I Am Legend
| release date | December 14 2007 |
| studio | Warner Bros. |
| director | Francis Lawrence |
| writer | Richard Matheson, Mark Protosevich |
| starring | Will Smith, Alice Braga, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Willow Smith, Charlie Tahan |
| site | iamlegend.warnerbros.com |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
2 Comments
This movie would have been much better if it came out without the title, I am Legend. The whole time I was comparing it to the original novel by Richard Matheson. The movie is about 12 percent accurate to the novel and is better compared to the 1971 movie, the Omega Man, with Charlton Heston.
For a movie about just one man throughout most of it, Will Smith is one of a short list of actors that can keep my attention throughout.
The visuals are very well done besides the use of the “zombies” that are computer generated. I have read they actually used real life actors in the movie, but they did not like the way they look and rotoscoped the cgi zombies into it. I hope their is a special feature on the dvd release to see how it might have looked.
I am Legend is a good popcorn movie for entertainment. A story with more chills and fear, please try reading the novel; You will not be disappointed.
really good. everything was great about this. the atmosphere, the dog, and especially the acting. really good. i just wished they used the ending to the book instead.
very very very slow and boring. but it became good. then when ana cme in just went dull.
No idea why so many people liked this movie. For one it was such an overrated hype that when I sat in the theater and watched it I was extemely disappointed! This movie was ok but honestly I would never watch it again. It was a little boring, and Will Smith didnt do that well of a job acting and in reality I and most likly anyone in that situation would probly kill themselves! Sorry just wasnt a good movie for me! Also the dead people looked retarded they were like pale and naked I much rather of seen Zombies or something!
this movie is alright but nothing to write home about. The last half hour was incredibly cheesy.
Great Book. Good Movie…..
The top ten reasons this is the most unoriginal movie ever made:
Cliché 1 – “And now we spread light into the darkness!” Tee-hee-hee! I think it was Jesus who said that before Hollywood decided to make it as common and meaningless as “Have a great day!”.
Cliché 2 – Monsters that try to look like zombies. And not cool zombies–try pathetic moaning retards that looked like they couldn’t poop and turned green or something. Scary? If I was Will Smith, I would have hit them with a rock and ended the terrible movie right there.
Cliché 3 – An all-consuming virus that turns people into zombies! The melodrama makes me cringe with excitement! Oh wait . . . that was the first time I heard that plotline with (far superior) video games like Resident Evil and (far, far superior) movies like The Hills Have Eyes. Give it a rest, please.
Cliché 4 – The post-apocalyptic plot that isn’t a plot at all. Or, most simply, the entire running time of the movie. My 2-year-old cousin has more imagination.
Cliché 5 – Not only are there zombies, but the zombies only come out in the dark! Wow! If I close my eyes and pretend that this hasn’t been done 1000 times, I might find that kinda cool!
Cliché 6 – The main character sacrifices himself for the good of a woman and humanity . . .
Cliché 7 – . . . but like every other Hollywood hit that the critics love, he’s too stupid for his own good. He had close to a minute (yes, I counted) to open up the shutter and escape the grenade, but he just stood there like a retarded teenager as it went off.
Cliché 8 – Boring opening, just like the cliché critics love. It took an hour and a half before anything action-like happened. Oh wait, there was no action. I’m thinking about myself peeing after it was over–that was more action-packed than the entire movie put together.
Cliché 9 – Flat characters who’s names I couldn’t even remember during the movie, much less after it was over.
Cliché 10 – This is my favorite. Can you guess it? EVERYTHING IN THE MOVIE HAS BEEN DONE IN AT LEAST 3 OTHER MOVIES I’VE SEEN.
People say Napoleon Dynamite didn’t have a plot? Honestly, folks, this was more pointless than Napoleon even could have been. And at least he wasn’t a sad cliché who was too stupid to open up a door and save his life.
0/10.
It wasnt what i thought it was gonna be. it was kinda dull, but i enjoyed the storyline.
