Brilliant Performance by Will Smith
Added 10/30/2009
Well, I am not a great Fan of Movies which has a story line covering Zombies, any way 'I am Legend' has taken a different approach. This movie is based on novel by Richard Matheson of the same name.
Synopsis : The Movie starts with a flashback where it is revealed that in 2009 a genetically Re-engineered Measles Virus was created to cure Cancer; later on this Virus undergoes mutation and generates a new lethal airborne based disease which spreads worldwide killing ninety percent of those infected, while the remaining few percent who possessed natural immunity to this virus survived rest turned to a aggressive primal beings who were not able to tolerate Sun Light thus forcing them to hide in the dark till dusk. Slowly most of this immune people where hunted by the infected thus making the central character (Will Smith) as the lone survivor of the holocaust.
Will Smith plays as Dr. Robert Neville a US Army Scientist who posses the natural immunity against this airborne disease. He seems to have decided to stay back in Manhattan and try to find a possible cure. His daily day to day routine includes moving across the lonely Manhattan in the day time for hunting and gathering foods while in the night he works in his Lab trying to find a cure. He also waits every day for a response to his continuous recorded radio broadcasts, where he instructs any uninfected survivors to meet him at midday at the South Street Seaport. The only sanity in him is seemed to be kept alive by his only companion 'Samantha' a canine.
Very soon his survival becomes difficult, as his once fortified home at Washington Square becomes an imminent attack spot by a group of the Infected. Within the course of time Smith teams up with a woman named Anna and a small boy named Ethan who save him from a night road assault. The movie ultimately winds up with the cure resulting from his blood and Neville's(Smith)sacrifice to protect it.
Well I think the whole movie pulled up well with the extraordinary performance by Will Smith. The movies first forty minutes has been really a riveting experience, it just gave us a haunting look of the lonely Manhattan.
Though CGI created infected looked a little bit annoying, the overall experience was good. This movie is very much similar to Castaway where Tom Hanks portrays a person marooned in an island. 'I am Legend' may have received mixed reviews from across the world; after all it can be justified as portrayal of person's psychology against all odds and his belief. So in one way the movie has been able to deliver what it had to offer in the first place. If you are looking for lots of action then this movie may not be the right choice; if you are looking for drama with a dark theme then this just proves to do so.
If there is no solid ground which rationalizes for watching this film, then Will Smith's performance is ample enough to give this movie a chance.
I will rate it 7/10
Could have been better...........
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Worth the price of admission
Added 10/25/2009
This is one of those movies you really need to watch more than once. There were things i did not realize until after i had watched it three times. Will Smith is great in this. It's funny because this action flick is also a tear jerker. You really feel this guys pain and lonliness. The scene were he is begging the manequin to speak was incredible. No this is not some kind of epic action film but it does enough to keep you interested. This movie has a good script,you could probably replace Will with almost anyone and it would be just as good. But then it probably wouldn't make as much money. LOL
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He is so-so
Added 10/21/2009
In many respects this is little more than a star vehicle and although Smith gives a strong enough performance as the gun-toting, iron-pumping hero he is never convincing as the desperate scientist trying to save the human race. As the third film version of Richard Matheson's novel this movie strays pretty far from the original material, but that's par for the course with Hollywood adaptations. Some of Neville's personal torment is retained and Smith portrays this well, but apart from this and the basic premise there is little from the book that remains. On the other hand they've shoehorned in a bunch of flashbacks that are clunky and largely superfluous. That said this is entertaining when considered simply as a thrill ride, and the depiction of New York city as an overgrown, derelict ghost town is particularly well realised.
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Had potential.
Added 10/18/2009
As several reviewers have already pointed out, the novel is better. And after this third cinematic try, I hoped that it would've mirrored the book more closely than the first two. Such wasn't the case. It's a pity, for if the movie ended on the twist that the book did, it would've made it more powerful. Maybe next time.
As even more reviewers have stated, the first half of the movie builds great promise for a well-done film. Will Smith literally carries the movie with him, and brings the audience along quite nicely. It is an imperial acting job and impressive to watch. The second half, however, devolves into a second-rate zombie movie which taints the overall spectacle. Had the director and writers stuck more closely to the novel's twist, and had they used real actors for the infected population instead of computer animation, we would've had a first-rate, five-star movie to talk about. Like I said, maybe next time.
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How stupid can a screenplay writer / director be?
