God I hated the ending, anyone who says otherwise is just fooling themselves. Seriously, completely destroys any point the movie was building up to.

I enjoyed it also until the last 2 minutes. I hate when films shift gears like that
*SPOILERS*
i'm not against narration completely, but when you change characters so suddenly and then add their voice as the closing statement, it felt very poorly executed and random. Which sucks cause the rest of the movie wasn't all that bad. I also wish the infected were actual people and not cg created creatures.
*End Spoiler*

Because all of the scenes (minus hunting with a Mustang) with Will Smith on his own were really good scenes.

Just that ending... I had too many questions and no closer for the story as a whole.

Great review. I read the whole thing, spoilers and all. Usually I don't read the entire review if it's something I really want to see, but I kinda figured I already knew how this one was going to go. I'm glad I did. Now I'll know to be ready for a "random" ending.

Can't wait to see this... but before I do I gotta ask... Will the dog be in I am Legend 2? (Feel free to PM the answer)

Well I've tried to PM you twice now and I keep getting an error...not sure if its my computer or our server. So....

SPOILER ALERT!!

You REALLY want this movie ruined for you, huh Buck? :) It is pretty predictable though...I pretty much knew how it was going to go from the beginning as well.
No, the sweet dog "Sam" will not be in the sequel. His death scene was actually really well done, but still awful. Will Smith really has some acting chops.

Thank you Little Red Death. I kinda figured, but I had to know, you know?

(by the way, the forum's been acting up a bit today, hasn't it? what's going on?)

I've read the book ages ago, and then seen omega man, and I want to see this.

The book is definitely worth reading if you can get a copy.

Omega man is a bit, well, planet of the apes wrapped loosely round "vampires" with a couple of nods towards the book. Not in the slightest what I'd imagined when reading it.

The book isn't exactly cheerful, but the hero does get to be immortal at the end of it. Just not in a "rides off into the sunset with the girl" type immortality. It also has a "our freedom fighter" vs "their terrorist" twist to it, which adds a whole new perspective at the end.

Question though... Was it really a mutated cure for cancer, or did Peter Petrelli just fail to destroy strain 138 of the Shanti virus in Heroes?

Little Red Death wrote:

Well I've tried to PM you twice now and I keep getting an error...not sure if its my computer or our server. So....

SPOILER ALERT!!

You REALLY want this movie ruined for you, huh Buck? :) It is pretty predictable though...I pretty much knew how it was going to go from the beginning as well.
No, the sweet dog "Sam" will not be in the sequel. His death scene was actually really well done, but still awful. Will Smith really has some acting chops.

Actualy if you paid attention durring the movie(i think it was when Sam went into the one building chaseing the deer elk thing,) Sam is actualy Samantha(will calls her samantha when trying to find her), so aka-girl dog.

It was well done, im about 6'3, 250lbs, very burly guy as if u could imagen, but that scene had me balling my eyes out

I forgot to mention, even you don't want o see IAL, go ahead and see it anyway. Not for the movie, but for the Dark Knight trailer.

Jack Nicholson may be knocked downed as the best Joker actor.

if i was to have only one wish it would be that everyone that goes out and sees I am Legend this week or in the weeks to come to read the book as soon as they can or maybe before they even see the movie " its only 170 pages not long very quick read". The books version of the story is so much better then the movie and the ending is much more realistic to how it would really be. I myself have read the book many times now and wish they would have done more like LotR were everything is taken straight form the book no artistic license taken because it really is not needed...

Side note. If you buy the book that Amazon has it comes with other sort stories by Richard Matheson.