It was all good until the end
first of all they r not zombies their crazy, fucked in da head but overall it was good
“I hope this is the last incarnation of Richard Mathesons’s brilliant classic. Why does Hollywood have to mess with perfection? I was anxious to see it, having read the book several times, and I’m a fan of Hollywood’s first impression of the original tale, The Omega Man (1971). I’ve also seen 28 Days Later; On The Beach; The Stand; Fail Safe; Threads; and The Day After several times each. I guess you could say I love the Apocalypse as a theme.
I’ve been a fan of Richard Matheson almost since I learned how to read. Besides Rod Serling, he is the man behind many of the classic Twilight Zone stories (second only to Serling himself), and has penned other novel-to-film classics like What Dreams May Come; A Stir of Echoes; The Legend of Hell House (paralleled, if not plagiarized, by Stephen King with his Rose Red); and countless screenplays. Where American Sci-Fi fiction is concerned, he is right up there with Isaac Asimov, Michael Crichton and Ray Bradbury. Stephen King and Dean Koontz are great too and I enjoy their work, but they write pulp. Unlike Matheson, Crichton, Bradbury and Asimov, there are no lessons or morals from King and Koontz. It’s just entertainment.
This brings me around to my critique of the movie I am Legend. As entertainment, it works just fine. Will Smith is just okay, like the Chevrolet of Acting. He’s predictable, and does what you want him to do. He brings no depth or personality to the protagonist at all. He’s just a body. As for the other actors…….well, they are mostly CGI or creatures. Oh, yeah….there’s a dog too.
For the second time in film (The Omega Man being the first), Robert Neville is portrayed as US Army medical officer who is intimately familiar with and is partially the cause of the virulent disease that has turned the world into bloodthirsty homicidal maniacs. In Matheson’s book, as well as in The Omega Man, there is a biological warfare element. In the current film, the virus has more benign origins, but that’s all I’ll say. Matheson’s literary Neville is just a blue-collar guy who is smart enough to try and find an answer to the catastrophe. That theme is what made the book so compelling. No state of the art laboratory, no heavy credentials. Neville was an ordinary guy who was caught up in extraordinary circumstances. By night, he holes up in his modest but heavily fortified LA home, blasting Beethoven and getting drunk to drown out the howling hordes of quasi intelligent vampires who want to kill him. By day, he hunts them down in their lairs and kills them in their sleep. He is actually the bogeyman….the terror by day, a daymare. “Brush your fangs, junior, or Neville will come and get you in your sleep!” Think about it. What does the title I am Legend really mean? Apparently, Akiva Goldsman has a very different opinion.
Obviously, Hollywood decided long ago that CGI and special effects will trump a good story every time. Like a child’s video game, imagery has become the stimulus. It was briefly interesting to see Manhattan as deserted and overgrown, but the special effects seemed to be what the movie was relying on. Take them away, and there was nothing left. Was the movie bad? Not at at all, but it would have been more accurate to title it as Home Alone 4: WTF am I doing here?. Matheson’s tale was botched again. So badly in fact, it bears no resemblance to the original book. That’s ashame. Call me a purist, but why does Hollywood have to rework a classic, or inject so much “artistic license” into a plot that it becomes something utterly different than what was originally created? M. Night Shamalayan showed us what is still possible with superior writing, directing, and minimal special effects. Just watch The Sixth Sense. Here we have a film that had huge potential, given over to a mediocre screenwriter/producer and a relatively unknown director whose only experience was with music videos and the forgettable bomb, “Constantine.” I think that the egos, greed, and arrogant laziness of the producers and screenwriters have a lot to do with the dumbing down of great original fiction…
Some ironies to consider: The book itself was only about one hundred and forty-odd pages long. Three movie attempts essentially blew it. The Omega Man wasn’t close either, but was far more original in execution than the current version, in my opinion. The Spaghetti thriller, The Last Man on Earth(1964) with Vincent Price, was almost perfect where the story was concerned. Unfortunately, it was so low budget that the production quality made it almost unwatchable.
Matheson spun an enduring classic in less than two hundred pages. It was the quality of the material rather than “pictures;” or special effects, that made the story. What ashame that this movie couldn’t have done the same. If you’re into apocalyptic Sci-Fi, you’ll probably enjoy this film. But don’t expect too much.” — csullaf, imdb.com
very overrated; the ending was weak.
