I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
I Am Legend is a good-looking blockbuster that succeeds due to some good thrills and a strong performance from Smith, but flirts dangerously with conventionality in its final stages.
Will Smith gives a magnetic performance as the lone survivor in New York City. He has a dog, which enables him to talk out loud without seeming mad (well, that's actually up for contention, as he's also gathered up a load of shop manikins and talks to them too). In his spare time, he's a scientist working on a cure to reverse the terrible plague that has turned the world's population into computer-generated vampires.
The early scenes of Smith racing around a deserted Manhattan in a sports car are the film's major draw card. We've got Times Square covered with grass, herds of deer trotting along Fifth Avenue, and any man-made sounds of modern civilization have been replaced by creepy birdsong. It really is very impressive. Flashbacks reveal the mass panic as the evacuation takes place, ending with the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge in what is touted as the most expensive scene in movie history.
And then, as the sun goes down, Smith barricades his windows and holds his gun tight as unnatural howling and bloodthirsty screams echo outside. This is terrifying, but by the time we actually see the vampires, the effect is somewhat diminished. Quite simply, they look like fake, rushed special effects.
It's the concept, however, which provides the real chills. This may be a blockbuster, but it's one that has been doused in a deep sense of melancholy. Less concerned with metaphor, and more interested in the struggles of a single living man surrounded by a collapsed civilization, I Am Legend succeeds on an intimate scale.
It's too bad, then, that two other human survivors show up 2/3rds through. Their weak acting and bland characterization take away the impact that the film has thus far established and the story grinds to a halt, ending with a fairly conventional climax which is not as inventive as one might hope.
By Andrew Hedley, Flicks.co.nz
I read the hype, I saw the poster, I watched the trailer, I heard the gossip - and then I saw the film! Yes it's got great cinematography, yes it has great effects that undoubtedly were very expensive but I cannot understand how anyone other than a manic depressive finds this movie any good. I came out feeling totally let down and depressed, and then you start picking holes in it. Do we really think in just three years that concrete and tarmac turns into a meadow (does your driveway?), where did all the deer come from if the island was isolated, why is he trying to find a cure if as he says near the end he believes there is no-one else to cure? Oh and why do we watch him work out for 5 minutes? I like Will Smith, but the dog was the best thing in this, and I'm a cat person!
Men in black + resident evil - decent writing - good effects = this movie. Not worth a look. Just a typical Will Smith movie, using ideas that have already been used and trampling all over them.
As a pure entertainment 'I Am Legend' filled the bill, but, after having seen it's trailer, I was hoping for more. Films like this rely on the audience suspending belief and taking the ride, but I think the viewer can have a fuller experience when things are more believable, and this is when critisism of the CGI comes in. What ever happened to good special effects make up? Call me old fashioned but these were meant to be ex- human creatures after all, does no one remember films like 'American Werewolf in London', with it's rotting corpses. Bring back the make up artist I say. As for Will Smiths performance, it seemed a little posed rather than processed. What seems a stand out performance quickly leveled out in scenes with other actors, and a couple of times he was up staged by the dog. New Zealanders should take a look at 'The Quiet Earth' and our own Bruno Lawrences stand out performance as the last man on earth to see what could have been done with this role. A great example of less is more.
Hi, I enjoyed the movie immensely. Not only because my son is on the credits for his performance as a nightwalker. I though Will Smith was outstanding. I really enjoyed it. Simply. It was a fairy tale and movies help us to escape and I simply, simply enjoyed it. Thank you very much. I'm a fan of Will Smith today. Paradox Pollack is my son.
My god this is a bad adaptation of a great story, i dont want to spoil anything but the original has a brilliant twist at the end. The original story looks from both the zombies and will smiths point of views, at the end you are not sure whether the so called virus is a virus or a next step in evolution and is will smith a savior or a mass killer. The director has turned this into a mindless cgi Hollywood crap.
Some cartoonish CGI and a mangled screenplay that misses the novel's point are downsides but the apocalyptic vision brings definite chills.
There is something a bit thin about the story, and just as in 28 Days Later, I find that digital, rage-filled zombies halve in dramatic interest with every second that passes.
When it's only Smith, his dog and a desolated New York, I Am Legend is spookily effective. Making the sleepless Times Square look like Aotea Square is quite an achievement. And the opening parts of the film, flashing back to the epidemic and ensuing panic which has left Smith's military scientist Robert Neville the only living boy in New York, all inspire hope of something good to come. But soon there are signs I Am Legend's sense of post-apocalyptic atmosphere is really all it has going for it. Then again so did MTV-graduate director Lawrence's last film, Constantine...
Overall, I Am Legend is a wasted opportunity -- a rickety, weather-beaten framework around an otherwise strong central performance from Smith.
The mutants' arrival onscreen ought to be the big payoff, but they are curiously unsatisfying, mostly CGI images that look like they came from the standard movie and video game monster factory - basic uglies that howl incessantly and move with ungodly speed and agility.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 3rd Jan 2008.
Release date: January 3rd 2008.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
