I Am Legend - BIG HONKIN' SPOILERS!!!!!!

[Darth Caedus]

He seemed like a really resourceful guy, plus he was a scientist, I'm sure he figured out a way to keep himself in clean water.

yea, he had quite the little fortress going on there. The only question is that wouldn't the "zombies" see that his windows were the only ones with metal across them and think that: "hmmm, why is that?" Or am I just nitpicking?

 

[Giant Chicken]

Just got back... Mr. Smith is truely a great actor. His performance was very enjoyable to watch and Sam rocked!

But as for the movie, I was really dissapointed.

Dumb for several reasons:
1) CG SUCKED!!!
2) Thought that the film having a "head" zombie was stupid.
3) Zombie's setting traps?? but still acting retarded?? and how did the zombies even know about Frank???
4) Woman and child showing up IN THE DARK on the night of Will's suicide mission was LAME!!! If she was out there all day didn't she see him set up his trap?

Again Will's acting was top quality. Unfortunatly, for me, the movie was not.

 

[piccolodaimaoh]

Just got back... Mr. Smith is truely a great actor. His performance was very enjoyable to watch and Sam rocked!

But as for the movie, I was really dissapointed.

Dumb for several reasons:
1) CG SUCKED!!!
2) Thought that the film having a "head" zombie was stupid.
3) Zombie's setting traps?? but still acting retarded?? and how did the zombies even know about Frank???
4) Woman and child showing up IN THE DARK on the night of Will's suicide mission was LAME!!! If she was out there all day didn't she see him set up his trap?

Again Will's acting was top quality. Unfortunatly, for me, the movie was not.

I am sure that these would be valid concerns but the source material says this is not the case. I am guessing you never saw The Last Man On Earth or The Omega Man? These are intelligent Zombie Vampires, they are able to lay traps.
Check out The Last Man On Earth or The Omega Man and see if you still feel the same way.

 

[The ill Jedi]

...I think I finally gained respect for Will as an actor due to this film.

Really? You must not have seen Ali or Pursuit of Happiness, this man can act and he really brought his 'A game' to this one.

 

[Darth Caedus]

Really? You must not have seen Ali or Pursuit of Happiness, this man can act and he really brought his 'A game' to this one.

I'm always partial to the fresh prince of bel air myself.

 

[The ill Jedi]

I'm always partial to the fresh prince of bel air myself.

Me too, I'll see pretty much anything starring Big Will, sadly that included 'Wild Wild West'.

He has established himself as being one of Hollywood's leading men and I thoroughly enjoy his Sci-Fi offerings (Independence Day, I Robot & I am Legend).

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

...I liked the film a lot, although I'd also agree that the CG left something to be desired - it was a little too obvious with the darkseekers - I'd have preferred that they be played by humans at least a little bit.

I agree, I think the film would have been taken to a whole different level of terrifying if they'd gone with real humans over CGI. The CG was sooo poorly done, it turned it into a cartoon for me. Other than that I enjoyed it. Smith did ok, but I can't help but think the film would have been more powerful with a stronger actor as the lead. I like Smith, but he played the same character that we always see, except he was alone this time. I suppose the same could be said about Hanks in Castaway, but for some reason I felt his performance much more moving and believable.

Also, regarding the "trap that the Zombies set"... I was thinking that Smith had set that trap himself and simply forgotten about it, as he'd been going a little nuts at that point in the film. Are we supposed to believe that the Zombies got smart and were able to rig that trap for Neville? Man, if that's the case, my feelings on that scene just plummetted considerably. I thought the scene was much more effective when I believed Neville had gone a bit mad and had accidentally tripped his own snare. He did see the mannequin's head move after all, which was the first clue that he had sort of 'snapped' mentally (well, certainly not the FIRST clue, but a pertinent one). If we're to believe that the zombies were able to duplicate his intricate trapping method, that's just plain corny.

 

[The ill Jedi]

If you go back a bit in this thread, someone says that in the book, the zombies are smart and are able to set traps.

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

If you go back a bit in this thread, someone says that in the book, the zombies are smart and are able to set traps.

I can buy that, but I'd imagine the concept was presented in a way that made much more sense in the book..? In the movie it feels very out of place, up until that point we're told that the zombies are dumb animals with no remaining signs of intelligent human behavior. Ugh, I guess that does technically explain it though. Bummer! I liked my theory better.


And for the record, I don't care WHAT your position is in the gov't/military, there's no way in hell Smith's character could have afforded a house like that in Washington Square Park. His wife must have been a billionaire.