Having a free rental to burn, I finally got around to seeing this much talked about Will Smith film based on an old classic fav of mine “The Last Man On Earth”, which of course is based on the original 50′s novel (yeah, yeah, and the first remake The Omega Man…are we all on the same page now?).
Shut up and get to it, RS….
To be quick, I wasn’t disapointed but only because I’ve already been set up for the fall by so many others. Will’s okay, but playing a 52 year old man at real age 38 with just a hint of gray seemed a stretch. Yes, the CGI “infected” look, as always, looked really fake and unbelievable. Why can’t Hollywood figure out that you just can’t make the human form believable in CGI yet? I kept wondering, couldn’t they dress up an actual actor as an infected for at least the close-up’s? Hell, even 28 Days/Weeks Later did that! The story went at a decent pace, and yes the deserted Times Square and other parts of New York looked great, but after only three years would grass be already growing out of the concrete asphalt roads this soon? And it’s ending reminded me of War Of The Worlds, meaning “Oh crap, it’s 90 minutes into the movie, we gotta wrap this up, and fast!”
But it was worth every penny I paid to rent it (see first paragraph), but it will not go into my “to buy wishlist” any time soon.
(RedSabbath Rating:7.0/10)
Francis Lawrence Has Created A Film That Is In My Opinion,Complete Trash.Dont Get Me Wrong I Was Entertained The Whole Movie,But The Plot Is Just Completely Ignorant.To Start Off,How Does A Cure For Cancer Turn People Into Mutants That Can Climb On The Side Of 6 Story Buildings?The Second Fault Was The Fact That The Cgi Mutants Looked Completely Fake.With Such A Big Budget How Come They Chose To Make Them So Bland And Fake.In Closing I Would Like To Say That There Are Far Better Adaptations Of The Last Man On Earth Out There.
If they took away half of Smith’s sallery and put it towards actually good CGI creatures the film would have been at least twice as better than it was, i like the story, the acting is good, the thing that killed it for me is the horrible cgi creatures, there’s no illusion or fear in something that looks like it’s from a video game, sorry i just dont find that cgi stuff that scary unless it’s done very very very very good, which is rare.
hopefully the newly announced prequel is better, but who knows
Story-wise, though there were some mistakes but all in all it is the best zombie flick ever. It is far superior to any George Romero flick (Story wise). Putting all the security features in house, keeping low and keeping quiet, something what a normal man should do but none of the zombie flicks ever show it. Being totally alone, emotionally unstable and broken which eventually led to Will Smith’s character making some mistakes is quite realistic according to me. Death of Dog had more emotions attached then death of any human character. Even rise of zombies explained unlike Romero movies. We still don’t know what a virus capable of doing and even a cure can have nasty side-effects.
Very nice, disturbing, creepy and emotional at times.
Bad Points:
CGI Zombies (you gotta be kidding – you just can’t replace the human factor in zombie)
Last 20 minutes seemed to be rushed through.
Gore fest missing.
But just because majority of the movie is so gripping along with powerhouse performance by Will Smith. It is actually one of the best zombie movies ever.
i wished it was better hated that CGI monster s&^^
Nowhere near as good as the Omega Man or the Last man on Earth the other filmic treatments of the Richard Matheson story. I watched it in hi-def which was certainly pleasant to look at but the ending was garbage and Will Smith yet again a pain in the ass!!!!!
It amazes me that anyone would say this film was better than the work of George Romero. I thought this movie was an insult to every fan of Richard Matheson and intelligent people in general. Will Smith’s character was a moron. Lose your one companion over a mannequin? Come on, it’s one thing for a character to go a little nutty from loneliness, but to go stupid? Sure, it was nice that unlike the early films it showed the character’s security measures and stockpiling of supplies, but it in no way redeemed the film. And the CGI was awful. The creatures weren’t remotely scary because they didn’t look remotely real. For less money, they could have made much more effective creatures using the talents of those enrolled in Tom Savini’s makeup effects school. Overall, this film was a complete waste of my time and I think it’ll waste the time of anyone with a maturity level higher than a twelve-year-old (I’ve heard it’s very popular among pre-teens).
