I’ve seen the trailer, and I must say I’m intrigued! I’ll probably watch it with my fellow sci-fi fan of a brother. 
I liked Omega Man…I thought it was well done for the time period in which it was filmed.
The scenes between Heston and Rosalind Cash who played the girl Lisa ( and no, I didn’t pull that, I had to imdb it…) were very progressive for 1971.
I am really looking forward to seeing I am Legend, despite the differences from the source material.
(No, Chuck…that’s absolutely NOT a dig at you and your weird Starship Troopers thing…) 
Yea I just saw the trailer last night and it looks very promsing and I did like the Omega Man back in the day. And since I never read the book/story I have no idea what they change ahhh ignorance is bliss lol
Well from what I’ve seen of the trailer all they are doing is updating the story so it is relivant. If you kept a 50 year old story the exact same but set in post-apocolyptic-modern New York it wouldn’t ring quite true. Its like how the Bourne Identity was, the book was set in the 1970’s I believe and hence dealed alot with the Cold War, stuff which now is irrelivant being as that the Cold War is over.
You know, I was looking over the thread and was sort of considering chiming in…
Then I read this, TEP. You clinched it. 
Before I even start on I Am Legend, let me say something about I, Robot. It was a brilliant movie, and with the exception of one or two scenes, I would give it a nine out of ten any day. As an adaptation, it may have been untrue to the original work*, but as a stand-alone piece, it’s definitely one of my favourite movies.
It’s got all the components of a great movie, with very few exceptions. Plus, I personally enjoy watching it.
Will Smith remains, in my mind, one of the most talented actors in Hollywood when he chooses to be.
Okay, now on to I Am Legend.
When I first heard about the basis of this movie from a friend of mine, I was somewhat interested. Movies that involve large-scale disasters that affect the world in a fundamental way-- zombie movies, infection movies, asteroids-striking-the-earth-and-only-Bruce Willis-can-save-us movies, and so on.
And I just found out it’s 28 Days Later-esque. Do you know how awesome that is? Will Smith. Zombies. End of the World/Major disaster. Survival.
Albeit, the concept itself isn’t the most original in the world. I mean, another disaster/zombie movie? But the point is that it peaks my interest. And that’s what matters.
Kinda hypocritical too, seeing as I view most projects in the media today as unoriginal in some form. Oh well…
Anywho! So yeah, I’m totally going to see this.
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- I wouldn’t know. I don’t read old-school sci-fi that often, including Asimov.
i think it loks brillant
from will smiths acting* to the themes, stlye of movie. From what ive seen it has a slightly different take on it and it looks quite exciting
I thought I, Robot was a great film abit a few scenes whih i didnt care fore, I am Legend seems to be shaping up to be great
*i do hope this shows a more mature, serious side of Will Smith see in The Persuit oh Happiness.I know he CAN, but i dont know if he will(get? it…i make bad puns)
Ironically, my strong anti-'Troopers rants seem to place the all-movies-made-from-books-suck torch squarely in my hands – but alas, it’s a poor fit. Often I like the changes that are made to adapt stories to the new medium. I, Robot strikes me as a great example.
The original collection of short stories would’ve made a lousy movie, IMHO. I liked the interpretation for the screen, and though it did the original stories justice. Truthfully, I’ve always liked the back end of the robot story more than the first, anyway.
But just to be clear: I specifically dislike 'Troopers for numerous reasons. But I’m a fan of numerous other page-to-screen movies.
And just to avoid completely threadjacking… I saw the 'Legend trailer the other day and mentioned it to Sean, who clued me in to the whole past story. It looked interesting, but I have an aversion to zombies – they make me laugh. After a bit of history from Sean, this sounds better than I originally thought.
Saw the movie last night…and I’m happy to say I really liked it…it was scary, and sad, and Will Smith did an excellent job imho !! I was happy to see that the trailers hadn’t spolied the “surprises” too much, there was certainly a lot more to this movie…I wasn’t thrilled with the ending, however I’m willing to forgive and forget (Christmas Spirit, I guess!!) I liked this alot.
I also watched this last night… LOVED IT!!!
Smith puts forward an amazing performance.
[spoiler]
When he realized that Sam had the virus and had to kill him, I just about started crying… that was very powerful.
[/spoiler]
The ending was OK, I just didn’t think that the concepts put forth were in harmony with the original story (maybe I am just forgetting) or even with the rest of the movie. I liked the way it ended, just not the reasons why it ended that way…
It looks like a lot of people liked it enough to see it…in the 76 million dollar range for the weekend !! Wow, Will really delivered the goods for this one !
Yes, that scene (in your spoiler box) tore my heart out. Smith did a great job running this show, this movie was his “Castaway” in effect, as he was onscreen for the entire movie. He played everything very well imho, and pulled it off completely. This movie gave me the creeps (in a good way) and I’m still thinking alot about it. If I hadn’t had a cheerily lit Christmas Tree in the living room when I came home from this movie I would have had to do a room to room search just to assure myself there were no monsters around !
ok I saw the movie this weekend. Good movie but man o man it freaked me out! I started to think we could so do something like that to our world cause… I dont want to give anything away but I saw a few people jump! Will Smith was really good in this movie!
