I Am Legend (12/14/07)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The newest trailer to Will Smith's Christmastime movie about vampires.

I think it looks pretty good, and I like Will Smith. :) This trailer explains a little more about the movie than the original teaser trailers.

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[Jedi Master Carr]

Looks very weird and cool at the same time. I know this is the third film version of this story. The previous versions were a Vincent Price film called Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston's The Omega Man. The latter the creatures were more undead zombies than vampires. The Price movie they were vampires and he had a found a cure that one had a twilight zone type ending . I am curious how this one turns out.

[Zereth Lancer]

I noticed the similarities to the Omega Man the moment I saw the Teaser. I am very excited about this movie. I loved the Omega man movie, and this, to me, looks like a recreation of the exact same story, only with the pasty albinos replaced with vamparic creatures.

I don't know if I'll ever get around to seeing it in theaters. My track record with seeing movies in the theater has been poor of late. The last movie I saw in theaters was Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Maybe I'll go against the flow and see I am Legend when it hits.

[Droo]

As I said to Peter last night, I was totally underwhelmed by the trailer. It actually bored me a bit. Frankly, we've seen films in the past which, even on the surface, appear to deal with concepts such as vampires, infected masses, a man alone in an urban jungle, and apocalyptic scenarios with more style than this. For example, that bit with the lion just made me roll my eyes, it's completely unneccessary and made me think of Jumanji.

After watching the trailer, I'm not interested enough to bother going to see it, but if a bunch of my mates decide to go, I might just join them: I think I can take it or leave it.

[Peter McCoy]

I really dislike the vampires in the trailer - they look like daemonic hellspawn, not the victims of a viral outbreak. I simply adore the book and it looks like I'm going to be disappointed by this film. I'll still enjoy it, but I can't see it living up to it's potential. And that dog just really annoys me. It completely destroys the feeling of isolation.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I hope the dog dies. That was one of the saddest parts in the book... him finding the dog, gradually earning it's trust and then having to bury it anyway, because it had succumbed to the virus :(

That aside... underwhelmed, yup. Read the book instead.

[Droo]

Read the book instead!? After endless badgering from Peter, I finally read the book. Plot spoilers follow:

What a grim ending. I wasn't satisfied with it one iota, no matter how interesting and original it may be. No matter what anyone may claim, Robert Neville finds no real peace and survives three long miserable years to ultimately top himself rather than suffer the indignity of a public execution at the hands of the mindless masses of the New Order. And the blurb at the back claims the story is "ultimately upflifting." Ultimately uplifting, my foot!

Now, I wasn't after a Hollywood ending but after following the journey of this character and becoming invested emotionally and psychologically in his lonely struggle, I think he deserved much better and so did I. Frankly, I didn't give two hoots about the half-baked jibberish about viruses, dust storms, vampire bat bites, fear of crosses, the smell of garlic, mutating bacteria, etc. - the more information divulged from Neville's findings, the more weaknesses were revealled in the boring science of Matheson's mythology.

The most gratifying elements of the story were always those which dealt with moments of stark horror or revelations of the human condition via Robert's interior monologue. That said, no matter how much I enjoyed these elements of the story, and they were in abundance, they do not compensate for the overall impression with which I'm left at the end of the story. I am only grateful that the novel was brief.

[Dasquian Belargic]

But the dog! How can your heart not be broken by the dog :(

[Parsideon Denix]

I'm sure we'll pick it up in a year or so when the price goes down. It looks okay.

[Droo]

But the dog! How can your heart not be broken by the dog :(


Because I'd already read your spoiler regarding it - I'd hovered over it thinking it would be a comment on something from the trailer, God knows why, then after I'd read it, that whole segment of the book lost most of its impact. Speaking of which, it looks like that happens in the film, judging by what you see in the trailer.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Oh I suppose that my OP is wrong, the other... people/creatures in the movie besides Will Smith aren't vampires, they're more like zombies. SciFi magazine has a pretty good article about the movie this quarter. :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

THIS MOVIE WAS AWESOME GO SEE IT!