My expectations were so low for this film that after the first time I watched, I actually believed this movie was decent. Upon reflecting on my initial reaction, I realized how very wrong I was.
Even though I’m not really a fan of his, Will Smith is at his absolute best in this movie. That alone saves this film from me giving it the lowest score possible. The downside is Will Smith is the only good thing about this movie.
The cons of the film are glaring. The CGI vampire-zombie monster thingies fail on every single level. It’s bad enough they’re entirely CGI, but they could have at least tried to make them look a little cooler. Another massive problem is the entire movie is centered around Mr. Smith being the last human on the planet, which is a great idea…. but then out of nowhere a couple of other humans show up saying there’s even more humans and it basically ruins the entire film.
Skip it.
Hated Everything about this film, I wouldn’t recomend this movie to anyone.
This movie was bad, bad, bad on every level. From the most ridiculous CGI vampire creatures ever to be put on screen to the ‘studio insisted’ ending WTF!!! Will Smith is supposed to be the last man on earth , but oh look, no he’s not, all the others have been hiding in their own secret community for the past few years. One of the most shit endings to a film that I have ever seen. Hardly any action, no gore just pointless and stupid. Avoid at all costs
Very boring movie not to mention the monsters were painfully animated. Skip it.
Ok movie. Kinda dull. Its sad that the dog dies. It has a good story line and it was better in theatres. I tried to sit through it on DVD but i couldnt. I am NEVER watching this movie again!
I thought that this movie was pretty shitty. It reminded me of 28 weeks later but was no where as good. There was hardly any action at all, it started to get extremely painfull and dull after about an hour. The zombies or infected looked gay and very unimaginative, they were generic and ridiculous. There was bareley any violence which you wouldn’t expect in a supposed action zombie like moive. Whats the most important aspect of an action movie? ACTION! And this movie did not deliver enough to entertain a 3 year old. The ending was a piece of shit and the only joyful moment when you realised that this faggot ass shit was all over. I have to admit though, will smith delievered some pretty damn good acting through out the movie. The worst part about this movie was, he wasn’t the last person on earth, there was a god damn secret colony rebuilding, what a shitload of fuck!
Storyline: An infection breaks out on a massive scale and the whole world is consumed and killed. Now earth is inhabited by mutant like creatures who hate sunlight. One man stands alone and fights to cure the infection, as he is a scientist after all. He has his trusty dog by his side and they go out every now and again to kill some mutant fucks. 2/10
Acting: Will smith did do a pretty good job. Every one else sucked ass. 6/10
Special Effects: LAME! If you’ve seen the infected mutants you know what i’m talking about. Get some better ideas for mutants people. The gore and violence was non-existant because this movie sucks, it dosen’t even come close to being rated MA15+. They need to do a god damn re-rate. 1/10
Best Scene: When will smith is hunting down some deer with his trusty rifle. 5/10
Ending: Will smith commits suicide with a grenade and the two people that were with him take the cure and give it to the secret colony camp. 0/10
Overall this movie was boring, dull and basically just a piece of shit. Every copy of this movie needs to be gathered up piled up on each other, drowned in gasoline and burnt. I give this shitty excuse for an action movie 2/10
I thought this movie was average. It had some good stuff, but didn’t stay true to the book. It’s an entertaining movie, but if your looking for something true to the book go with “The Last Man on Earth” with Vincent Price.
I am disapointed to say i never saw the vincent price version. I wish i had cuz i dont really like will smith, and how does one grenade clear out all the zombie/mutants??
I am legend is very overrated. It’s just not good enough. There isn’t enough action here and the ending is a let down. The last 20 minutes are the most terrible of the movie. Will Smith isn’t very good in this film and I find that Will Smith is just a big excuse for this film. Critics please I am legend but despise movies like The grudge and The invisible. Overall, I find I am legend an overrated film that doesn’t really have that much going for it.
