Reecie Recommends: Will Smith’s “I Am Legend”
After weeks of seeing the previews for Will Smith’s “I Am Legend”, I was more than happy to check out his new flick last night. With a little Oscar buzz surrounding his performance I was worried that the previews were misleading and it was going to end up being mostly boring and slow. However, the film draws you in from the very beginning and does not let go of you til the credits roll.
We already know that Will Smith is an A-list leading man in Hollywood, but this movie was an even more remarkable challenge than anything else he has undertaken before: providing a compelling portrayal of the last man alive and of course holding his own as pretty much the only human character in the entire movie. For a major Hollywood blockbuster that is pretty major and Will passed with flying colors. I doubt that anyone could have done such a superb job. The way he seamlessly switched from comedic, to dramatic, to being terrified, to being brave was truly an amazing thing to be a part of. And I say be a part of, because it is impossible for anybody who is a true movie lover to sit there apathetically and not being on the edge of your seat the entire time and totally invested in the movie. This movie makes you wonder what you would do if you were the last person on earth…would you make the best of it? Would you give up hope? But the movie deals with these things in very relatable ways and not on a preachy level at all.
So…if you are looking for a fantastic action, suspense, thriller then you MUST check out “I Am Legend”. Don’t let anyone with a simple mind fool you into believing that this isn’t one of the best movies of the year!
What did you guys think of the movie? Please try to refrain from giving away spoilers!
Posted by Reecie
I promise Will Smith plays the same person in everyone of his action/suspense movies. Please don’t let it have a good, impossible ending.
I’m going to go see it some time this weekend.
I really liked the movie,
Ave - I think movies like Bad Boys, Men in Black, Wild Wild West, Independent days Will Smith characters always have that same charisma. Anyway I’m looking forward to seeing this movie. Even if the movie is lame I’m sure Will Smith acting will make the movie better than it is. The Sci-fi Fan in me in dying to see this movie.
The worst movie of 07.
People was snoring in the movies.
This movie is mad slow, mad boring and borderline.
The worst first 5 minutes of a movie I have ever seen.
There was some points in the movie where you could just bust out laughing, and be like are you fucking serious.
First off black folks don’t love dogs like that, and secondly what’s with all these light skinned chicks as Jesus Christ for black men in films lately?
A film where one person talks for over 80 percent of the film is stupid, specially when it’s Will Smith.
If you have seen one Will Smith movie, you have seen them all. He is not a good actor, he is just a hard worker that has been accepted by the grey folk.
I would not recommend this movie. However if you go bring your pillow, sneak in some Crown, and chicken wings, cause you gone be knocked the fuck out watching this boring ass shit.
Maurice likes to be contrary for the sake of being contrary. Keep in mind he is the same person that called Soulja Boy a Hip Hop Genius.
[...] a spy, an alien fighter and a fresh prince. Last years The Persuit of Happyness was awesome and apparently he’s done a fantstic job on this one as [...]
Maurice doesn’t know what he is talking about. The guy is ignorant and certainly dimwitted. I don’t care what race you are, “black folk” or otherwise, if a dog is the only other form of life that you can lend affection to, you will love it exactly as Smith’s character did. Further, the jesus reference was more of a plot device than anything else. I don’t think there was a lot wrong with that. Will Smith is an unbelievable actor. He has been praised by some of the most critical movie reviewers of all time and continues to take on roles that move audiences from tears to laughter. His talent is immeasurable. Finally, chicken wings aren’t that great of movie theater foods. I’m more prone to popcorn. And soulja boy is far from a hip hop genius. More like a cracked out dope fiend who can’t rap.
Being a fan of the book I think that Will Smith is very bad casting. The story is about an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. Using such a big star and looking at the trailers he looks good also is just missing the whole point of the story. The same was done with I Robot, which was so far removed from the book that I had to turn it off halfway through.
I will go and see this but with Will Smith they definitely missed the point. I would much rather see the team that did 28 days later handle this story. But I guess they need it to make a lot of cash, not so many people have read the book so won’t notice the way it’s handled anyway.