I swear the next time I watch it I'll keep my eyes open the whole time. :uhoh But it was really good. Plus, trailer to The Dark Knight precedes it. :thumbup

[Jeseth Cloak]

I'm planning to go see this next weekend most likely. I loved the book - which if you're interested, was written by Richard Matheson - and the original black and white film that starred Vincent Price was great. I just hope they didn't butcher the original storyline too badly. It's great as was originally written.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

As I understand it this movie sticks closer to the book than the two previous movies they made from it do. But I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on it.

[Mu Satach]

I'm probably going to see it, I haven't been to the theater in what feels like ages...

but that's a lie. I sat in a movie theater one night a week for an entire semester AND watched one to two movies in said theater every night I was there, it just doesn't feel like going to the movies when it's part of a class. Even when the class is a study of the SciFi / Horror genre. :)

[Rutabaga]

Just got home from seeing it, and I thought it was great. Although the part with Sam the dog just made me cry and cry :cry. It's not a movie for everyone, but overall I thought it was well worth seeing, and very thought-provoking as well. I also kept wondering just how the heck they pulled off making New York look like a ghost town...is an Oscar nom for visual effects possible on the strength of that alone?

Besides the trailer for The Dark Knight (holy cow, Heath Ledger looks great as the Joker!), we also saw previews for Iron Man and Prince Caspian. Whee! :dance

Now, on to Sweeney Todd next week! :dance

[Yog]

The movie looks entertaining. The whole vampire thing puts me off somewhat though. It's the abandoned in a big city premise that I find appealing, not the The Descent type CGI monsters. What the heck were they thinking to put those in the trailers? Totally ruined it for me.

They should take lessons from Cloverfield on keeping the danger a mystery.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I can't say enough good things about the movie - even though I totally bought every single time the filmmakers want the viewer to jump and I started watching bits of it through my fingers (I swear this makes it less scary!) - after it was all over I have to say that the movie was just really, really good.


Will Smith's performance is fantastic - he's such a good actor. The 'creatures' and his interaction with them was done really well. They are not vampires, nor are they zombies, just people don't know how else to describe them. I would say a closer aproximation to what the Infected are would be to call them 28 Days Later 'zombies' if said zombies were light sensitive.

Watch the movie Yog, you will like it. :)

[Yog]

I have to say, this was pretty good. What makes this movie work so well is Will Smith's performance, who is shaping up to be a decent actor, and the setting is more interesting and convincing that 95% of the apocalyptic movies out there. Usually, movies in this genre have a dozen different characters you don't care about, horrendous acting and terrible plot holes. This one is rather well made with great cinematography, editing and visual effects. The pacing of the movie flows along, and it is overall quite entertaining.

There are some logical flaws near the end though, for example the way he uses gasoline for everything for racing cars to electricity is not very viable after 3 years because of disipation, liquid natural gas for cooking, clean water, and how did the girl know the way to his house? Also, the ending is somewhat weak., but overall a good / entertaining popcorn movie better than most of the summer releases.

Thumbs up and 4 stars out of 5.

[Kraehe Branwen]

(I don't think this is a spoiler but correct me if I'm wrong)

I absolutely LOVE Will Smith. If I weren't married and he weren't I'd totally chase him down and have my way. lmao So, when I saw that he was going to be in this movie a few weeks ago I went and got the book cuz I couldn't wait. Well, it was hard to imagine my glistening God cuz in the book Neville is actually blonde and blue eyed! I was disappointed at first cuz I really wanted to be able to imagine Will Smith as the character, but this is the way the original story is and I'm confused why they didn't stick to it. Well.. maybe not... Will Smith is hawt and so rawks. Muwahahaha.

I liked the book though. I hope I can manage to go see the movie in theatres before it goes. But finding a babysitter is impossible, so yeah, thats why I got the book. >.< So I'll have to wait for the DVD.