Its hard to watch this movie becouse it is another reinterpritation of a book written around sixty years ago. It is also hard becouse I was a big fan of The Omega Man movie. This film did not show the transformation of people infected with the virus. Witch was one of my problems with this movie. The movie was not satisfying to me. When I heard their was going to be a new I Am Legend movie I was excited only to be disapointed. The movie was not a complete failure. When I watched the movie I found the alternate ending to be a little more fullfilling then the theatrical. I resented the Computer monsters in this movie as well. Perhaps this movie is made as a family movie desighned to bring in younger people who have not seen previous incarnations of the film. The CGI mutants were not what I was expecting. The idea that Will Smith one for best male performance at the MTV awards frustrates me. All and All this movie is not a complete failure but an absolute disapointment. I hope that the prequil I am legend two can wipe away some of my frustrations that I had with I Am Legend
Good movie.
I didn’t think it was that good.
yuck…just plain yuck!
My biggest complaint about this movie is Anna. I felt she brought very little to the movie, and the second half was severely undermined. It wasn’t the acting but the scripting. It also felt like there had to be a substitution for Neville’s dog, Samantha. When Neville goes out in his car to run down the creatures, it seemed too out of character to believe. As one gets to know Anna and the fact she has a direct line to God, it severely dilutes the film’s impact and gets worse when Neville himself starts to believe her after three years of isolation.
I highly recommend this film but it could’ve been better. Different than The Omega Man, in a good way, but they’re both good in their own right.
not bad, but the story isn’t so good as many people say it
this is a great zombie movie, and is the second closet to the book i am legend that it was based on, i love this movie, and it has some sad movies, but overall i rate it 10/10
to be honest I didn`t care for it.
Seemed like alot of Over acting and the Cgi made the the animals and infected look so fake
BORING! =P
This film is going to be hard to review. I am watching the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan and it is going to be hard to keep focused on my computer screen rather than the television screen. Anyway, I Am Legend is a well-made mutant film that focuses on the psychological impact on the survivors more than trying to defeat the mutants. In the year 2009, a likely cure for cancer turns into a deadly virus. Three years later in 2012, the story follows an army scientist by the name of Robert Neville, who is not only trying to survive, but is also trying to find a cure to the virus. But when he finds out that some of the infected are still alive and are feeding on the flesh of many creatures, staying alive while finding a cure is harder than ever. I want to get into the film’s problems first because this is an entertaining post-apocalyptic thriller and deserves a look by any horror fan, even though the film does not have very many horror influences. The first problem I had with the film is not a big problem, but it needs to be brought attention for the purpose of logic. Will Smith’s character, Robert Neville, is a scientist who lives alone with his dog, and has done so for three years. That, obviously, is enough time for someone to go a little crazy and lose their common sense of reality. So, he sets up many different mannequins around the city, making him feel as if he is not alone. He talks to the mannequins as if they are real people who survived the outbreak with him; he even expresses interest in one of them. The reason I bring all of this up is because of the fact he is a scientist, and he has to be able to control his stress will he is conducting his experiments. So, if he can barely do that outside his lab, who is to say that stress will follow him into the lab? But, as I said, it is not that much of a problem; I just felt that I should bring it up. Now for the real problems. First, the infected, known as the Dark-Seekers, are not really that scary. The way they act is scary, but it takes more than that to successfully create a scary creature. One reason that they do not look scar is because they look like normal humans, but more pale. Another reason they are not very scary is because they have a CG look about them. If the make-up was more apparent, then the creatures would be more intimidating. The second problem is that movie tries to be 28 Days Later too much. It is obviously an influence, but IAL tries to be like it a little too much when it is already its own film. They already had somewhat of an original concept, but they took their influences a little too far. The final problem this movie has is that it cannot decide whether it wants to be a psychological thriller set in a post-apocalyptic era or a straight-up mutant movie. When the trailer for the film came out, it sold itself as a scientist battling mutants to stay alive. What helped that was the tagline: “The last man on earth is not alone.” But, once you watch the film, you slowly begin to realize that it is not so much focused on mutant violence, but rather the psychological impact that isolation for an extended period of time can have on a person. So, it is okay to feel a bit cheated after the film is over and the end credits begin to roll. Now that I have finished my complaints, I can commend this film for many things. First, one thing I like about the film is that it does not even try to explain why Will Smith’s character is immune. I commend director Francis Lawrence for letting us enjoy the film rather than spend useless time explaining something that should just be accepted. Second, although they are not the most intimidating mutants shown on film, their quickness and swiftness combined with absolute rage and a desire for human flesh provides enough entertainment to keep the audience from feeling completely cheated. Finally, Will Smith’s performance is absolutely amazing and is, no doubt, one of his best performances in this decade, and is probably one of the best in his career. His emotionally-driven character not only allows the audience to feel connected to him, but is powerful enough to carry the movie on his own. Finally, I Am Legend is a highly entertaining movie with fast-paced action many thrills, but also has great, emotionally-charged performances. It may not be the best mutant film I have ever seen, but it sure is damn good.
