Indy.com
Today:
I Am Legend
Posted: Dec 12, 2007 in Things to do, Movies
Tags:
A confession: despite my dad's nagging, I've seen neither "The Omega Man" nor "The Last Man on Earth," the two films also based on the novel "I Am Legend."
And despite his admonitions that I can't write a "good review" unless I see them first, I'll do my best just the same.
The story: In 2012, Army Colonel (and doctor) Robert Neville (Smith) is (allegedly) the last man on Earth, seemingly the sole survivor of a virus that cures cancer but has the rather unfortunate side effect of mutating the patient into a creature that is a cross between the monsters from "28 Days Later" and vampires. The virus became airborne, and 90 percent of the population was soon either dead or turned, and the creatures then finished off pretty much everyone else.
Neville lives out his life in New York City with a German shepherd named Sam, hunting and gathering, going to the video store, and trying to find a cure for the virus.
For the most part "Legend" is tense and interesting, but it is somehow not scary enough, and we don't get to know the villains well enough to connect with them.
On the plus side, the narrative structure is terrific. We see a short prologue, introducing the premise, and providing some cute peripheral details. Just be sure not to lose focus on what's going on upon learning when Shaquille O'Neal will retire or whether Warner Bros. ever gets around to making a Batman/Superman film (both topics are speculated upon).
The rest is done in clipped flashbacks, which reveal details slowly, giving us a better look at Robert's background and family life.
With apologies to Charlton Heston and Vincent Price, for a modern audience Will Smith was the actor not named Tom Hanks best suited to pull off the solo trick, as he does for most of this film.
He has the likeability and the charisma, and we believe he could survive on his own. He pulls a good performance from his canine co-star, who becomes his version of Wilson, albeit a little more animated.
But the monsters have a "been there, done that" feel to them. They're brutal, fast and merciless, but the CG rendering is a little too smooth to make them as creepy as they should be.
And for the film's epic scale, the 1 hour and 40 minute running time is brisk and doesn't give us enough time to get a handle on the world or the situation, and it feels as if there are some details we're not being told.
"Legend" provided me a decent enough time, but lacked development of the bad guys and had a hackneyed and predictable ending.
It could have been better.
Your review confirms my fears. In the words of my youngest sister as a teenager "No big Whup!" I'm going anyway.
My friend worked on this in NYC and said everyone on-set refered to it as "WaterWorld 2" shows you what the crew thought about it anyway!
Does the dog die? If the dog dies, I ain't goin. I doan like it when dee dog dies.
Does the dog die? If the dog dies, I ain't goin. I doan like it ...
I would rather not divulge plot details. I'll just say I stand by my review, and the comparison I make, with regard to the dog. Might be a little hint for you.
Joe: I'd also suggest reading the novel by Richard Matheson. Neither earlier versions captured the pure horror of the book, but Vincent Price's was the closest to Matheson's storyline. And it develops the villains to a great degree, a critical piece this new movie apparently lacks.
Joe , I agree with your Father. Could you do a decent review of Star Wars 3 without seeing the original ? What about the Die Hard sequels ? What if they do a remake of Gone with the wind , or the wizard of Oz , you could review these without seeing the originals ? ( I don't think so ). The Omega Man , 1971 was a powerful movie to a young teenager , more insightful than this newer version with Will Smith ? I guess I'll have to go see for myself ....
Joe , I agree with your Father. Could you do a decent review of Star ...
Nice try, Pops.
I was afraid of that. Pretty good but not great. That novel deserves a great adaptation, though.
Joe , I agree with your Father. Could you do a decent review of Star ...
Ha! That's pretty awesome.
But i have to side with Joe. Whether or not a movie is good doesn't have to depend on previous movie adaptations of the same story. A comparison is nice, but that's the problem with Hollywood, anyway. It's too much trouble to make a movie that hasn't already been made, so they just go back to what worked (or didn't) before.
And i really hope no one makes another Gone with the Wind. The first one was bad enough. Those slaves were way too happy to be servin' the white-folk. And Scarlette just needed a beat-down.
My wife and I liked the movie. It wasn't boring and kept you wide awake. Seriously, we thought it was pretty good.
I'm glad I paid matinee price for this movie.. It was entertaining, but it was plot seemed pretty thin. This movie had great potential, but the execution was less than desired.
I too am glad I went to a matinee. It had lots of interesting tidbits and some great moments. Unfortunately you can't just string a whole bunch of good tidbits together and make a great movie.
The "Last Man on Earth" despite all it's cheesiness told a better story.
It was enjoyable enough to be memorable. But yeah, it could've been better. What's sad is, if that movie had come out 10 or 15 years ago it would've wowed us all. I'm going to give a spoiler here. I cried, and I don't cry over people. haha.
A totally unnecessary update: I bought my dad a copy of "The Omega Man" and a copy of the Matheson novel for Christmas, and he's supposed to come to my house to watch it some night.