I hate it how people still haven’t figured out tht a movie adaptation doesn’t necessarily equal the exact dramatization of a book. So what if it doesn’t match the book? That doesn’t take away from the fact that the movie was excellent and Will Smith did an amazing job. I also think it is pretty damn cool that Will was casted for the role despite the fact that an English guy with blue eyes was the last man alive in the book. Perhaps going from a blue-eyed white guy to a Black guy is too much of a leap for some people to take…but I look at it as a testament to how much Will has accomplished as an actor.
But anyway…a movie adaptation rarely satisfy folks that love the book, because they have their own idea of how the book should be translated onto the movie screen. The point of this movie wasn’t to be a bloody, horror movie (a la 28 Days Later)…the point was to be something relatable and through that characteristic gripping.
“He walked around the house in the dull grey afternoon, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, trailing threadlike smoke over his shoulder.
“He was a tall man, thirty-six, born of English-German stock, his features undistinguished except for the long, determined mouth and the bright blue of his eyes…
“He looked up and down Cimarron Street, the cool breeze ruffling his blond hair.
“An evenly paced hermit life had increased his weight to 230 pounds. His face was full, his body broad and muscular underneath the loose-fitting denim he wore. He had long before given up shaving. Only rarely did he crop his thick blond beard, so that it remained two to three inches from his skin. His hair was thinning and was long and straggly.”
This is the description of Robert Neville in the book. The picture at the top is going to be used in new versions of the book, which will give the readers some questions I imagine. This story has been done three times now (4 if you include Romero’s Night of the living dead, he said he ripped off the book), at least the other two had the decency to change the title:The Last Man On Earth and The Omega Man.
I don’t see how it is a testament to how much Will has accomplished as an actor, I’m not disputing the fact that sometimes he makes good films. But the story is supposed to be something you can relate to as you said and characteristic. Will Smith is not relatable, he is not an everyman and usually a little 2 dimensional. He is being used to put bums on seats, not because he is the best actor for the role. I do not want a bloody horror movie, I want them to at least pay some respect to the original storyline. I used the 28 days reference because of it’s gritty portayal and nihilistic view I think would work better. I think you may just be easily pleased with regards to movies. That’s fair enough but don’t say that terrible casting is too much of a leap for some people to take.
^Would you prefer a white woman to be fair his love interests vary. I enjoyed the movie. He blacked out over that bacon.
Ave you’re a bit of a hater too.
I Am Legend had the biggest opening in the month of December.
“Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. “I Am Legend,” $76.5 million.
2. “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” $45 million.”
Source: Yahoo
^^^ Stole my B-level contribution.
LOL@ddot. my bad! i will fall back and stay in my lane.
The movie was GOOD to me. Had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, BUT the end wasn’t all that, which to me was the difference between “I Am Legend” being great and good. More people walked out of the theater sucking their teeth and mumbling disapprovals than talking about how great the movie was. (Reeci, don’t say nothing about my comment, cause I know you’ll say something like, “those people are idiots blah blah blah” LOL)
I thought the movie was great. Yes, it doesn’t match the book completely, but how often do you see a movie adaptation that DOES match the book? Judging a film by the book it was based on is like a saying a kid is bad because his parents are doctors, but he had a B- in bio (or something like that, you know what I mean). And regardless of what you think about Will Smith as an actor, you have to admit that he put a lot of emotion in this film.
As for the movie itself, I think that they really pulled off that feeling of a completely empty city, down to the weeds growing in the streets and the debris littered all over.
SPOILER WARNING
One question though (cuz I might have missed it): at the end, does he draw the blood from the body on the stretcher, or did he draw his own blood? I couldn’t really tell.
!!MOVIE SPOILER WARNING!!
to k_anz: He drew the blood from the chick on the strecher.
oh, alrite. thanks
whatever I aint like it, guess I’m not smart enough to get it
it was boring, slow and borderline dumb
i just fell that the struggle to survive was not really evident in the movie
more people walked out feeling upset about the movie
“(Reeci, don’t say nothing about my comment, cause I know you’ll say something like, “those people are idiots blah blah blah” LOL)”
Well people are idiots. If people are looking for a f*&ked up ending to a movie they should go check out “The Mist”.
Paul…thanks for proving my point. You’re just salty that they didn’t cast a blonde-haired blue eyed white guy as the title role and chose Will Smith instead. Oh well. You can’t speak on Will’s ability to play the character without actually having seen the movie. But anyways…I’m not even going to get drawn into a long drawn out debate. I guess we can agree to disagree on Amy Winehouse being the queen of soul and Will Smith being an excellent choice for the movie.