[Darth Binky]

I read this book a long time ago back as a freshman in highschool, (aka 4-5 years ago) and I loved it, but I forgot a good chunk of what really happens.

I got a screeners copy of this to review and damn. This was one of the best movies I've seen in a long long while.

For the horror/drama genre we have had two kickass films this year; The Mist and I Am Legend. If you haven't seen The Mist yet, I suggest you see that as well. Neither of these have a true Hollywood ending, and both deal with the human aspect when there are beasties knocking at your door.

[Rutabaga]

I read this book a long time ago back as a freshman in highschool, (aka 4-5 years ago) and I loved it, but I forgot a good chunk of what really happens.

I got a screeners copy of this to review and damn. This was one of the best movies I've seen in a long long while.

For the horror/drama genre we have had two kickass films this year; The Mist and I Am Legend. If you haven't seen The Mist yet, I suggest you see that as well. Neither of these have a true Hollywood ending, and both deal with the human aspect when there are beasties knocking at your door.

The Mist has long been my favorite Stephen King short story, so I ran out and saw the movie version ASAP. I was very pleased with it...the ending was radically different from the story, and it definitely is a bleak, horrifying ending, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that if Stephen King wrote the story today, that might have been the way he would end it. So it's ended up being a change that I can easily accept.

I'm sorry that The Mist hasn't done better at the box office, but I think it might be because a lot of people can't see beyond the creepy crawlies in the mist. They actually aren't the focus of the story at all...the real focus is the people in the supermarket, and a study of how quickly civilization can unravel in the face of a survival situation. Much food for thought for people who are willing to sit down at the table.

[Yog]

For the horror/drama genre we have had two kickass films this year; The Mist and I Am Legend. If you haven't seen The Mist yet, I suggest you see that as well. Neither of these have a true Hollywood ending, and both deal with the human aspect when there are beasties knocking at your door.

While I Am Legend is good, if you're really looking into the Créme de la Créme of creepy / scary this year, I'd suggest "Zodiac", "Disturbia" and "No Country for Old Men".

Zodiac (http://imdb.com/title/tt0443706/) is creepy, not because of what we see, but what we don't see, and because it's painstaking accurately modelled after real events. It's like a documentary of your worst nightmares. It really is one of, if not the most fascinating serial murder cases of all time. The value of watching Zodiac triples once you start reading about it.

Disturbia (http://imdb.com/title/tt0486822/) goes more into the B-movie popcorn cheap scares territory, but what a B-movie! This movie combines laughs and thrills in a way that reminds me why I love going to the movies. I honestly had diffulty sleeping after watching it, and not many movies in the last few years can claim that.

And finally, for the more serious drama / human angle approach, I recommend "No Country for Old Men" (http://imdb.com/title/tt0477348/). If you follow the awards season buzz, this a frontrunner for Best Picture at the Oscars. Anton Chigurh is the movie villain of the year, a very disturbing and remorseless character. Cinematography, editing and acting ensemble is amazing.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

I need to get around to watching Zodiac. I have it laying around, just haven't popped it in yet.

I went to see I Am Legend last night, it was really good. I wouldn't call it one of the best movies of the year, but I thought it was well done. Worth the price of admission.

[Mu Satach]

Saw it last night and enjoyed the film. Though I wish I had a rubber band gun to shoot the pre-teens who kept texting during the film. >_<

[Darth Binky]

For the horror/drama genre we have had two kickass films this year; The Mist and I Am Legend. If you haven't seen The Mist yet, I suggest you see that as well. Neither of these have a true Hollywood ending, and both deal with the human aspect when there are beasties knocking at your door.

While I Am Legend is good, if you're really looking into the Créme de la Créme of creepy / scary this year, I'd suggest "Zodiac", "Disturbia" and "No Country for Old Men".

