DVD : I Am Legend [2007]

Rating: - Playing and preaching Bob Marley doth not a serious movie make.
The equation of a director of Britney Spears/Jennifer Lopez music videos + the saviour of the world from Independence Day was always going to give flickering noisy horde-fighting explosive tripe.

There's 10 better zombie movies on the shelves (just fast forward to get the same effect) and there's dozens of 'cool guy saves the world' movies but in them the central actor doesn't get out-performed by a dog. Will Smith does not even come close to being able to carry a movie on his own the way Tom Hanks did in Cast Away. When he starts trying to get a manequin to talk to him it's one of the most winceable scenes imaginable and you don't know whether a laugh track is going to kick in or whether an alien/robot/zombie is going to smash through the window to save him from the folly of his ridiculous acting.

The plot, acting, and monsters end up being a seriously annoying distraction to the very well done backdrop of ghost town New York...as soon as the monsters get introduced the rest is pretty much predictable popcorn selling drivel.

Avoid like the plague.

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Rating: - Good start, weak ending
Enjoyed this exploration of a desolate city more or less until the 'prophet' female character starts talking about 'knowing' about a safe sanctuary, a sentimental illogical ending thats devoid of any logical challenge from Will Smith character. Regretabbly the film ending is so bad its put me off looking at the book which I understand has a more powerful ending.

I can only assume the producers didn't want to challenge any ones religous views or have anything like real dialogue in the film.

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Rating: - Average film made even worse by appalling special effects.

I am legend has got the worst special effects seen in a big budget film for years. Considering how long it was in development it really is shocking how bad they are.

The film starts out promisingly, building a genuinely unsettling atmosphere. Will Smith is his usual brilliant self and proves once more what an outstanding talent he is. It's when the film gets darker that things go wrong. Because the effects are so bad it's impossible to take the film seriously. I am not joking when I say that there have been special effects in the latest series of Doctor Who which wipe the floor with anything seen here.

The film never recovers and all the work done in the opening third is wasted. Without Will Smith as the star, this film would have bombed at the box office. In the end it did very well, but don't let that disguise the fact that this is a very average film only just held together by a world class actor.

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Rating: - Great Action flick
I was really unsure of what to expect from this - a gory zombie/vampire film, or more of a drama about a man surviving on his own. It has both.

There IS a lot of action in this film and as always some brilliant acting from Will Smith (including the smart allec remarks he usually makes, which added a bit of humour to the very intense film).

The film starts off after the disease has already spread and has divided man from vampire-like-zombie-things. You then follow Robert Neville (Will Smith) and his beloved doggy Sam, through a daily routine of their lives in a deserted world. Within this daily routine you see flash backs of when it all started and the story of him and his family just before the disease started to spread.

After all this introduction the plot kicks in, without wanting to ruin it for anyone I'll keep this breif. There are some very very scarey scenes of him being faced with these creatures, a lot of action as already mentioned of him escaping and surviving, and also some extremely sad scenes of people who he has lost, or will lose later on in the film.

It seems this film has everything, however what lets this film down is the special effects! I imagined that the creatures would look less so-obviously computer animated and was a little dissappointed at the special effects in this. Hense the 1 star missing on my rating.

Would recommend this film though as it was very enjoyable to watch and apart from the special effects had eveything going for it.

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Rating: - not as action packed as the ads made out
The ads for this made it seem really action packed and non stop. The film was good but a bit on the slow side. If you're expecting action you'll be disappointed, but it is worth watching. Although I wouldn't rush out to buy it.