How nice of you to point out that people are idiots Reecie, it would be nicer if they were like you and didn’t care if a film tried to capture a storyline at all. In fact it would be better if they cast all the actors as black men and women and gave it a happy ending.
The real point proven is that you are gleefully happy that a black actor was chosen instead of a white one, which is a little sad. I have no problem with whatever colour the lead guy is as long as he is not an a-list actor. The point is that he should be someone the audience can relate to, not an incredibly well known handsome person. This misses the whole point of the story right there.
I am Legend is a classic Sci-Fi novel, it inspired the whole zombie genre (even though they are vampires in the book). A post-apocalyptic storyline should make you wonder how you would cope in similar circumstances, not wonder how would I cope if I were Will Smith and I was carefully dressed to look urban and cool. This is a classic case of a good story having hollywood happen to it. There’s even a beautiful girl in there I see, like how many beautiful people would there be in a post apocalyptic world?
As usual you are imagining what people are saying instead of reading it. Maybe you should try reading a bit more, especially if you are setting yourself up to be the defining word on culture. I quote: “it is impossible for anybody who is a true movie love to sit there apathetically and not being on the edge of your seat the entire time” and “don’t let anyone with a simple mind fool you into believing that this isn’t one of the best movies of the year”.
Like you say, we can agree to disagree but please don’t suggest that your juvenile taste in all things culture is anything more than that.
lol…Paul you’re a funny guy. I know you feed off these sorts of debates, for instance the 20+ (probably more but I don’t care enough to actually count) posts strictly by you in the Amy Winehouse post challenging every single person that disagreed with your opinion. The difference between me and you is that I can accept other people’s opinions. Does that mean that I agree with them? No. Do I really think someone is an idiot because we don’t agree? Sometimes lol. Would I really think someone is an idiot because they don’t like the same movie I like? Of course not. Bottom line- you’re entitled to your opinion…you can think whatever you want to think about anything in this world (including me) and I could give two sh!ts less. You’re the one who is constantly trying to establish your intellectual, cultural, musical superiority over someone else…and in my humble personal opinion, I think you should get over yourself.
I haven’t seen the film however the Hollywood reporter stated that ‘”I Am Legend,” the third or fourth film — depending on what you count — based on the 1954 apocalyptic science fiction novel by Richard Matheson, nails the emotional core in Matheson’s story: What would it be like to be a last man on Earth?’ (December 10, 2007). I think it was a stroke of genius for the producers to step outside the “box” and not a regurgitation a book written in 1954 to capture the intent and not the literal interpretation as evidenced by the box office numbers. Reading actively allows the reader to use their imagination and fill in the blanks based on their own experiences and paradigms, Paul I doubt any adaptation of the movie would have satisfied a reader so invested in the book. Personally, I don’t see movies adapted from books I enjoy and visa versa.
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Will Smiths talent, one can not dismiss his uncanny ability to select roles that best showcase his acting style, thus accounting for his staying power.
Great site and Reecie I think you’re amazing but I’m biased!!
Reecies Mom
Lol, good reply Reecie, Fair enough.
Reecie,I believe you contradicted yourself on your last comment with Paul.
“Does that mean that I agree with them? No. Do I really think someone is an idiot because we don’t agree? Sometimes lol. Would I really think someone is an idiot because they don’t like the same movie I like? Of course not.”
If someone doesn’t like the same movie you like, that means that person doesn’t agree with you, so that…based on what YOU said makes them a IDIOT! What kind of SH!@ is that. Your opinions and views, which I enjoy reading, are definitely not Universal views. There Entertainment views. You seem to take on this defensive mentality or view, when someone disagrees or challenges you. You cant be a writer with a wide audience and expect everyone to agree with you and then get mad when they dont. Just wanted to jump on the band wagon and throw in my two cent…lol.
lol…Toby…how can you quote my words which were very clear, yet manage to infer the exact opposite of what I said?
“If someone doesn’t like the same movie you like, that means that person doesn’t agree with you, so that…based on what YOU said makes them a IDIOT!”
