DVD : I Am Legend [2007]

Rating: - Remade for the sake of the almighty Dollar
Having previously seen Charlton Heston's take on this in the Omega Man i was quite interested to see what the latest remake would do any differently. And the answer is crib in bits of Tom Hanks' loneliness and isolation in Castaway, Tom Cruise's bewilderment and epic scale of War of the Worlds, the plague victims from 28 Days Later and then recycle the original plot (from the book obviously). Unfortunately, Will Smith spends most of his time overacting and posing for the beefcake shot, the isolation aspect is done far better in Castaway, the plague victims are far better in 28 Days Later, the back story told in flashback lacks reality, drama and tension and when all told leaves a feeling of "so much for that." And the ending is much the same. The aspect of Will Smith going slightly mad is clunky, obvious and forced and really adds nothing to the overall effect.

What the hell was the point in remaking this film? Sorry, forgot, crass remake time along with Omen, Poseiden etc.

On a slight tangent, the lighting for the setting was surely a mistake. New york has come to a violent end, but there are countless basking sunshine shots across the verdant potted plants, particularly in Times Square. It all looks so sunny and warm and pull up a deckchair, not like the end of civilisation.

If you've never seen the previous versions of the film/book then this will pass some time in a very undemanding way, but if you have then i really wouldn't bother. And the CGI deer are cack as well.

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Rating: - Another potentially fantastic film ruined with poor CGI
This film starts off great with LOTS of suspense and tension and a great performance by Will Smith - you really feel like this movie is going to be a classic and are totally absorbed into it.

Then about a third of the way through everything goes wrong - the CGI "monsters" or "infected humans" are so obviously not real I was reminded of the "Who framed Roger Rabbit" film with Bob Hoskins - this unreality about it completely throws you out of the movie - all the earlier work of building up suspense and tension is ruined.

Compared to how terrifying the "infected humans" in 28 Days Later are it is simply an unforgivable joke and any director or executive producer with any integrity would have fired the CGI people and brought in some real professionals.

On top of this the plot becomes silly and I couldn't take it seriously anymore. A real shame, this could have been a classic.

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Rating: - Starts well then is bitten by a vampire dog...
The first part of the film is well done. The lonely existence of being possibly the last person on Earth is genuinely well done. Will Smith does this well and the hunting episodes in NYC reinforce the fact that nobody else is there. The flashbacks work well to explain why and how we are where we are, and I was enjoying the film.

Like most films with a degree of horror the scariest and unsettling bits are the unseen or nearly unseen. Sadly the makers of this movie chose to give us a full (rather bad CGI) view of what is meant to scare us.

I read the book some time ago and rather enjoyed the bleak but well explained ending - sadly the script chose to ignore this, and go for patriotic religious stuff instead.

Sadly to me I think this was an opportunity missed. Perhaps when the film gets remade again in 2038 we can expect something a bit better and thoughtful. Sadly I for one won't be about to watch it though....

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Rating: - A watchable film
I enjoyed watching this film until they spoilt it by bringing god into it and going religious. It is an OK film probably could have been longer.

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Rating: - worthwhle viewing
i thought the dvd hadn a reasonable story line behind it but they could have capatilised on it a bit more.