I usually agree with all of HISHE's reviews untill this one. For I Am Legend I felt I needed to say something. You can complain that the "Dark Seekers" are under developed characters all you want because your not understanding them. They can't have developement because the story is told from Robert Nevilles perspective and when the human race was wiped out very little was known about the creatures that did it. They are not there to have storylines they are just a general downfall of the human race to show the ending for us. You have to read the book, which i highly recommend, to know that they are vampires, even though they are not called it. The ending happened the way it did because the story is supposed to be the end of humanity not your typical "WOOO USA SAVES THE DAY AGAIN." Everything in the film was done for a reason. Its supposed to be different and you shoudlnt treat it like your typical good guy bad guy plot with back stories for everyone and a happy ending.

awesome! lets get some discussion going! :)
If the dark seekers are just to illustrate the downfall of the human race, why do we cut to close ups of the "leader" of the vampire infected and see the emotion in his face? Why is running from the hoard of monsters the final objective? As a film, I felt there was definitely more story there that wasn't explained. I agree with the statement that we didn't know what was going on because it was told from Robert's perspective. But that still makes me think, then why does all the other stuff even matter? including the resolution in the end. SPOILISH He's trying to find a cure, now he wants to rent a movie, now he's hunting, now he's picking corn, now he's in danger, NOW we see one of them looking right at him, now the thing is plotting to catch him, and does! How does it know what to use and how to do it? where to bait the trap? It would mean the thing/or things have been watching him for a while now, which means a lot more has been going on in the background that hasn't been explained. Because Robert has been covering his tracks so well before hand as if he knows exactly how to avoid them, the audience is lead to believe that the creatures have no idea how to find you as long as you travel in daylight.
And even still, all of that is fine, but when you end the movie before even getting close to answering those questions, you're left wondering why? And if you have to have read the book before seeing the movie to understand...well i think that is poor storytelling, because that means as a film certain scenes are not necessary.

IMO: I would have been happy never seeing the "leader" and just being afraid of the massive swarm, you know?

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't comment directly, but the trailer basicly gives away the whole plot so I have been reading all the spoilers, and I just have one outside point to make...

My point is that in general and this goes back to our discussion in the zombie thread that these infected zombie/vampires seem to fall to the usual poor writing and huge gaps in logic that all the modern day movies do. The "creature" has its body and brain twisted/missing and yet somehow they are able to accomplish feats of ingenuity and efficenty that goes above and beyond what they human characters are able to do. Then strangely enough you have them in the same movie run head first to their death. And don't get me started how these things have the ability to track people with an accuracy that even a bloodhound doesn't have.

All I want is conditions set up for these monsters and then have them followed through. Maybe when these things are craving for brains, maybe they are talking about better writers.

*If you want to do a movie from the point of view of the character and whatever he doesn't know if hidden then fine. Yet, if a movie decides to go with a narration at any point then once that door is open the movie is obligated to fill in all the blanks.

Yeah! Finally some movie discussion on one of my reviews :)

James:
Quote:

Question though... Was it really a mutated cure for cancer, or did Peter Petrelli just fail to destroy strain 138 of the Shanti virus in Heroes?

Hilarious dude! :wink:

Deadman, you're totally right... I knew the dog was a girl and I just completely forgot when writing that.

Thnikkamann, I'm glad you commented, I like to discuss. I think you missed what I meant by underdeveloped though. I totally agree that the story is from Robert's perspective and for most of the first half the movie is really good about being consistent. Maybe underdeveloped was the wrong word to use... the story was very inconsistent with how it dealt with the "dark seekers". I agree with SimpleCap 100%, I would have liked it better if they had remained just a massive swarm of animal-like people, but the movie decided to give them personality. SPOILER I mean, do they huddle in a dark room all day OR do they follow Neville around and watch him and learn from him??? We see one thing, but obviously they do the other too. Neville doesn't even seem to react to it when discovered, even though he's been meticulous the first half of the movie about recording facts about them.

I also think the movie has to be judged standing alone, so even if it is explained better in the book, that is a failure of the movie.

Quote:

*If you want to do a movie from the point of view of the character and whatever he doesn't know is hidden, then fine. Yet, if a movie decides to go with a narration at any point then once that door is open the movie is obligated to fill in all the blanks.

