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I am Legend

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Best movie I've seen in the theater in a long time. Very atypical of modern movies, IMHO. It actually had style to it, and they weren't cutting away every half a second. The characters were the focus. If the dogs and the people were not CGI and the music soundtrack was better, it would have been perfect.

I hope it does well at the box office so that it sends the right message to Hollywood.
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Yeah, this is based off of one of my favorite books and I have been looking forward to it for a long time. When I heard Smith was in it I wasn't sure how he would do, I was expecting the I, Robot "I am a total badass" kind of character, until I saw In Pursuit of Happiness which made me think it could work, by the time the trailer came out I was sold. I thought he did excellent, probabbly the best portrayed Robert Nevil to hit the screen yet (there were two previous adaptions of the novel). I really liked the movie alot, but I did feel like I was watching a work print with the CG monsters as stand in effects before the real models had been perfected. Unfortunately, as much as I liked the film in just about any other way, the CG infected make this think almost unwatchable. I don't even feel like I can say to anyone, "yeah, that movie is awesome" because it looks so awful. I really had a hard time watching it because of this. Usually bad effects don't get in the way of me enjoying of movie, but this was unforgivable. I felt like I was watching The Mummy Returns during any scene with the infected. I wish they could have gone for more realistic looking infected people. The movie could have benefited from this greatly. Look at Resident Evil and other zombie/undead films, they all look a lot better than this, but in most of those the acting and story telling is cheese, in this case it is the other way around. Here is to hoping a SE of I Am Legend is someday produced with much better CG.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I agree. What brought it down was definitely not Will Smith, but the CG effects.

All in all though, I thought it was entertaining, much more so that a certain other disappointing movie released this year: Here

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I agree, Will Smith really proves his acting chops here (as if he didn't in Pursuit of Happiness), I really bought his devastated, lonely character and the world he lives in.

As for the CGI effects, I was very disappointed. What did CGI offer that good makeup and stuntwires couldn't? I think a slightly slower monster would have been more effective instead these superspeed zombies. If they had been real actors, it would have worked better. Hollywood really has to get over this CGI fascination and get back to some roots.
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In defense of the "need" for CGI in this movie, they said they wanted the vampires/zombies to be constantly hyperventilating because KV made the adrenal gland fire constantly. This would not have been possible for real actors.
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Even with the poor effects, I'm interested in seeing this. The problem is finding the time so close to Christmas.

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Originally posted by: Dug
As for the CGI effects, I was very disappointed. What did CGI offer that good makeup and stuntwires couldn't? I think a slightly slower monster would have been more effective instead these superspeed zombies. If they had been real actors, it would have worked better. Hollywood really has to get over this CGI fascination and get back to some roots.


Um, yeah, good luck with that happening. CGI may look a little faker, but it's usually far cheaper than using puppeteers and models. If a model doesn't blow up right, the whole thing has to be rebuilt. If it doesn't quite blow up right in a computer, you just change a few parameters and re-render.

Everytime talk of going back to their roots comes up, I'm reminded of John Knoll's comments (I think it was him) about the change from optical effects and model usage to CGI in Hollywood. "Instead of a soft dissolve it was a hard cut".

F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

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Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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It was just nice to see that the extras from The Mummy and The Mummy Returns were able to find work again.
Hammond
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Originally posted by: lordjedi
Originally posted by: Dug
As for the CGI effects, I was very disappointed. What did CGI offer that good makeup and stuntwires couldn't? I think a slightly slower monster would have been more effective instead these superspeed zombies. If they had been real actors, it would have worked better. Hollywood really has to get over this CGI fascination and get back to some roots.


Um, yeah, good luck with that happening. CGI may look a little faker, but it's usually far cheaper than using puppeteers and models. If a model doesn't blow up right, the whole thing has to be rebuilt. If it doesn't quite blow up right in a computer, you just change a few parameters and re-render.



Right, but we are talking about infected humans here, not exploding cars and space ships, or complicated puppets. We are merely talking about using makeup instead of CG monsters. If you havent seen the movie you wont realize how very akward and ineffective the infected of I Am Legend appear. It seriously brings what could have been a great movie down to something to laugh at the cheesiness of. The whol thing about the adrenaline gland is retarded, if something doesn't work, don't do it. This simply doesn't work. The CG in this thing seemed extremely bad, it is very comparible to that of the Mummy, and the Mummy is a pretty old movie now.

Anybody else read the book? I found it interesting that they kept the title "I Am Legend" since it did not fit too well with the new plot and ending of the film. The name I Am Legend implies that he is refering to himself, which is the case in the brilliantly ironic ending of the original novel, but in the movie he never even comes to realize that he will one day be a legend and it is somebody else calling him a legend. Just thought it was kind of interesting, doesn't seem like it would make sense to people unfamiliar with the novel.