Zodiac (http://imdb.com/title/tt0443706/) is creepy, not because of what we see, but what we don't see, and because it's painstaking accurately modelled after real events. It's like a documentary of your worst nightmares. It really is one of, if not the most fascinating serial murder cases of all time. The value of watching Zodiac triples once you start reading about it.

Disturbia (http://imdb.com/title/tt0486822/) goes more into the B-movie popcorn cheap scares territory, but what a B-movie! This movie combines laughs and thrills in a way that reminds me why I love going to the movies. I honestly had diffulty sleeping after watching it, and not many movies in the last few years can claim that.

And finally, for the more serious drama / human angle approach, I recommend "No Country for Old Men" (http://imdb.com/title/tt0477348/). If you follow the awards season buzz, this a frontrunner for Best Picture at the Oscars. Anton Chigurh is the movie villain of the year, a very disturbing and remorseless character. Cinematography, editing and acting ensemble is amazing.


I've seen Zodiac and Disturbia. Zodiac, while good, wasn't amazing to me. The acting was good, the story was excellent, and it was very well put together. However, after I watched it, I couldn't bring myself to watch it again.

Disturbia wasn't my cup of tea either, it was just cheezy horror, and while I enjoyed it, I'm not going to put it in my DVD player again unless someone asks me specifically. How ever, it is what is is, and does it remarkably well.

I can't wait to see No Country For Old Men, I didn't get it to review, so I didn't see it. But I've been itching to go see it, so I'll probably get some friends to go see it.

Best Horror/Drama movies this year in my opinion were:
I Am Legend
The Mist
Mr. Brooks

Mr. Brooks is about a serial killer (The Thumbprint Killer) who owns a box company. He lives a successful life, has a wife, daughter, nice house, and drinks a warm cup of milk before going to sleep. However he's addicted to killing people, and goes to AA meetings, substituting murder for alcohol in his mind. He also has a doppleganger named Marshall who provides dry comic relief. "Come on, you know you want to, that nice dancing couple. Just drive by their house, see if they're home."

Also, a notable mentioned should be made for Sunshine as well. Though I enjoyed it, many people didn't, as its not just a pop in and watch movie, its deep, and you can see the effects of the Sun, isolation, and imminent death affecting the members of the Icarus II.
The movie is about a ship called, you guessed it, Icarus II. In the distant, or not so distant, future they tell of the Sun dying. The genious idea to shoot a nuke off into the Sun to jumpstart it back to life was born. So they sent the Icarus I. After it passed Mecury and went into a communication deadzone, they disappeared. Seven years later they send the Icarus II and another nuke to accomplish the original mission. Thats where the story begins.

[Yog]

I forgot about Mr. Brooks. That movie was indeed excellent and scary. Highly recommended. Kevin Costner played the part brilliantly.

About Zodiac, part of my fascination of that movie lies in how it describes real events (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_killer), and it does not attempt to take any shortcuts doing so. It would have been very easy for the director to Hollywoodize the movie and insert dramatic plot points to make it more exciting, but it would not been factual. I don't know how many movies I seen that claims to be "based on a real story", but actually is not like the real story at all. Well, this one IS the real story. It's based on decades of research into police reports and witnesses.

The other part of what makes Zodiac interesting is the murder case itself, which is IMO the most interesting serial murder case of all time, more so than Jack the ripper and various others. The thing about the Zodiac, he sent codes, puzzles and riddles to the newspapers about who he was and where the victims could be found. These were not nonsense ramblings, but actual clues, using cryptograms, radians and compass directions etc. Many of these puzzles and codes remains uncracked. But if they were solved, the Zodiac could have been caught, and his victims found. That's why you have people who spent the better part of their lifetime trying to figure it out, writing a book about it etc. The main suspect (http://www.zodiackiller.com/AllenFile.html) had such an incredible amount of circumstantial evidence pointing towards him, yet he was never put to court. You pretty much go, "wow, that was so obviously the Zodiac". However, they never got a match on the DNA sample, fingerprint and handwriting.

