Honky dory TAB

Plot: The year is 2012. New York City has become a desolate place. There are no signs of human life. All that remains are empty buildings, abandoned cars and the city that once never slept, is a decaying shell. However, one man remains. His name is Dr. Robert Neville and his is the sole survivor of a disease that wiped out 90% of mankind. Neville spends his days patrolling New York, hunting deer, playing golf, waiting for survivors who have heard the message he sends out at all times, and basically fending off the madness that can set in when you have no interaction with another human in any way. However, despite being the only human left in New York, Neville is not alone. The disease has changed those who aren’t immune into vampiric mutants, unable to emerge from darkness during the day. Neville searches for a cure for these mutants while they do their best to hunt him down

First a little info about the origin of the movie:

"I Am Legend is a 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson about the last man alive in a future Los Angeles overrun with vampires. Notable as influential on the developing modern zombie genre, in popularizing the fictional concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease, and in exploring the notion of vampirism as a disease. The novel was a success, and was adapted to film as The Last Man on Earth in 1964, as The Omega Man in 1971, and again in 2007 as I Am Legend." - wiki

Without giving too much away, in the novel, Neville is a man without purpose who hits rock bottom and finds a way back. He gains a purpose in his life and because of this purpose, he eventually becomes what the title says, a legend. The vampires of the book form a new society. Neville hunts them while they sleep. Ultimately, in a twist on the original vampire premise, Neville becomes a monster to them. He becomes their Dracula. Their legend sort to speak. It’s a brilliant idea that’s completely lost in this remake.



I am legend could have been so much better. The first twenty minutes or so, are extremey tense and very promising. After that the movie quickly becomes clichéd and ultimately pointless. They have written a new ending since the first one they showed the public did not impress them very much. In the first version of "IAL" the infected surrounds Robert and co. Robert lets the Alfa female go inorder for safe passage to the colony which they get. The new ending is completely bonkers and a cristian faith theme is making it unbarable to watch. (it was like watching signs again) It feels rushed and "safe" in hollywood terms.

Will Smiths acting is ok. I would have liked to see more humor and mad moments since he seemed a bit to calm for someone thats been alone 3 years but he is suprisingly calm and collected. He should have taken a few more liberties with his surroundings

Visually the movie looks great. They have done a great job of displaying New York as if it was abandoned, not destroyed (which was a first for these types of movies) Wildlife has moved into the city again, with birds, deer and lions roamed about. Would be nais to see more animals in this movie. (like in 12 monkeys)

The most irritating aspect of the movie is that the mutants Neville is fighting are completely CGI. And they look in no way scary or menacing. They where supposed to go with real people like in 28 days later/day of the dead but inorder to get them to move in a certain way they opped to go completely for CG which is a shame. Once you get a full one look one of them, they look laughable and cheap. Some scenes work but they end up looking like extras from "The Mummy". I also read that they where suppose to have translucent skin so that the light could shine trough their skin reveling bones but this I failed to see. Their animations was also suppose to make they fast, inhuman and agile but this also failed to register since it was for the most part motion capture of real people just speeded up (this rarely looks good and this was the case as well) When is hollywood going to learn? Now their animations where so fast at times, they had no anitcipation nor proper timing making it pointless to build suspence.



"While it would have meant that the mutants weren’t as agile as they are in the film, it would have been a FAR better idea to use actors in make up. As they are, the mutants are just cgi monsters that have no shred of humanity and thus are stripped of any emotional connection to the audience, be that connection empathy or even fear"

It`s a shame that this movie is such a disappointment. Had they stayed with the source material from the novel it would have made a brilliant, deep movie with a interesting plot and a instant classic. Instead we are left with something that feels rushed and not even remotely scary and at the core. Pointless

4/10

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