While I would have enjoyed seeing this follow the book more closely to the book (i.e. hoards of undead/infected people attcking his house every night, waking up every morning, going through the daily rutine of preparing the house for another nights attack) but that whole theme has been copied by so many other stories and movies since IAL was first published the whole thing has become a little cliche. I do feel they did a good job capturing the whole "last man on earth" aspect. It is ashame to see the actors, Smith and the dog namely, go through such an effort to deliver such a preformance, then have the whole movie drug down by poor CG models.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Ditto on the CGI and hyperventilating... you would use crappy effects for one little thing that really has zero bearing on the story, and just simply an "effect" for effects sake. Camera tricks can easily accomplish the "hyperventilating" if you want to, i.e., speed up the film, and with good editing and cuts, you can accomplish this very well. I don't think it was worth the bad cgi for basically nothing.
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Eh, the movie was good for what it was worth to me. Yes, Will Smith did a great job, the dog segments were funny and touching. The monsters blew to me, story was really depressing, but I guess that's what it was shooting for I reckon. This movie has zero re-watchability to me, I don't think I'd ever sit down to watch it again. Not like Transformers which I have seen at least 20 times and still enjoy because in the end I feel uplifted, this one just makes me fear the future even more, I know, I know, it's the goal of the movie.
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The goal of the movie or even the original book was never to make you fear for the future, no matter what people try to read into them. The goal was to be entertaining. The movie ends on a high note, the book ends on a note of irony. I suppose people who found the film depressing would find the book even more so. If you want a less depressing version of almost the exact same film, watch Omega Man. The Will Smith film follows Omega Man much more faithfully than its namesake. There is also a really cool (and very graphic) graphic novel that very faithfully follows the story line of the original novel (which was about loneliness, vampires, and a man seeking to come up with a scientific explaination for why the world's entire population turned into vampires save for him). If the original book had been followed more faithfully as far as the vampire aspect goes and given an R rating, this thing could have gained fame as a very creepy horror film.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Now that I've seen it, I really don't think the CG was that bad. Sure, it's obvious, but no more obvious than Spiderman was. I honestly didn't even notice it during the fast breathing scenes, I noticed it more when the "vampires" were screaming.

I didn't really like the movie that much either. I guess you can say it ends on a high note, but I just didn't like the ending.

Are we allowed to post spoilers in here? I've got a ton of problems with this movie, but most of them can only be talked about in the context of spoiling the movie.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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Me and the missus saw it tonight...Was ok, apart from the ending, I was just waiting for something 'big' to happen. But it was ok...

But.....

Did you guys notice the Batman / Superman poster near the beginning of the film?

It had a release date of 5 May 2010....mmm

http://www.themovieblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/batman-vs-superman.jpg

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I didn't like that the movie ended at that particular point in the story. I was really enjoying up until he shot 'Fred' then it all started to fall apart a little.
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---SPOILERS---

I think Smith nailed his part, and showed Neville's slowly-deteriorating psyche perfectly, in a way that made me emotionally invested in him. I thought it was pitch-perfect (minus "zombie" effects) until he tried to attack them/kill himself on the pier, at which point it got ... hmm ... I'm not sure how to put it ... not so much "cliched," as ... well, I thought it was original until then anyway, then it seemed to borrow a lot from other movies.

And the one thing I *hated* about it was how they turned it into a religious allegory in the last 15-20 minutes, when it had NOTHING whatsoever to do with that at all until that point. I would have had no problem with it if it had been a theme throughout the film, but not randomly at the end.

Although I must say, the "Please say 'hello' to me" scene was probably my favorite emotional scene in any film I saw all year - it actually made me ache with sympathy for Neville, and Smith did an amazing job with that scene alone.

I'll make a fan-edit of it as a short film where the "dummy" he set out at the pier was actually him - just end it with the POV shot of the vampires/zombies lunging at him, and cut to credits, no music or sound. Depressing, yeah, but I think it would be intense. Dunno if it would make it better, but I'd like it more.
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You've got to remember the Original (Omega Man??) hit even harder with the Religion than this did.
Hammond
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I've never seen the first two adaptations ("The Last Man On Earth" or "The Omega Man"), and as I said, if it had been a constant theme throughout the film it would have been fine. Just don't randomly throw it in for no good reason in the last 15 minutes.
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Yeah, that kind of pissed me off too. "I think I know why you're here". WTH?! Yes, I'm sure that one grenade is going to keep the other hundred of them from coming into the room. Stupid stupid stupid!!
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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Don't forget he had gas tanks and other goodies stored around the house...
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I thought it was really good. Nothing spectacular, but definitely noteworthy. I was pretty disappointed by the ending, also I felt like the movie was too short. However, I'd still give this very high ratings. Will Smith with another quality movie.
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Phenomenal performence by Will Smith. The CGI effects on the zombies were bad, yes, but I think the effects of the empty New York more than made up for them. My only real problem with the movie was that the ending was a bit rushed. His sacrafice should have been really, really powerful but that scene was too short and quick. Plus, I never really felt the connection between him and the woman and her kid that would make him die for them. They should have expanded on that. Overall, one of the best "mainstream" films of the year.
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Originally posted by: Johnny Ringo
Don't forget he had gas tanks and other goodies stored around the house...


Don't get me started on that. Gas goes bad over time. He was living on an island for 3 years. He was siphoning fuel from gas stations for that long. Even if he could've gotten usable fuel from one gas station for some time, the other gas stations fuel would've surely gone bad by the time he got to them.

Also, how exactly did he maintain that SUV? Did he just keep finding new cars to use? He would've had to re-equip the car everytime he got a new one.

I would've been much happier with the movie if he'd actually been forced to live like it was the stoneage. No power, no fuel, no nothing. I know the point was that he needed all that stuff in order to do his research and find a cure, I just thought it was insane that he was actually able to keep it all going. I know I shouldn't be asking to have all these things explained, but if you're going to show him siphoning fuel, you might as well have him explain everything else. The power grid could probably be kept running for at least a little while and I suppose you could just break in and hack the systems to keep the power on.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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I enjoyed this film and thought Will Smith was ace but I left the cinema feeling pretty much unaffected. 28 days later is basically the same film but set in London and I think it does a much better job - it's certainly a lot scarier, although the ending with Christopher Eccleston is a bit wank.

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