 

[The ill Jedi]

I can buy that, but I'd imagine the concept was presented in a way that made much more sense in the book..? In the movie it feels very out of place, up until that point we're told that the zombies are dumb animals with no remaining signs of intelligent human behavior. Ugh, I guess that does technically explain it though. Bummer! I liked my theory better.

I think he meant social behavior, at the end the 'General Zombie' even thrashed some of his own zombie peeps. But as far as thinking and plotting they still had those instincts.

 

[Darth Caedus]

I think he meant social behavior, at the end the 'General Zombie' even thrashed some of his own zombie peeps. But as far as thinking and plotting they still had those instincts.

To agree with Andy, they said that the intial symptoms from the "cure" were rabies like agression, which would explain the zombies' agression. Neville misintrepreted the "head zombie's" coming out in the sunlight as a decreasing percentage of brain function, when in fact it was quite the opposite. I do wish in the film, that the test subject that was injected with the cure would come back to some sort of human consciousness, that would have been interesting.

 

[Jair]

I can buy that, but I'd imagine the concept was presented in a way that made much more sense in the book..? In the movie it feels very out of place, up until that point we're told that the zombies are dumb animals with no remaining signs of intelligent human behavior. Ugh, I guess that does technically explain it though. Bummer! I liked my theory better.


And for the record, I don't care WHAT your position is in the gov't/military, there's no way in hell Smith's character could have afforded a house like that in Washington Square Park. His wife must have been a billionaire.

They grabbed a bit from the book in regards to the "zombies", they were much more like Vampires who could think for themselves, the Will Smith version really took it to the crazed "zombie" level but I think if you want to really get into the movie personia of Neville, he kept thinking they were unitelligent, but I think they were showing signs of intelligence and he did not want to accept it.

Btw a pre-war brownstone in Washington Square park these days will set you back a pretty penny, but if you purchased prior to the mid 70's they were still semi reasonable (my family has a brownstone on that square since mid 60's) lotta people leave those homes to their family.


Evan

 

[Darth Caedus]

Well, who said that the house he was in during the movie was the place he was living before the "outbreak". He could have picked anywhere he wanted to live after everybody left or were turned.

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

Well, who said that the house he was in during the movie was the place he was living before the "outbreak". He could have picked anywhere he wanted to live after everybody left or were turned.

I thought about that, but it had to be his original house. Still had his daughters bedroom set up, etc. Plus the lab in his basement, I'd imagine that was there before the outbreak.

 

[Darth Caedus]

I thought about that, but it had to be his original house. Still had his daughters bedroom set up, etc. Plus the lab in his basement, I'd imagine that was there before the outbreak.

Yea, he could have brought it from his old house, but that's a lot of effort. BUT, he is all alone, so he might do that. Guess it's up to interpretation.

 

[The ill Jedi]

I'll go with it's the original house, way too much effort to move everything and all of the furniture and lab was setup to suit his needs. Plus it was well fortified, which means he had it rigged up that way from the beginning.

 

[DarthNeil]

I'll go with it's the original house, way too much effort to move everything and all of the furniture and lab was setup to suit his needs. Plus it was well fortified, which means he had it rigged up that way from the beginning.

I believe that it was his original house as wasn't it the same house where he picked up his wife and daughter in the flashback where he was getting them off the island?

 

[GrueSam]

Yes, you see it's the same house in the flashback.


And in the book, the zombies are supposed to be gaining in a higher knowledge level but I think that did not translate well on screen.

And... I, too, was sadly disappointed in the CGI for this movie.

 

[DarthNeil]

Yes, you see it's the same house in the flashback.


And in the book, the zombies are supposed to be gaining in a higher knowledge level but I think that did not translate well on screen.

And... I, too, was sadly disappointed in the CGI for this movie.

The CGI allowed for the movie to be a PG13... Real actors as the "vampire zombies" would have pushed it to an R and that would've kept the kids away with the disposable cash that a film needs to be a blockbuster.

I liked the movie-- but the creepiness was gone the minute I saw one of the others...

 

[tomandshell]

The CGI allowed for the movie to be a PG13... Real actors as the "vampire zombies" would have pushed it to an R and that would've kept the kids away with the disposable cash that a film needs to be a blockbuster.

I liked the movie-- but the creepiness was gone the minute I saw one of the others...

I totally agree. Effective makeup on human actors would have been far more frightening. The CGI was not scary whatsoever and sucked the realism, mood and tension right out of the film.

I also agree that it wouldn't have reached anything near 77 million with an R-rating. So they made a wise financial choice with the lower rating and will be more likely to get a return on their investment with all of those 13-17 year olds buying tickets.