DVD : I Am Legend [2007]

Rating: - A Disgrace!!!
I Am Legend is possibly one of the best sci-fi / horror books ever written. Read the first 10 pages and you will be hooked....read the first 3 pages after watching this insult of a movie and you will know enough about the book to realise that this film has nothing to do with it. If the title and main character name were different and you had read the book, you would watch this film and possibly have no idea that they were the same story. I have no clue what the people making this film were thinking, I Am Legend would so easily and I imagine relatively cheaply, translate to film. To think that at one point there was a group of people sitting around a table and decided, "Hey, let's make a movie of I Am Legend....but lets make it nothing at all like the book.".......what a stupid bunch of retards.

My love of the book aside, this is still a poor film. Bad acting, bad story and really, really bad special effects. I imagine even the most avid lover of Will Smith will struggle to get through it unscathed.

Aviod it like the the pile of dog poo on the pavment it is.

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Rating: - I Am Legend
This film is 'I Am Legend' in name only, it bears very little relation to the book of the same name. This aside, it is a fairly good movie with post apocalyptic themes and a storyline that will keep you interested for the 96 minutes duration. Will Smith plays the role of the relationship starved army medical researcher well. You really feel for him when he talks to mannequins and at his relationship with his dog. The action is pretty good, although the computer graphics left a lot to be desired, both the various animals and the 'dark seekers' seemed very dated compared to other computer graphics films. This is an OK film, that should keep you watching until the end. As long as you don't expect a faithful rendering of the book you should be fine. Watch it with an open mind and you'll get what it sets out to be, an action film that shows another side of Will's acting and how one copes on his own in a world where everyone else is dead! A solid three star film.

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Rating: - Better than expected
This is the 3rd version of Richard Mathieson's story 'I Am Legend', and this easily holds its own as compared with 'The Omega Man' (Charlton Heston) and 'Last Man On Earth' (Vincent Price). I really wasn't expecting that much from the film. Obviously Will Smith was always going to be the films saviour even if it was a complete Turkey. But its not.

I agree with most previous reviewers that the first half is the best part of the film. However IMO the 2nd half and the special effects are nowhere near as bad as some reviewers have made out. Only at one point in the film did I think "thats CGI". Will Smith is very good and the errie deserted streets and his relationship with the dog are very well done.

The film is only 96 mins long, which is also in its favour. Unlike a lot of Hollywood blockbusters this doesn't feel like it should have much, if anything cut from it. Most crucially of all, Neville (Will Smith) was a sympathetic character. This film has that crucial element that is missing from so many bloated blockbusters - characters you care about.

On the downside there are a few contrived moments in the plot that I didn't really believe in. To some extent I agree with previous reviewers criticisms about the ending, but in the end the filmmakers just about got the balance between a completely happy ending and a resolutely downbeat one. Without actually giving away what happens at the end I can't say anymore than that.

This isn't quite 4 stars for me but its better than 3 and I recommend it.

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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.