Well said CTALONS...even if you haven't seen it. :)

What Are Your Chances of Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse?

http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/zombie

How "Robert Nevilles" are you?

A lot of funny quizes inside!

it said I'm 40% zombie proof. except that quiz asked nothing about zombie stilts. so i give myself and extra 80% knowing that i have the edge on zombie technology :)

Very cool... But I only have a 42% chance.

Oh well... I take comfort in the fact that my city is usually a few years behind everyone else when it comes to getting new things. I should have plenty of time to get ready.

I only have a 31% chance...hmmmm...

But I am already almost through with reading World War Z about the future zombie attacks, so I think I get some extra credit for my knowledge.

i also don't agree entirely with the quiz because in real zombie movies there are the obvious "gonna get it" people and then there are the people that survive purely on the basis that you wouldn't expect them to live. And sometimes people that are the smartest and most prepared don't make it either. So i don't think having canned goods really determines your ability :)

I completely agree with you simple cap about the whole leader thing because he was kind of pointless but i don't see where the movie did not have a good ending. Sure he didn't make it and the character we have been following and grown to love randomly dies but thats not a bad thing. Its innovative. Aren't we sick of seeing heroes take on a hundred bad guys on one clip of ammo?

But on the point of him doing things and them knowing but than explaining how they could not have known, I completely agree. So if you felt that way, why didn't you put it in the review?

And just think if they really wanted to(and I'm sure they do with ti being a big hit in the box office) they can make a crappy sequel with that ending! :D YAY! HOLLYWOOD FEEDING OFF TITLES NOT STORIES!

OH yeah and I forgot to say something. For anyone that wants to be 100% zombie proof pick up a copy of the book The Zombie Survival Guide. It is absolutely amazing!

OK...I saw I AM A REMAKE...I mean, I AM LEGEND.

And what I am really suprised no one caught on to was IMO the obivious copy of the plot outline from SIGNS...

Our main hero is a man who lost his faith after losing his wife tragically in an accident. When the crisis hits the Earth, instead of running like everyone else tries to do our hero stay at his home to fight it out despite the tremendous odds against him.
Despite his best efforts, in the end, he is powerless to fight back the monsterous invasion. Yet, at the very end, he remembers an odd statement his love one made before she died and now looking around he makes the connection what the things he sees around him (divine inspiration)...regains his faith and finds the answer that stop the killer creatures.

Red, your review says he hears God at the end, but isn't it his daughter that is referring to the butterfly? What did God say? Did I miss it?

IMO, it was good, but I really needed more to feel like I got a full story here. An extended edition on DVD maybe? The CGI was weak and the blur effect when they moved didn't make much sense. I have some issues and questions, but in all I really got the feeling of the last man on earth from Smith. His performance was IMO even better then Hanks on Castaway.

Saw this yesterday. the Dark Seeker CGI was atrocious and I couldn't take the movie seriously because of it. Why couldn't they just use real actors in makeup?

This movie gets a C- from me. It wasn't terrible, but when the main antagonists in the film are so poorly done as to kill my suspension of disbelief entirely, it's hard to enjoy it.

Yeah, the more time that passes since I've seen this movie the more disappointed I am in it. There was stuff that I really liked, and I kind of agree with CTALONS about Smith being better than Hanks, but I keep coming up with more and more problems. I didn't even think about it being the same as Signs, but you are totally right and Signs did it WAY better. It was his daughter that said the butterfly bit, but I saw it more as a "he was being quiet enough to hear God's message to him" thing like the female character in the movie suggested. Still, I can't get over the fact that he didn't really have to die. My husband and I were recently discussing the fact that he didn't utilize tanning beds...how perfect would that have been?? Just line the basement with them and when they all got down into the lab turn them on!

