge of the Sith.  Gold Class costs a bomb and you have these comfy lay-z-boy type recliners and there are only about 30 seats in the theatre.  They also bring you preordered food and drink and even alcohol.  I wouldn't pay for that myself (what a waste), but my sister took me as a thank you for helping her with a Uni assignment that got her an A.

Before that, under my own money, the last movie I saw was the X-Files movie.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: soylentgreen on January 10, 2008, 10:59:02 PM
Once thing did surprise me, though, is that they tried to stay faithful to the book until the very end, it just didn't make much sense having the "Shrek" scene, where Neville seems to empathise with the ogre, or having the woman acting suspiciously. If the had kept the original ending though, they would have made perfect sense.


I absolutely agree about the scenes of Neville's routine.  They devoted much more time to that aspect than I thought they would.  The distinct lack of score for almost the first third of the film helped immensely.  Somewhere Bernard Herrmann is smiling at that courage.

And Kudos to you, Neville(forum member) for being one of the few people I've noted talking about this film anywhere on the net who really got the point of the SHREK scene.  At best, most only get it as a take on Heston's WOODSTOCK scene from OMEGA MAN. 

Plus, I've seen deserted cities before in films(we all have, this is after all a staple of genre films...and inevitably BAD genre movies!) but never have they conveyed what a deserted city, let alone New York would really be like.  The nature-reclaimed element was ever-present and continually underlined Neville's isolation.

(They did such a bang up job with the atmosphere of NYC, it conviced me to stop at Borders and finally pick up a book I'd been fence-sitting about, The World Without Us (http://www.worldwithoutus.com/).)

Alot of folks may have found it silly, but Smith's scene with the female mannequin in the video store was easily the most poignant moment in the film and the most moving thing I've ever seen Smith do.  While forgoing much of the smaller moments of psychological pathos in Matheson's book, I feel they made up for it here...at least a little bit.

Yes, the film derails in that last stretch, but 1)hearing stories of unhappy test audiences...2) knowing Hollywood studio-suit mentality...3)being able to detect myself changes in the editing and pace of the film...I'm willing to believe the flick was adjusted post-facto and had a different ending foisted on it from what even director Francis Lawrence and Smith had intended.



Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Inferno on January 11, 2008, 12:21:13 PM
The only real problem I had was the deviation from the ending. Making the end one of those:
"and humanity will survive...." type of things always throws it off for me.

I threw this up within 5 minutes. Only the COOL kids will get the reference. :teddyr:
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m90/Shadowfire_Razaron/IRLEGEND.jpg


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Neville on January 12, 2008, 10:02:11 AM
Thanks for the kudos, soylentgreen. The novel is one of my favourite books, that's why I was paying attention to anything it reminded of it in the movie.

I actually own my nickname to Robert Neville, not because mutants gather with torches outside my house at night, but because everybody else I know is a weirdo except me  :wink:

Note the irony before replying.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: threnody on January 19, 2008, 07:40:11 PM
I thought I Am Legend was pretty good. Will Smith's performance was perfectly acceptable, and the whole atmosphere of the quiet city was very creepy. That I liked the most. I also liked the use of the dog. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the movie. I just didn't like the ending. I haven't read the novel to compare, but it seemed really off to me.

Today I watched The Last Man on Earth for the first time. I was amazed, though I'm probably biased because of my infatuation with Vincent Price. The scene where he was laughing hysterically and slowly began to sob was tragic.

I'm anxious to see The Omega Man!


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: RCMerchant on January 20, 2008, 08:47:12 AM
The only real problem I had was the deviation from the ending. Making the end one of those:
"and humanity will survive...." type of things always throws it off for me.

I threw this up within 5 minutes. Only the COOL kids will get the reference. :teddyr:
[url]http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m90/Shadowfire_Razaron/IRLEGEND.jpg[/url]


Your CLOVERFIELD monster looks a little like the Demon (as animated by Disney...and based on Lugosi) from FANTASIA!


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on January 20, 2008, 07:31:42 PM
Beware:  Here Be Spoilers.

I saw this movie yesterday at the cinema.  And I can honestly say I LOVED it.