Then you start digging deeper, and read this sort of creepy article (http://www.zodiackiller.com/KH1.html) which makes my skin crawl. At that point, you realize "holy crap, he could very well still be out there in Nevada killing people, and the police is doing zero about it, just because of some bureaucracy crap hindering the police departments working together!". That's a chilly prospect indeed, one that makes you hearing strange noises outside the window at night..

If you do read up more on the case, I bet there is no amount of convincing needed to get you to watch the movie again. :)

Now about Disturbia, I fully agree (even said as much), it is cheezy horror. BUT, and this is a big but, it's great cheezy horror. My point is, this is how cheezy horror is supposed to be done. It is psychological thriller, with paranoia and lots and lots of wicked humor mixed between. It is like modern, delightful and less serious version of Hitchcocks Rear Window. It is hard to describe how much I prefer this over the hundreds of slasher flicks out there, which are just downright dumb and full of gore. Gore does not make horror movies scary, the character that holds the dagger does. My question is, why oh why, can't Hollywood make more cheezy horrror like this INSTEAD!

I have not seen Sunshine quite yet, but plan to catch it on DVD soon. I have so many movies to watch, with Oscar season in full motion already.

[Darth Binky]

I'm aware that Zodiac was very true to life and they get major props for that, but its more of a post movie mind f*** I guess. I guess I'll have to read up on it and watch the movie again and see if I missed anything. I guess its good I don't live in Nevada.:)

Its a shame about what happened to Mr. Brooks though. Great movie, maybe one of Kevin Costners best films in his entire career. Problem is, is that no one saw it and everyone pretty much forgot about it, including the Oscars too. However after the movie I had the same thought I did after I saw Waterworld (I think thats what it was called) for the first time. Damn that was good, anyone else enjoy it? Hey where is everyone...:rolleyes

Sunshine was really good, one of my favorite films in a while. You really don't wanna watch it by yourself as some moments are just down right creepy.O_o However, as I said, my friends who weren't into deep movies didn't like it as much as I did. Once you get into it, its really good. So gather your snobby intellectual friends and have at it.:D I'm surprised they didn't release it onto DVD for Xmas, I got that movie in the mail in June or something.

[Wyl Staedtler]

This was a great movie. Although I only saw bits and pieces because I was humming with my ears plugged and eyes closed for a lot of it. :)

Tension, yo.

[Droo]

I saw this on Boxing Day. It was enjoyable but I'd draw the line there. When I finished the book, I wasn't going to watch the film because I was so intensely disappointed by its ending. The book has its merits in its writing and originality but there were elements that irked me. This film isn't as good as the book simply because it doesn't have the balls to go where the book goes at all.

There are things to commend in the film; the way in which the protagonist's sense of isolation is magnified is done to great effectiveness and in a fashion which deviates wisely from the book. Secondly, Will Smith's acting in this film is very impressive - he has to carry the film alone and does it very well. Then there's the dog, it works for the film that the dog is present from the beginning because when it dies, you are made painfully aware that Neville is completely alone - the following scene with the mannequin is particularly touching but then it is all for naught. Why? Because two minutes later he suddenly finds himself with a proverbial wife and child making the loss of the dog and the sense of absolute loneliness completely null and void.

It was at this point I was expecting the sequence of events leading to the end of the book take place and this was when I lost my patience completely. Neville's heroic end. The mindlessness of the infected. The cheapening of the book's ending. Supervampires. I had no time for any of it and this film is not by any stretch of the imagination the horror/thriller of the year - it's nowhere near good enough for that. In fact, the best bits of the film are when there are no signs of the infected at all and you get to explore Neville's world and his loneliness in it. The flashbacks were boring, too. If you wanted horror, read the book and find out what really happens to his wife.

Ultimately, I found this film a bit of a kop out and could've been a far superior film. My view is, of course, tainted by the fact that I've read the book but had I not read the book beforehand, I'd have simply thought: "Oh well, it wasn't a particularly adventurous film."