When you said “based on what YOU said”, you mean the part where I specifically pointed out that I wouldn’t think someone is an idiot JUST for not liking a movie I like? lol…Come on now! I can understand you misconstruing what I said if my comment was ambiguous or open for interpretation, but it was very straightforward.
I said SOMETIMES (not ALL of the time) I think someone is an idiot if they don’t agree with me. To make it more plain…depending on what is in question, I might think that person is an idiot if they don’t agree with me. For instance, if a person said the the world is flat, or 2+2=6, all Black women are fat dumb and loud, or all Black men are criminals (all things that I don’t agree with)…I would think they were an idiot. Get my drift?
I’m well aware that my opinion is not dogma, and I don’t believe that anyone’s opinion in this world is dogma. But at any rate…your two cents are welcome…like I told Paul…everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Out of all the examples you could have used to make your point, why did you have to use “all Black women are fat dumb and loud, or all Black men are criminals (all things that I don’t agree with)”!?!?! Those were the first thought examples that came to your head? But anyway I get your drift and will leave this discussion and revert back to being an observer…lol..Keep up the Good Work!
The difference between me and you is that I can accept other people’s opinions. Does that mean that I agree with them? No. Do I really think someone is an idiot because we don’t agree? Sometimes lol.
lmao
Toby you don’t have to go back to being an observer. The fact that I don’t actually believe everyone in the world who doesn’t agree with me is an idiot shouldn’t discourage you.
My 2 cents. I enjoyed the movie…EDITED OUT SPOILER.…I guess they left a little room for a sequel (I read that the studio proposed a sequel after its greatest opening in December).
I think Will Smith was a great choice for the lead. If it were Tom Cruise or anybody else, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much because I feel like they play those type of characters all the time.
As for Paul vs. Reecie, most movies are adaptations or based on the book and not exact replicas of the book. As a matter of fact, I never really saw a GOOD or GREAT movie that was a replica to the book. Even a movie like “Sideways,” where they didn’t even change the dialogue, buot the director made modifications for film.
I agree with Reecie….I think if Neville would’ve been “He was a tall man, thirty-six, born of English-German stock, his features undistinguished except for the long, determined mouth and the bright blue of his eyes…” then it would’ve been BORING. Funny thing is…they originally casted Arnold to do this part. I bet he would have not brought $70 mil to the box office…
Anyway - Good movie, Good discussion
Mario Puzo Godfather
Hello all,
Contrary to popular opinion I do see the opposite point of view, its just its not my point of view and I like to argue I guess. I liked Reecie’s last comment about me because it was accurate and genuinely made me laugh.
Personally I have very rarely seen a good movie adaptation of a book that i liked. Probably because a book is a personal journey you invest time in and is your own movie if you like. I often read the book after a film for this very reason. I may appear to be a snob, and I can see why that would come across that but I am very passionate about music and the arts in general.
Of course there are good adaptations otherwise we would have no good movies. You can tell a story any which way you like and personally I love to be surprised and admire the way a director has delivered their material.
Concerning this film my problem is this: It is quite a cult book. A small percentage of those seeing the film will have heard of it let alone read it. As I said before, it inspired Romero with his Night of the Living Dead beginning a sub culture of zombie. Now this is where I realise I am a snob and I apologise in advance. These little sub cultures I would rather stay sub cultures. I don’t want the story diluted and made available to everybody. They should track it down if they like this stuff and they will enjoy it more that way.
I would rather see it in a small theatre with no recognisable actors but good realistic effects and characterisation. It’s not really an action novel, the story is of an ordinary man and what does he do in this situation. It should be stark for me.That would let me suspend belief and lose myself in the movie, for a while. So no A-List actors would do it for me, (the horror if it had been Arnie!) but of course that is my impression of how the story should be presented.
Ok, so that’s my little snobbery for today and I hope the apologies in advance have been received and I’d be interested to hear from those that have read the book if they felt it should be treated like this.
In the meantime I would recommend anyone who likes this scenario to look into the monthly comics from Image called ‘The Walking Dead’ by Robert Kirkman. This really does hit the spot and is available in graphic novel form.
Ok, I’ll get me coat…
“Probably because a book is a personal journey you invest time in and is your own movie if you like.”