I know there are a lot of things that various posters on this board have complained about, but I didn't think they were that bad at all.  Will Smith managed to capture the desperate loneliness and isolation of a man on the edge of sanity very well.  There were quite a few heart wrenching moments for me.  When Sam the dog died, I cried along with Robert Neville and when he was in the video store after Sam died and he said to the mannequine, "please say hello to me" I was sobbing like a baby. 

And when he died at the end, I was shocked.  I thought for sure they would go with the usual Hollywood ending.  Also the part where he stopped his car in the middle of the road, I think just after Sam died and the camera panned right out and away.  Very poignant.

If I hadn't read this here, I wouldn't have realised that the lions and the deer were CGI, they went past so fast, it was hard to tell.  The Dark Seekers I could tell, but I expected them to look a little unreal after the virus had done it's damage and with them constantly living in the darkness with raggy clothes and being hungry all the time.

Neville had a great set up in his townhouse.  Especially all the security precautions he took, bleach on the steps so the Seekers couldn't find him, the bombs in the parked cards outside his home, the guns around the house, the hand grenade that finally killed him, the little hidey hole in the basement he shoved the kid and the woman into to save them.

The city looked believeably abandoned as well.  All the plant growth and derelict cars and decaying buildings.  I remember reading in the New Scientist magazine a while back just how long it would take nature to reclaim a major city like London if all the people disappeared.  The film makers did New York exactly how they described London in the magazine.

I had no problem with the Seekers coming after Neville the way they did.  After all they were still human and if the virus ravaged them so quickly to make them Seekers, then it makes sense that they would evolve very quickly into cunning predators.  And, in every group, there are always those who are more advanced and quick thinking.  It also makes sense that Neville wouldn't necessarily know how far advanced they were because his whole time was spent staying away from them with just the occasional subject captured for tests.

The head Seeker coming after him makes sense as well.  Neville captured dozens of mutants for experimentation.  The Seeker would naturally come to kill him to protect his own.  I didn't get the sense that it was that last female Seeker he was especially interested in saving, just an overall, "you killed my kind, I'll kill you" kind of deal.

I certainly didn't expect the ending.  I thought Neville would go with the woman and kid to the new colony even if he didn't believe it existed, if only to keep people around him.  He felt responsible for not containing the virus and I think his drive to find a cure was the only thing that kept him sane-ish for the 3 years. 

After the movie, I was stressed and freaked out and I had a head ache and stomach ache from being on edge the whole time.  Also I couldn't sleep and this morning, I still have the movie in the my head and I feel kind of depressed about life in general.
So that's a good movie  when I react this way.   :thumbup: 

I give it 4 1/2 out of 5 


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: threnody on January 20, 2008, 07:40:16 PM
How did the bleach keep them away? I was wondering about that.

I agree with you about a lot of things, even though I didn't particularily enjoy the ending.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on January 20, 2008, 07:46:38 PM
How did the bleach keep them away? I was wondering about that.

I agree with you about a lot of things, even though I didn't particularily enjoy the ending.

I assumed it masked their smell.  Bleach is very strong in your nose when it's undiluted and it makes sense as a precaution.  After all, when the woman found him, the Seekers caught up with him pretty quickly because she didn't mask their scent before going inside.

That seemed a little odd to me that she wouldn't do that.  If she made it all the way from Maryland to New York to find Neville, surely she would have had to adopt security precautions like that to survive?  Or maybe him being a military guy, he was just more paranoid?


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: threnody on January 20, 2008, 08:04:59 PM
Hmm, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was a slip up on her part.

Bleach is a good idea, but he was all over the city during the day. You think they would be able to follow his scent to his street at least and figure more out from there. I guess then it wouldn't have made for a good movie if he was caught immediately...


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on January 20, 2008, 08:58:14 PM
Hmm, I'm not sure. Perhaps it was a slip up on her part.

Bleach is a good idea, but he was all over the city during the day. You think they would be able to follow his scent to his street at least and figure more out from there. I guess then it wouldn't have made for a good movie if he was caught immediately...