I have seen “Omega Man” and “The last man on Earth” and enjoyed them both. except the endings… yes yes poetic etc. I just dont like movies that end like that… no details, spoiling is wrong…Hope “I am Legend” ends differently
Plus chuck, without your Starship Troopers talk, i wouldnt have the funnyest quote in my sig
I have not seen the film yet, but having nominated I am Legend for the book club and having seen both “Omega Man” and “The Last Man on Earth”, found that the shock ending of the book has always been avoided. In “Omega Man” they avoid any allusion that the other survivors are vampires. My understanding about the ending of the book is…
[spoiler]Neville fails to understand that normaility is judged by the majority. When he sneaks in and murders vampire men, women and children, being in the minority, has made him the monster of Legend.
Eventually the vampire equivalent of Bram Stoker will embelish the legend of “Count Neville” and Joss Whedon will produce a program called “Buffy the Human Slayer”. His realisation of this truth at the end of the book and his suicide shocked me when I first read it. I also feel that the author was drawing comparisons with other human monsters such as serial killers, who have the same mindset.[/spoiler]
I fear no movie production company will ever be brave enough to film then ending of “I am Legend” as the author intended.
This movie is just awesome. Simply awesome. It is amazing to watch a movie where they take their time with the pacing, don’t feel the need to rush to “cut to the chase” and just let you relax in the moment.
Some of the most powerful scenes in this movie are completely silent. No dialogue, no music.
Brilliant. This is Hollywood at its best. Interesting, intriguing, powerfully acted, beautifully shot…it shows you something unexpected, something new, something different. I recommend this to all. Has horror elements, but it is a human story.
Completely agree w/you, Solai. Even though it was shot all slick and epic like a blockbuster movie, the script, in essence, told a very small, personal story. And the choice of silence to set the mood, without a big crashing score to emphasize HOW EXCITING OUR MOVIE IS, was a brilliant choice, and frankly a relief. I’m not a fan of all of Will Smith’s movies, or even very many of them at all, but I had a blast at this one. It wormed its way into my brain and took me for a ride. Haven’t had that experience at the movies for a while.
I thought Will Smith was awesome in this movie - but I hated it just the same. The premise, plot points, all great, but the whole darkseeker growling thing - maybe it would have been better, for me at least, if they had used some actual real people - not just CGI - the armies of zombies looked like they were straight out of a video game. I have nothing against special effects, but I could tell they weren’t real people and it had an effect on my whole suspension -of-disbelief thing…
That sounds really cool and I think I will have to put that on my books list. I saw the movie and was left with the sense that I would have enjoyed that story much more as a book… sounds like it’s really a very different story, but still one worth reading.
I liked this movie. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. I was moved… definitely cried in the final Sam scene. There were some narrative gaps that I thought needed to be filled (like, why was Neville so hung up on “fixing it”-- it’s not like it was his vaccine. And why had no zombies who tried to kill him ever follow him home in the past three years??).
For me, the real reason that I wouldn’t call I am Legend awesome is that the it was an unsuccessful marriage of the zombie genre with the very different kind of storytelling employed in all the daylight scenes. I enjoy zombie flicks and I like beautifully stark, austere post-apocalypticism, but they weren’t meshed well here. It was a disjointed melding of different cinematic and narrative styles that just interrupted the flow and the emotional investment that I was willing to make in the movie.
Also, the whole “we are his legend” wrap-up monologue struck me as too much of an afterthought, considering that it was clearly part of the production values. It ought to have been a more articulated theme throughout the movie. Perhaps this should have used a frame- Ana narrating something about the “legend of Neville” from the beginning which tied in to an ending similar to what we got.
I liked it a lot. The Sam at the end scene also made me tear up. But the zombie army and exploding balls of fire were a bit much.
I can totally emphasize with you on this. In the director’s defense they were planning on using real people and actually shot a week of footage with real people. It turned out the real people simply looked fake no matter what they did, so they had to go CGI.
My only beef with the movie is that they made the darkseekers superhuman…if the whole idea is that they are humans with a virus why would they be stronger? able to ram their head into plate glass? Climb a building?
I have to agree with those of you who thought the CGI baddies looked a bit off…I got a feeling of disjointed perspective, or two dimensionality (if that makes sense) watching the zombies. I also disliked the ending. I think the movie would have been more effective if it had gone all the way with the original Matheson story and ended as the book did…the gated Vermont timeshare community ending just didn’t sit well with me. Too “wrapped up in a nice bow for you all”.
But, I still think it was a very good movie, and liked Mr Smith, and the whole atmosphere of it all.
And the frakkin dog, Sam, deserves an Oscar, for crissake !! Awesome doggie !