Paul - there lies the problem.
the advantage of reading a book over a movie is adding your own imagination and making your own movie in your head.
it sounds like you are not content because it does not fit your vision.
i think if you can enjoy the adaptations of 3 (or 4) novels with the same plot, why can you not enjoy a 5th adaptation in context of a film?
also, you have to consider the technical aspect of converting books into a movie. suspense in a book does not translate in a movie. that was the problem with “Da Vinci Code.” it was TOO literal…and what was a page turner in a novel was a snooze in a movie.
enjoy your book as your personal journey and enjoy “I Am Legend” as a film, then I think you will happy.
Mr.O - believe it or not, i never read or saw The Godfather.
Geez, looking at some of these post, a lot of yall are pretty salty.
I look at it like this, and by no means am I a fan of Will Smith (don’t dislike him, but don’t go gaga like other people do)… after watching this movie in IMAX (the only way to experience movies), I challenge anybody else to find an actor who could have done Will’s role as Robert Neville better. Granted, he wasn’t the out of shape, lunatic looking discription like in the book, but there are certain elements that never translate well once you start crossing mediums. There’s tons of shit in the LOTR trilogy that Peter Jackson left out, and parts that he added SO THAT IT COULD WORK AS A MOVIE! Anybody who walks into a movie expecting to watch the book’s narrative to play out verbatim is fooling themselves.
In closing, if Will Smith doesn’t get an Oscar nod for this film, then something’s wrong(er) with the world.
I understand what you mean theHonorable, it’s not that I’m hung up on it being my image so much. I felt Lord of the Rings was an epic sequence of movies and very brave to create in the face of such serious minded fans. A movie is a different medium and requires a different rhythm to make it work. It would also be tedious to see it laid out exactly the same way. But usually there is a gist to the story which should be kept, certain elements that need to be kept. Otherwise it should be an adaptation of… and given another title. To drastically change the storyline quite often is not in the best interests of the story and more often to sell as a product.
I will go and see it but for me I’d have preferred an unknown actor and for the story to have been the attraction not the main actor
I got the review of this film in one of the e-paper website called http://www.pressmart.net and felt some interesting.
Though I can say that will smith did well.
Tragic, The Godfather is the best movie ever.
yea - ive been trying to rent it or buy it, but i can’t find it any where. until i see the godfather, goodfellas is my favorite mafia film.
I thought the movie was pretty good. The only problem i had was that i thought it was gonna be longer. I mean i saw all these trailers and thought there was going to be so much action, and by the end of the movie i was left wanting more(which really isn’t a bad thing). As for the book fans who aren’t satisfied, thats because you expected to see the exact same story. The whole point of making a movie is to tell a different story. When i saw Beowulf i thought i was going to see my favorite parts of the book acted out, but i left the theatre a little disapointed. I feel that if i never read the story I would have thought the movie was great. But i went into the movie thinking I knew what was going to happen and the story went in a different direction. But anyways like i was saying I am Legend was fiyah.
Hi young rebel, I think your missing a point here. The point of making a movie is not to make a different story. its to tell it in a different medium. A book has the benefits of being portable, it takes some effort on your own part to engage in the story and you benefit by using your imagination to depict the characters, places and general colour. A film is more passive in its interaction, you do not need to engage so much, it is a visual medium so can entertain more on an aesthetic level. The characters, places and atmosphere have been created for you so not so much need for your own imagination.
Read ‘Bliss’ by Peter Carey and then go dig out the film, its a delight to watch.
‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’, book and film essentially tell the same story but in very different ways.
The disappointment with readers is firstly a film is hardly ever as good as the book. Most readers are aware of that so if it is a book you like, you see what the film has done with the material, how can it be revealed visually instead of with words. In many cases this is done with real skill and empathy for the material, and new facets may be added to the story. In other cases it is clumsy and you wonder if the director actually read the book.
In this film the director may very well have been faithful to the story, I will see when I get round to watching it, but for me an essential ingredient was that he was an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. This begged the question how would you yourself cope with this. I know I certainly wouldn’t look like Will Smith so I wouldn’t relate to that aspect. I would also start to wonder why he bothered dressing cool or shaving after three years and then my suspended belief in the story would start to unravel. I didn’t find it a heroic story, it’s quite bleak, I’m looking forward to seeing the end which is the whole reason for the title and wonder how that has been handled.