Good point.  I just assumed that him tooling around in a car all day, the petrol smell would mask his scent.  Or that he had something in this shoes or on his clothes that would throw them off.  If he was all over the city, then it would be easy for them to lose their way considering they only had night time to find him.  Added to that, the deer and lions and other animals mixing things up.  I would think that even Seekers would be a little wary of lions and such.

What puzzled me was:  where were all the dead bodies?  I guess after 3 years, they'd all be decayed out in the open, or eaten by wildlife, or even by the Seekers, but wouldn't there be bones or some kind of remnants left over?  At 90% mortality rate, you'd think there'd be more evidence.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: dean on January 21, 2008, 12:32:41 AM

I gotta say I enjoyed this one.

Not knowing the original source material probably helped, and I didn't like the ending AT all, but overall there were a few key things I enjoyed:


The Hive was freaky as hell, and was a well shot scene.  The seekers just standing there panting was very good at creeping me out.

The scene where his mannequin friend is outside of his normal place was another good twist.  Until then you 'knew' something was coming with the seekers, but you didn't know what.  The fact they chose his same trapping method was a nice touch and a good way to mess with your mind.  Though the dogs annoyed me a bit, and the fact he had them on a leash.  It just was badly shot.

Something that was a really nice touch in the above scene was when he first notices the out of place mannequin, I'm pretty sure the head moves slightly.  Might have been my eyes playing tricks on me, but that was a really good shot.

The general feel of the film was pretty good atmosphere-wise, both in the night scenes and the city itself.

Making the dog a female was just a cheap shot to get a bit more emotion out of the scene.  And it worked...  :teddyr:

Though the seekers reminded me too much of 'The Mummy' in their CGI and their climbing on roofs and whatnot was just plain silly, I did like the way they moved generally.

Sure it was still too 'Hollywood' and the ending drove me a bit nutty with how nonsensical it was, but overall it is still better than I expected at the time.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: frank on January 24, 2008, 04:32:18 AM

Just seen this one yesterday (it takes some time for the movies to come over here...)

I haven't made my mind up yet. As has been said before, the CGI was plain awful, as was the ending. But, then I'm pretty fond of the story itself, so it's hard not to like the movie.

I watched "Last man on earth" the day before with some colleagues at the lab, which was a lot of fun and eventually added to the new adaption yesterday. And it very plainly shows what`s wrong with the last part of the movie, as has been mentioned before. We were all laughing out loud when watching "I am legend" when the Bob Marley song was played the first time, because "Everything is gonna be alright" is exactly what Vincent says to his colleague, his daughter, his wife, and the dog right before they die, and what he says to the woman right before he himself dies. So that seemed not to be a good omen for the characters in the new adaption.
(OK, I admit, Bob Marley sings "every little thing", not "everything", but it sounds similar....)



Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on January 24, 2008, 09:42:50 PM
Look out, look out, there are spoilers about!



Another thing I liked about the movie was the attempt at reality.

Like when Neville set off the bombs outside his home to kill the Seekers.  The concussive wave that hit the building knocked out his windows and sent him pitching back into the apartment.  He also barely held onto consciousness and had a hard time standing up and walking around.

And when the Seekers trapped him.  As the noose tightened around his ankle and jerked him up, he hit his head on the ground and started bleeding.  That knocked him out and he stayed blacked out for most of the day, which is what you'd expect from a head injury.  And that thing stuck in his leg, nearly crippled him.  He could barely pull himself by his arms and every time he tried to stand up, he screamed in pain.

Not like in some movies where they get up wincing in pain, but manage to hobble to safety.

I just really love this movie and can't say enough nice things about it. :smile:


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Mr. DS on May 31, 2008, 08:22:46 AM
I am a late comer to this thread because I just watched this a few days ago.  I liked the film but probably wouldn't go out and buy it. 

Spoilers

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I dig the realism of Smith's role which was oddly refreshing.  Another example is when he walks inside the dark building to find his dog.  You'd expect in a movie with blood sucking creatures for the lead to shoot up the place fearlessly.  He really captured what a lot of us would be feeling in that situation.  Also, the fact an army of creatures can easily take out a few sun lamps seems probable too in real life.   Kudos to the film for this concept.  Although the film diverges from the book, it at least captures the nature of Robert Neville living alone in the world.

