I am Legend: Movie Review

Published on December 24, 2007 By momijiki In Movie Reviews

It's nice to finally see a movie where the trailers are intruiging but don't end up being the best part of the film. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the movie because the trailers I saw were a bit coy about the reason for this apocalyptic world presented in the movie. A little googling and checking out some movie reviews and the discovery that it was due to a virus made this movie a must-see for me.

I have long been a fan of plots where viruses have or will potentially end civilization or humanity. Favorites are "The White Plague" by Frank Herbert and "28 Days Later." There's just something about the ideas of how our best intentions go awry or how technology that is supposed to save us screws us.

I like Will Smith as an actor. I find him pretty interesting and entertaining. He was able to carry enough charisma to be the "last person on Earth." I was reminded of Tom Hanks in "Castaway." I didn't like that movie, but I'm not a Hanks fan. I do appreciate the difficulty of being responsible for singly carrying the bulk of a movie. I think Smith did better than Hanks in that regard.

I'm not sure if there was a bit of a lag in the movie at the 3/4 mark or if it was just so intense that I got a bit tired. I'm going to go with intense because when I left the movie I felt really wrung out.

I don't want to go into much more detail in this part because I don't want to have any spoilers. I don't think that I have any so far. I might add some stuff in comments later with a spoiler alert but I'm all blogged out at the moment. Bottom line, I can see why this movie made box office records. I really enjoyed it. I recommend it. If you're looking for a happy-happy, I don't think you'll find it here, but I felt the ending was pretty rewarding.

Comments (Page 2)

JillUser

on Dec 26, 2007

I thought Smith's acting was exceptional. The original screen play for the movie made so much more sense and was much truer (from what I hear) to the book. I thought the ending sucked even before knowing anything about the original.

I went to the movie knowing very little about it and came out really liking it. There were moments that scared the crap out of me and the sight of NY city as a waste land was pretty impressive.

Draginol

on Dec 26, 2007

I really enjoyed it even if it was nothing like the book.

terpfan1980

on Dec 26, 2007

Recommendation for all -- get Omega Man, starring Charleton Heston. Available on DVD and such. It was an earlier adaptation of the same story.

CharlesCS

on Dec 27, 2007

I look forward to seeing the movie, even with all the spoilers on this article. Still sounds good enough to watch. I'm a big fan of Will Smith, I like most of his movies if not all.

I enjoy virus and zombie movies as well such as The stand, Resident Evil (all 3), 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, and my favorite Dawn of the Dead. Yea, I know, Dawn of the Dead was corny and fake, but I liked it. Love watching just how stupid some people can be under these conditions.

As for Tom Hanks, I like most of his movies, especially the ones from 80's and 90's such as Big, The Money Pit, Forest Gump, Toy Story and one of my favorites A League of their own.

Rightwinger

on Jan 17, 2009

We watched this on On Demand about a year ago. From all I'd heard, I expected it to really rock my world. Needless to say, it didn't. It was okay, and the effects were really great, but I just wasn't impressed. I also wasn't too impressed with "28 Days later", either.

Zombie movies are really the only horror movies I enjoy. I love George Romero's "Living Dead" flicks; I even wrote some stories based on their premise. I think Tova7 even read and critiqued one or two. The "Resident Evil" movies aren't too shabby.

"The Stand" is one of my all-time favorite books. I've read it through about 3 or 4 times, and have just picked it up and nosed through many, many, many times. The way King plays the whole thing out, the vivid images and well-formed characters, are just fantastic.

They did it as a 2-part miniseries for ABC years back. I've often thought that the only way to truly do the book justice would be to make it as a 1 or even 2 season series on HBO or Showtime. That way, they wouldn't have to keep anything out.

MasonM

on Jan 18, 2009

I am with Simon, I thought it sucked.

The movie is an utter travesty of the original novella,

I agree completely.

JillUser

on Jan 18, 2009

Shaun of the Dead...best Zombie movie ever

momijiki

on Jan 24, 2009

<quote>

Shaun of the Dead...best Zombie movie ever

</quote>

I loved that movie, too. The reasoning in that movie reminds me of a couple blokes I know.

You should watch Hot Fuzz. Same two actors.

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