I understand what your saying Ronin and I'm not sure how I was able to get passed it and enjoy the movie. It really was AWFUL! This is a difficult movie to rate because some things were so fantastic to me and some things were absolutely horrid. Oh well.

I hear what you are saying RED, and there are a lot of logic problems with the film. For example, was how did the woman drive to manhattan when we see earlier that all the entrances to the island were destroyed? Or why not get a pair of night vision goggles or even a video camera that has a night mode that picks up on heat?

I think the real problem here is the marketing. You have the word "Legend" in the title and you expect something legendary. Even the trailer makes you believe that this is going to be this action filled end of the world monster movie, when in reality it is just about how one man held on through an unthinkable tragedy. I think if the bar wasn't set so high and we were given the right focus, we would all feel much better about it.

And while logically, he didn't have to die, it did make sense from an existential point of view. Even before he lost his family, he made his life's purpose to cure the disease, which he certainly knew it would mean his death. When he cured the disease at the end, he was able to let go of the one thing that kept him going and allowed himself to rest/die. This is similiar again to Castaway, where Tom Hanks was able to push himself forward through such pain in order to accomplish his goal of getting home to his love in the locket.

Will Smith's performance was great, but I think that they asked too much of him here to convey the feeling that the whole world had died. I think we needed to see that tragedy more in order to really feel the lost like he did. I think this is the kinda of movie that you will go back and forth on a lot till it really settles down enough to have an honest assesment.

I also did think that at one point that since the CGI was so bad that when Smith mentions to his dog that he didn't want a suprise birthday party, I almost expected the dark seekers to pull their masks off and have it turn out that in fact no one died it was just a very elaborate suprise party.
I obiviously have watched way too many HISHE vids.

Okay going back to "How zombie proof are you" quiz I am very happy...

54% That's better that what I'd give myself... although to be fair I must state two things.

1. I answered that I wouldn't go and find my family not because I don't love them but becuase I'm in Japan... Okinawa to be specific, my family doesn't live here.

2. You all get extra credit for knowing someone in the military, -cough hint cough-

Cap has Stilts, I perfer M-16 and balconey. Ooo! Lighthouse! And if all the Rent-a-zillas haven't been turned...

Quote:

I almost expected the dark seekers to pull their masks off and have it turn out that in fact no one died it was just a very elaborate suprise party.
I obiviously have watched way too many HISHE vids.

:lol: That's awesome.

Yeah, don't even get my husband started on night vision goggles! ...and I have no explanation for how she got to Manhattan. We discussed that and really there's no way. The bridges are gone and the tunnels we know were flooded...and even if they weren't, I don't think you'd want to do any tunnel driving. But I figure there has to be an explanation that I just can't figure out because if there isn't, then his entire broadcast to meet him at the pier is STUPID.

maybe she took a boat across and picked up a car on the other side?

Little Red Death wrote:

Quote:

I almost expected the dark seekers to pull their masks off and have it turn out that in fact no one died it was just a very elaborate suprise party.
I obiviously have watched way too many HISHE vids.

:lol: That's awesome.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/417535

I just saw it. I absolutely loved it. Must own the DVD.

Oh yeah... the CGI was so bad... I can't help but wonder if this film was some student's big break...

And that seemed like a lot of boom coming from a single grenade, dinnit...

And there were, you know, a lot of weak plot points here and there...

But I had a lot of fun throughout. I loved that vision of life after the fall of society. I thought the flashbacks were well placed (and I'm not usually a fan of flashbacks). I loved that dog (the scene where Will followed him into the building was amazing to me). And I must say, it was much grimmer than any other Will Smith movie I've ever seen (Nice going Will).

Personally, I believe that Will died that night on the South Street Seaport & that absolutely everything afterwards was some Jacob's Ladder type dream leading him to salvation and "the light at the end of the tunnel." I know that's not what happened... but that's what I've decided to believe.

Loved it. Can't wait for the DVD.

A lot of people seem let down by the end. I hope the DVD has an alternate ending.