Very disappointing!!!!!!!
Not as good as expected, but not a total letdown. Will Smith holds the film well on his own.
Now, son’t expect strong horror, because this isn’t really much of a horror film at all! It has no gore and not that many scares, it’s a very slow paced film but not a total waste of time. It’s worth a watch, it’s quite sad in places and I didn’t mind the CGI zombies, in fact I prefered them! It made them look more agile and faster.
This movie is so sad! Not a horror but still really good.
this was the most boring movie i have ever seen in my life. all it was was Will Smith walking down from street to street with his dog, and barely any of those zombies came out to get him until the end.
Good film. The ending isn’t the best as this movie suffers just like most of the last man on earth movies do, as soon as the main character is not alone, it loses its creepiness factor.
This Movie has terror & scares all over it!!! its a witty/genuis film. Will Smith plays his Character bloody well give the best performanc to date (well having other brilliant moments in many his films) he had the ability to carry a huge movie solo in his hands and I really respect him he the most talented 40′s actor of are generation. The film is a virucs- slight Zombie movie and his about the only human in the world that trys to save them from this diesaes. The movie made me jump loads, its creepy, errie and scary with a twist to the end that you either like or dont like. The movie has high CGIeffect but s billiant while (sam) the dog death scenc is hard to watch for me but its upsetting and wmitonally film too, A great Horror/Thiller/Sci-Fi/Drama film of 2000′s and the deacde(2000-2010)
……………………..
Not a horror but it is a great film I felt bad when the dog died though.
a great movie with freaky creatures and it is a good solitary film. Will Smith gives a good one man show that was worth it. i love it
The idea is overused. Sad for the dog’s death.
Anyway there are other, better movies like 28 days and weeks later. And he didn’t hide with the woman becouse he was bitten by a zombie – vampire thing when they attacked his house. Dull movie.
It doesnt do the original book justice. I hear people saying the idea is outdated, but really this idea is the original, others stole from it. The book was written years ago by richard Matheson, it just tool forever to get the technology to attemtp to portray is correctly. I didnt think it was terrible, Will Smith is a decent actor, i guess, he tends to act the same in every movie, but for what its worth, this film could have used a revamping to contend with the shear awesomenes of other vampire films.
Great movie. Better than I thought it would be. I’m a big Richard Matheson fan. You can’t go too far astray with his old stories. Recommended!
O.k movie is centered around an interesting character played by Will Smith. A good amount of suspense and some decent acting make this worthwhile. Weak CGI monsters are forgivable.
I quite liked this film, spooky at bits, spesh when they start to figure him out and like plan against him. But I didn’t like the end. Didn’t see the point of it ending that way, bit stupid. But overall quite good.
Overall pretty enjoyable movie.
love the hole survival thing in this movie, it was quit enjoyable, the only part i hated was when the dude killed the dog, so i give it 7/10 stars.
typical W. Smith crap. this guy needs to stick to what he does best, cheesy comedy. not worth seeing.
shitty rubbish.
One of the most boring movies I’ve seen, Will Smith is a bad actor overvalued by the media. The story is often repeated that tired.
Decent survival / horror movie that is hampered by a sh*tty ending.
Watch it if you haven’t, but dont get your hopes up too high or you may be left with a sour taste in your mouth when it’s over.
three words:
I am disappoint.
It would’ve been better if the creatures weren’t CGI.
Good movie. The bad CGI is distracting though.
I thought that this movie was pretty good, up until the end.