I am Legend

DanMc07 said:
I thought the film was outstanding. Will Smith really showed how much of a superb actor he is. Will probably go see it again. Great :).
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Quoted For Truth!

Will smith really showed that he can act in this.. not as good a role as Persuit but still brilliant!

IMO the film kinda has to be broken down into segments for review...

Film
Acting
CGI
Faitfulness to the book

The film itself was entertaining.. kept me watching without boring me. Sound was the most important feature for me.. the lack of any noise bar what was made by the characters kinda brings in a sense of immersion. THis was the one thing I was sceptical about having read the book.. the productions ability to bring forth the sense of abandonment.. the fact that he is alone.

The acting in parts is superb.. smith really brings Neville's character's emotions to life. The way certain aspects of his day to day living after his mentality etc. Awesome stuff.

CGI.. terrible. Granted I could not create anywhere near the quality of the characters but they just didn't frighten me. They were not dark enough.. there was no fear. Yes they made me jump.. but it was swift movements rather than subtle vicious scenes.
However... the abandonned NYC was immense. Very well draw out.. and very well executed!

Anyone who has seen this movie and was dissapointed should pick up the book. The original text of this story is far more moving and on such a larger emotional scale.
This film does not resemble the story I read from the book.

For example...

In the book.. The dog one day shows up at Robert's house.. and slowly Robert has to gain trust and build up an emotional bond with the dog..

All in all a good movie and I feel it has a right to do well at the box office.
But the original text is so much better!

I'm off to watch I Am Omega now.. which is a lower budget adaption..
I'll let you all know what thats like soon :D
 
I won't be watching this film again thats for sure. This film could have been outstanding but I don't know what the hell they were playing at. It had all the potential but I don't know wether they ran out of money or what but what should have happened in the film didn't happened.

I'm angry they messed this film up.

EDIT: From the above post I understand its based on a book so either the book is rubbish or they didn't go with the book.

Anyhow it was not great.
 
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Interested in the book, Which version of it is the 'proper' one, If thats the right wording? I seem to find a version around 160 pages and one around 320 pages :l
 
Neolink said:
Interested in the book, Which version of it is the 'proper' one, If thats the right wording? I seem to find a version around 160 pages and one around 320 pages :l
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I've been buying quite a few of the SF Masterworks versions. So that's the one I have. 160pp.

iamlegendcover.gif
 
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*post contains spoilers*




I thought the film was great, having never read the book I had no preconceptions. I thought Will Smiths acting was fantastic, the part where he goes in after the dog to that dark building... very very good indeed. Excellent acting and suspense.

Perhaps ending could have been better, they definitely should have made it longer and I tend to pay attention closely to the dialogue (I think its having watched The West Wing S1-7 back to back recently :p) but I picked up the brief explanation of the nighwalkers or whatever they were called. 90% of the population is not immune at all, 5% became nightwalkers and last 5% are immune to both airborne and physical contact.

I did not however notice any explanation for the water before the door? This holy water or something totally unexplained by the fact I didnt even realise they supposed to actually be vamps rather than infected humans with vamp like characteristics.
 
i suspect it's meant to either wash away the scent a bit, or is meant to be some kind of cleaner that he's put in a convenient bottle (diluted bleach etc) to wash away or mask the scent.
 
Werewolf said:
i suspect it's meant to either wash away the scent a bit, or is meant to be some kind of cleaner that he's put in a convenient bottle (diluted bleach etc) to wash away or mask the scent.
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Ah yea that would make sense since the "did they follow you?" question he made to annoying religious nutty woman.
 
I actually enjoy Harry Potter films less than I do the books for the same reason, it still doesnt stop me going and enjoying the films as well as the books.
 
thats not a problem. But when people say they hate a film, just because it doesn't follow the book is silly. Either it's a good film or it's not a good film. Regardless how it differs from any books :)
 
AcidHell2 said:
thats not a problem. But when people say they hate a film, just because it doesn't follow the book is silly. Either it's a good film or it's not a good film. Regardless how it differs from any books :)
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No I know, we were kind of agreeing with eachother, I just meant I can still like a film even if it was dissimilar to the book it was based on.
Which is what you are saying too!
 
saw it just now, thought it was great, will smith was awesome, and the dog was awesome!! didn't really like the woman who came into it with her kid, but overall it was very good :)
 
Was an ok film, aside from being a complete rip-off of 28 Days Later.

Also aside from having an insane amount of plot holes and an ending that came 5 minutes after what should have been the nearer-middle climax.

In fact, the plot holes just wrecked it, ala:

Who moved Fred?
How did the infected have a command structure and domesticated dogs if insentient?
How did Anna kill the infected and rescue Robert?
How did he know Sam wasn't immune to contact but was immune to airborne?
How did the deer die OR why were all the infected sleeping while it remained uneaten?
How did Anna survive the explosion, being but 2 metres from the origin?
And more :(
 
rghjones said:
Was an ok film, aside from being a complete rip-off of 28 Days Later.

Also aside from having an insane amount of plot holes and an ending that came 5 minutes after what should have been the nearer-middle climax.

In fact, the plot holes just wrecked it, ala:

Who moved Fred?
How did the infected have a command structure and domesticated dogs if insentient?
How did Anna kill the infected and rescue Robert?
How did he know Sam wasn't immune to contact but was immune to airborne?
How did the deer die OR why were all the infected sleeping while it remained uneaten?
How did Anna survive the explosion, being but 2 metres from the origin?
And more :(
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at a quick guess from what i've been able to work out

1: The Alpha male
2: It's not explicitly said but it looks like there are two levels of the illness for the infected, drones/workers who are less than animals, and the alpha's which are smarter but much rarer (in the animal world you get something similar, the smarter/stronger animals often become pack leaders).
3: When? if you mean on the ship she could have got him onto a lifeboat, or the bit she hid in during the film had a second exit etc.
4: Because it was known that other dogs were that way earlier, and Sam didn't show signs of infection when she had been close to the infected.
5: It probably disturbed them and was killed then left till later (I believe various animals will do that, kill a potential threat/food source then leave it for later).
6: It looks like she was behind a fairly solid steel door, inside a well built chimney - the explosion wasn't that great and had easier exit points for the pressure to escape through (the doorway into the lab).
 
Remember folks, 28 Days/Weeks Later isn't the sole influence.

Obviously, the 1954 novel was a genre-defining story and has influenced contemporary storylines after it.

I haven't seen this latest flic but I'd imagine it's capitalising on the success of 28 Days/Weeks Later and has adapted a classic novel to the same style.

There are other novels that I'm sure have influenced the recent batch of movies though.

Day of the Triffids is the obvious one and it's even acknowledged on the dvd sleeve of 28 Days Later. There are more than a few similar scenes.

The only other novel, off the top of my head, that's in a similar vein :rolleyes: is James Herbert's '48... I think there's a dog in that too! ;)

Might be interesting to see if we can think of other similar movies/novels.

I'm sure Wiki will have some suggestions.

Hmm, not that much at Wiki other than the ones I was thinking of - Night of the Living Dead, Resident Evil series... just noticed the other links off the main page... lots there!

*Usual warnings about Wiki though - don't read if you don't want any spoilers!*
 
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