I realise that it would not have been a box office hit if the character had stayed the same but I didn’t really want to see this as a hit either. That’s obviously just my viewpoint and I’m sure it works well as a movie on its own, but its used the original title and changed a crucial element, so being a geek, that bothers me. If I enjoy it I will be the first to admit I was wrong.
Merry Christmas all anyway.
Paul, I feel where you’re coming from, from a certain stand point. I never read the book so i couldn’t compare them. When i said that the book and the movie are supposed to be different i meant that the movie is telling the same story in a different way. I’m not trying to disagree with you on the subject, but I’m trying to say how i feel about it. To me, the movie is supposed to use the book as a guideline to tell the story. They are not always going to be exactly the same, like in this case. This movie is more modern, and made to fit a younger audience. I’m sure there were some things that were in the book that you wanted to see in the movie. You overlook all the good things in the movie, like Will Smith’s incredible acting, by wanting these things. All i’m saying is whenever you watch the movie don’t judge it based on how it measures up to the book ,but on how much you enjoyed the film alone.
Hi youngrebel,I haven’t seen it yet so Will Smith may pleasantly surprise me. I’m very glad they didn’t use the first choice which was Arnold, that would have been criminal and really missing the point. I will be seeing it as soon as I can and now I had my moan maybe I’ll enjoy it. I do recommend the book though, its an interesting story.
Tom Hanks holds the performance crown for being the alone on an island for the whole film in “Castaway”. Will Smith’s performance in no way matches up to that one.
Who cares if the film matched the bok or not. Bottom line is that if or when watching the film, theres no way sleeping because its interesting. Something Will Smith does wonderfully. Great Movie.
Hey…
Iv been anticipating this film for about 5months now!!! and finally when a date was given (boxing day… im in the UK) i decide to watch it online a week before!!! i know… illegal… i know… stupidity!!!
Anyhow about 30mins into the film where theres the a HUGE tense moment, i then realise…
do i REALLY want to watch this on a laptop screen?
so i decided to switch it off to watch it where it should be watched, on a HUGE screen, with amazin surround sound!!
I went today!!
hmmmm…. ok…. the film in all was a great film i thought, in my eyes. BUT i did come out thinkin that i would hav prefered more action, more character development.
and i dont know if anyones said this already… but wouldnt it have been interesting… to actually see how everything starts going downhill… what happened in them 3 years for Robert to end up where he was at the start of that movie?? thats a thought…
also, i dont know if im bein wierd, but i prefered it wen it was just Robert on his own, fair enough Anna saved the dudes life, and ok the actress, Alice Braga, did a great role… but for me i jus think he was doing it so well by himself… but that wasnt such a big deal for me at all…
but in all i would give it a 7/10 rating, and i would definately have to say, if u have the cash and the time, see it in the cinema… to appreciate it that little bit more!!
PLEASE IF YOU HAVNT WATCHD THA FILM YET… DONT CARRY ON READING!!!!
ONE SPOILER ALERT!!!
o ye and this is just a comical thought!!! lol… please feel free to discuss but please dont take the following offensively….
i know what the ACTUAL moral behind the story is….
WOMEN… are the real culprits, because if u watch the film carefully, the curer was a woman, and secondly… if Anna (a woman, lol) hadnt drove Robert in the night… they wudnt hav found out where his home actually was!!!
The movie is sounding worse, the more I hear about it. I think I’ll wait till DVD comes out.
Hey Paul, what makes you think it is sounding worse, its actually good… it just depends how fussy you are with youre films… plus the surround sound provided in a cinema REALLY boosts the quality of the film!!
It sounds like the role of the woman is very different to the original and I wonder if the title is relevant with this version, the reason why he is legend. I do agree with the cinema experience I always go if its a movie I like. I’m a fan of the book as you may of noticed and the debate got me started about how story lines are altered drastically. Generally I prefer books to films but of course i do enjoy many films, I’m a bit fussy about the core of the story being upheld but I’m probably a bit of a geek like that. I find Hollywood takes terrible liberties with stories at times and the audience is treated as idiots. Hopefully I’ll be wrong in this case.