I guess what really killed it for me was the CGI and the concept of the creatures.  Seems like a "been there done that" kind of feel to them from their sounds to their movements.  I guess that was unavoidable though seeing the book did center around vampire-like creatures.  The ending seemed to be a bit of a quick count for me personally. Also, and this is quickly beginning to bother me in films,  the silly symbolism.  You know, the butterfly on the girl's neck which of course means Neville must kill himself so save humanity.  Maybe I'm shallow but I'd see it as a lousy tattoo rather than an omen.

End Spoilers

Smith luckily doesn't really play himself in this one which he seems to do a lot.  Its worth a watch or two IMHO but I doubt it would be on my video shelf.  Rather, its one of those films I'd probably stop to watch on tv while channel surfing.



Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: CheezeFlixz on May 31, 2008, 09:14:12 AM
I saw this one about a month ago on DVD.

Yes Smith doesn't play the typical "Oh look at me I'm so cool role." that gets so very tiresome.
I didn't find it as great as some did, portions of it was just not that plausible. Vampire/Zombie/whatever had the were with all to know moving a manikin would cause a freak out and this guy that goes from trying to find a cure for this virus to being deep into madness. And that these creature would know how to build a snare trap even through that had de-evolved into some blood sucking night dweller. That just seemed like a stretch to me.
This movie was set, what 3 or 4 years into the virus? And Smith had not become a decent hunter in that amount of time?  The hunt scenes were just silly IMHO, the guy couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.
I'd have to watch it again to remember everything that jumped out at me, it didn't totally suck but I didn't think it was all that either. And do be fair I haven't read the book, which is now on my list of things to read.
Much of it was predictable like the manikin in the puddle, if that didn't scream trap I don't know what did. Finding the girl, saw that coming a mile away, Loosing the dog was predicable, and the close calls, along with other all predictable I thought.
Anyway it was ok, but like so many films nowadays, it just didn't live up to the hype.
   


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Killer Bees on June 02, 2008, 10:28:48 PM
Spoilers Ahead

I guess you can't really say how you'd act in Neville's place unless you really do think you're the only person left in the world.  I read a book called  "The World Without Us" and it used New York as an example of what would happen to the place if everyone disappeared.  I didn't know the geography of New York so to find out that most of the buildings would collapse due to land susidance and the water table etc was quite interesting.  Plus all the gas piping and stuff, the place should have been pretty much burned to the ground as well.

But with Hollywood you'll never get true realism no matter what.  I think if they made it exactly as it would happen in real life, it would either be pointless, boring or so harrowing that nobody would watch it.

What did puzzle me about the movie was that he realised his blood was the key and I don't remember him knowing that earlier in the movie.  Or was that just a huge epiphany he had at the end?  I'm surprised her and the kid survived in their little hidey hole considering the bomb he set off would have levelled the building.   Also, blood goes off if you don't refrigerate it.  How did she manage to keep it viable all the way to Vermont? Or was it Colorado where she ended up at the survivor's camp?

In spite of all that, I still loved it and will purchase the special edition with the extra DVD which includes the alternate "shocking" ending.  Can't wait.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Ash on June 02, 2008, 11:35:49 PM
I read a book called  "The World Without Us" and it used New York as an example of what would happen to the place if everyone disappeared.  I didn't know the geography of New York so to find out that most of the buildings would collapse due to land susidance and the water table etc was quite interesting.  Plus all the gas piping and stuff, the place should have been pretty much burned to the ground as well.


The History Channel recently aired a really neat special titled "Life After People".
It would take hundreds of years for all the buildings and other structures to come down.
It's pretty interesting stuff.

Here's the first part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVoFwRgcleY

The entire show is on Youtube in seperate segments if you want to watch the whole thing.


Title: Re: I Am Legend...
Post by: Monkeyface on June 10, 2008, 09:25:56 AM
Anyway it was ok, but like so many films nowadays, it just didn't live up to the hype. 

Cheeze, I couldn't agree more!  I expected so much more out of this movie.  I know it was a remake and all, but you have to bring something new to the table.  This type of movie has been done to death I think.