Added 10/9/2009
Have you all read the book? Once you read it, believe me, you will all vomit after seing the movie. This darn film starts well and almost everybody will have fun watching it. But damn it! Why didn't they stick to the novel for the TWIST? The whole idea behind the title is this incredible twist which is a complete change of point of view! The hero is alone battling vampires. he kills them without any remorse. You think he is justified to do so. At the end, when he is caught. You realize with him that in fact, HE IS the monster. Not them. To the vampires, he is the BOOGEY MAN. He's been killing their vampire kids, wives and husbands for years! To the vampires, HE IS A LEGEND! Now, that's the novel! Plus, in the novel, and the later screenplays that never were used, one of the woman vampire takes a special drug in order to look more human and passes herself off as a wanderer. The hero befriends her and learns to trust her. There is hope for a romance between them. But she will betray him only to have remorse after. She will help him get away.
Now, that's all in the novel. So why haven't they kept that in the film? ARE THEY STUPID OR WHAT? You have all this good material and you cut it to do... to do what? Once you know the novel, it's impossible to not feel sad after seing the film. Impossible. I can't believe the writer, the director and all of the people involved haven't once said: "Wait a minute. The novel is awesome. Let's stick to that".
That is what happens when a writer and a director think as themselves as better than the author. They want to make it "better"...
This film is a let down. A missed opportunity. So sad.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Brilliant Performance by Will Smith
Added 10/30/2009
Well, I am not a great Fan of Movies which has a story line covering Zombies, any way 'I am Legend' has taken a different approach. This movie is based on novel by Richard Matheson of the same name.
Synopsis : The Movie starts with a flashback where it is revealed that in 2009 a genetically Re-engineered Measles Virus was created to cure Cancer; later on this Virus undergoes mutation and generates a new lethal airborne based disease which spreads worldwide killing ninety percent of those infected, while the remaining few percent who possessed natural immunity to this virus survived rest turned to a aggressive primal beings who were not able to tolerate Sun Light thus forcing them to hide in the dark till dusk. Slowly most of this immune people where hunted by the infected thus making the central character (Will Smith) as the lone survivor of the holocaust.
Will Smith plays as Dr. Robert Neville a US Army Scientist who posses the natural immunity against this airborne disease. He seems to have decided to stay back in Manhattan and try to find a possible cure. His daily day to day routine includes moving across the lonely Manhattan in the day time for hunting and gathering foods while in the night he works in his Lab trying to find a cure. He also waits every day for a response to his continuous recorded radio broadcasts, where he instructs any uninfected survivors to meet him at midday at the South Street Seaport. The only sanity in him is seemed to be kept alive by his only companion 'Samantha' a canine.
Very soon his survival becomes difficult, as his once fortified home at Washington Square becomes an imminent attack spot by a group of the Infected. Within the course of time Smith teams up with a woman named Anna and a small boy named Ethan who save him from a night road assault. The movie ultimately winds up with the cure resulting from his blood and Neville's(Smith)sacrifice to protect it.
Well I think the whole movie pulled up well with the extraordinary performance by Will Smith. The movies first forty minutes has been really a riveting experience, it just gave us a haunting look of the lonely Manhattan.
Though CGI created infected looked a little bit annoying, the overall experience was good. This movie is very much similar to Castaway where Tom Hanks portrays a person marooned in an island. 'I am Legend' may have received mixed reviews from across the world; after all it can be justified as portrayal of person's psychology against all odds and his belief. So in one way the movie has been able to deliver what it had to offer in the first place. If you are looking for lots of action then this movie may not be the right choice; if you are looking for drama with a dark theme then this just proves to do so.
If there is no solid ground which rationalizes for watching this film, then Will Smith's performance is ample enough to give this movie a chance.
I will rate it 7/10
Could have been better...........
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Worth the price of admission
Added 10/25/2009
This is one of those movies you really need to watch more than once. There were things i did not realize until after i had watched it three times. Will Smith is great in this. It's funny because this action flick is also a tear jerker. You really feel this guys pain and lonliness. The scene were he is begging the manequin to speak was incredible. No this is not some kind of epic action film but it does enough to keep you interested. This movie has a good script,you could probably replace Will with almost anyone and it would be just as good. But then it probably wouldn't make as much money. LOL
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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He is so-so
Added 10/21/2009
In many respects this is little more than a star vehicle and although Smith gives a strong enough performance as the gun-toting, iron-pumping hero he is never convincing as the desperate scientist trying to save the human race. As the third film version of Richard Matheson's novel this movie strays pretty far from the original material, but that's par for the course with Hollywood adaptations. Some of Neville's personal torment is retained and Smith portrays this well, but apart from this and the basic premise there is little from the book that remains. On the other hand they've shoehorned in a bunch of flashbacks that are clunky and largely superfluous. That said this is entertaining when considered simply as a thrill ride, and the depiction of New York city as an overgrown, derelict ghost town is particularly well realised.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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