We watched I Am Legend on Blu-ray last night, and I was really pleasantly surprised.
When the ads first came out I was fucking psyched. It looked as if it were a sort of character study on how this guy deals with being the only man left alive, and how he interacts with this vast empty environment, how he gets his food and keeps from going completely nuts. Then people I knew went to see it and told me it was basically just another zombie/vampire movie. I was really disappointed and didn't bother going to see it after all.
A friend of mine just came down to visit and brought me some Blu-rays, including this one. He said he really liked it and I figured it'd look good in HD anyway. So I went into it with pretty low expectations, and found myself loving the first part of the movie. I've never been a Will Smith fan, mainly because I fucking HATE his music and some of his earlier films (Independence Day for example), but I have to admit, he's a helluva fuckin' actor. He carries almost the whole movie by himself, although the real star for me was the dog. I cared way more when the dog died than when he did.
If you haven't seen this movie yet, you probably shouldn't be reading this post.
The second part of the movie was a little bit of a letdown, though. What's up with the shitty CGI? This movie cost something like $150m to make, and we can't do better than that? As is mentioned in several reviews, the mutants just aren't that scary. They made me jump a whole bunch of times, but I'm a fairly jumpy guy. They certainly didn't scare me, which is a bit of a shame because before I actually saw them, the movie really kept me on the edge of my seat. They also didn't seem to be able to quite decide whether the mutants were just mindless killing machines like zombies, or more intelligent monsters like vampires. Mostly they seemed more like the former, but then the "leader" laid that trap for Neville, and led the charge into the lab at the end. I think they could have explored that a little more, as well as tried to explain a little better exactly how the mutation affected people. I've since read that they're supposed to have super overactive adrenal glands, but I don't remember that being mentioned in the movie.
Anyway, I'm glad I saw it and glad I own it, because I will watch it again sometime. It didn't quite live up to its potential, but it was a fun movie.
Edited Mon Apr 07 2008, 03:50am
The CGI in that movie seriously sucked ass, but it was a decent movie.
And that Bloodhound Gang album was like, the greatest CD ever made for like three whole months. I have to find that mother and blast it some more for real now!
The better version was from the 70s titled Omega Man and it starred the late Charlton Heston. It's one of my favorites and I refuse to see the new one.
Edited Tue Apr 15 2008, 02:45am
I liked all three versions. But I have a couple of problems with the Omega man and with Legend.
In Omega Man the zombies went into the building next to his and threw down fire when he was parking. (or mayby that was in the original?) anyway the problem I have with that is that the buildings directly on BOTH sides of Heston's lair were taller than his own. If the zombies wanted in all they had to do was go on up to the roof of either of the adjoining buildings and drop down.
Secondly, at one point the zombies were having a late night bonfire in the street nearby, the leader of the zombies was preaching his religious bullshit and was well illuminated by the fire. Charlton grabs up his assault rifle with a huge ass night scope attached and starts spraying bullets aimlessly and completely to no effect. That really irritated me.
One Bullet, One Kill motherfucker!
The only real fault I had with Legend was when he went insane and allowed himself to be caught in the same fucking sort of trap he had been teaching the zombies to make for three years. And then the mother fucker passes out just because he is hanging there just until it gets dark then wakes up. Again, Bullshit.
Plus for all three versions, there are far better ways to deal with such zombies than by going out in the day time and hunting them down one by one.
Tru wrote ... The only real fault I had with Legend was when he went insane and allowed himself to be caught in the same fucking sort of trap he had been teaching the zombies to make for three years.
True, that was silly. The second he saw the mannequin had been moved he should have just taken off, and never gone to that video store again either.
Tru wrote ... Plus for all three versions, there are far better ways to deal with such zombies than by going out in the day time and hunting them down one by one.
Joined: Fri Jan 12 2007, 04:38am
Location: Florida
Posts: 687
Damn - who to reply to first on this thread...
The Book is awsome - I liked the movie (odd for me) - fuck the Bloodhound Gang and Phoenixville PA - umm - damn i have to read all your rambling posts again