Personally I downloaded the DVD screener with AC3 5.1. Watched it on my 27″ LCD and with 5.1 Studio Monitors, I’m not trying to brag in the least bit but I do have to say on that note, if you have a set up like that eff a movie theater. Anyways now to the good stuff.
I agree with Reecie in the fact that Will Smith truly makes the movie sing but, in retrospect, thats all the movie really has to stand on. I agree with Mo, Mo Character development please? The storyline ran kinda like Lost in a sense, the plot moved sloooooo and revealed things even slower and in flashbacks. I left the movie wanting more answers and more of a storyline. Also the CG effects were done circa 2002. They could have made the deer and lions much more realistic. Also The movie touches on a very big theme in science yet it touches it slightly and didn’t even go into it as much as it could of. I’m with rotten tomatoes on this one. 6/10. Will Smith makes this movie entertaining, but its far from his best and in the long run I think most people will forget about this one.
Well I finally got to see the film. I must admit at first i thought I would have to eat humble pie because I was enjoying it. The way the city looked and the first impressions of Will Smith’s character, I could see that they had created a new (completely different) Robert Neville and gone with it. Fair enough.
SPOILER WARNING
It had a few unexpected jumps in it, and there was a good amount of tension especially when he lost the dog at first. But then I started to see Hollywood happening to it. I kept expected some of the original story to peep through and there was none. The whole story has been changed, even the ending which is why the book is called I am Legend, so now it is meaningless. They kind of hashed something together and gave it a Disney ending instead of how the story pans out.
The director obviously wanted to make a Will Smith saves the world movie and removed all the bits of the story that went against that vision. Unfortunately this is most of the book having to go. Ruth (the girl in the book) had no son, she was a spy and here she looked like she had just been down the mall shopping instead of surviving any apocalyptic disaster.
It was a shame because I was enjoying it for what it was until the arrival of the girl and kid and that’s when the story began to really unravel and I could see they were aiming for a sappy finish and yep unfortunately that is what happened.
If they had given it another title and said it was inspired by the book, then ok but to completely rewrite it and do a bad job with the story was a shame. I understand a film has to be adapted but this was unrecognisable as the original story. Will Smith does do a fair enough portrayal and the city graphics are good but the creatures were a disappointment, I felt the ones in ‘the descent’ would have been more convincing.
I recommend reading the book, and if you haven’t the time then go to wikipedia and see what the original plot is.
Terrible, they movie was only like 1hr 40 min long. They should have extended it to 2hr and made a better ending or developed the plot more. Also, this is a remake of the original but its way off. The book was written in 1955 originally and in both the book and original movie the main character was white (clearly not Will Smith, although his acting was excellent), the chick was black, and the people were vampires. What the heck was this?
THIs movie is wack as hell why in the hell they make the maun charachter die that is some bull shit!!!!!!! Fuck Dat
SPOILER WARNING.
It is a pretty awful movie and the more I think about it, the more it annoys me. The main guy dies because he has to. In the book this ties in with the title and in this film they desperately try to make it make sense.
I did watch it with an open mind because I had already vented my thoughts at how bad it was likely to be. So I thought maybe I would be pleasantly surprised but no, it was awful. Well at least the second half was. At first they had cool scenarios, some thought was put into how the city would look. The lions were a bit silly but forgivable.
And then, they must of over-stretched the budget because they only had enough money for crap vampires. They appeared to be floating with no real substance and then they knock a car over. The original story is good and there is no reason to change it completely, especially if you are still going to call it the same name. There is virtually no similarity, when the girl arrives all hope in the film dies. There is supposed to be an apocalyptic world outside and she is looking beautiful. There really would not be any beautiful people left in a world like that.
She brings up the god thing and I cringed, but he said there is none and I relaxed, but I knew deep down this was a trick because then he spoils it all by doing exactly what you thought, becoming a believer (of sorts) and passing on the blood to save humanity. So far from the book and such a sappy ending I could taste bile.
The book is worth reading and is quite thought provoking, this version is nonsense and a complete wasted opportunity to do the book credit. If you haven’t read it, the film would be ok as a dvd with alcohol, a lot of alcohol.
Sorry but it really did annoy me, I’ll get my coat again…
nova film
?It?s fried rice, you plick!?