I Am Legend



2007 remake

Rating: 5/20

Plot: See The Last Man on Earth but take out Vincent Price and put a tough action hero in his place.

This was awful. Will Smith, absolutely terrific in gems like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Wild Wild West, is absolutely terrible in this one. The emotions are transparent and forced, and the only thing I nearly believe about his character is that he is kind of a tough guy. The best thing about this movie would be the static shots of an abandoned New York City. Any time there is any action, however, it looks completely fake. The CGI effects are embarrassing. They look unfinished, and I'm surprised a movie that looks like this was allowed in theaters. The zombie vampire things in this really make you appreciate the geniuses behind Jar Jar Binks. Very cartoonish, video-game stuff here. About an hour of this movie seems extraneous. It's almost like I accidentally watched a version with the cut scenes included, but that's not possible unless the theatrical version of the movie was only 40 minutes long. That might have been nice actually. The producers of this one really Hollywooded it up. It's become an action-adventure movie with a true action-adventure hero. It replaces the psychological thrills of the Vincent Price version with zombies-jumpin'-at-ya horror garbage. It tries to inject humor in ways that just fall flat. It's got big explosions! If Richard Matheson hated The Last Man on Earth (his screenplay adapted from his novel), I bet he'd really hate this piece of crap. If you're reading this, Richard Matheson, let me know!

No picture available. If there was a picture, you'd see a person really hating the movie he's watching.

7 comments:

  1. you've obviously seen omega man right?

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  2. Hello, Richard Matheson here. Okay, fine, it's just me again...

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  3. I was just talking about 'Omega' with my brother yesterday. I've seen it, but it's been so long ago that I don't even remember if I like it. My dad and I watched it, I believe around the same time he dropped me off at a movie theater to see 'Romancing the Stone.' I do remember how terrible that one was. Anyway, I think I'll probably watch 'Omega' sometime this year just to be able to compare the three.

    Anonymous...I don't know what to say.

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  4. You LIKED Wild Wild West????



    Thats all I have to say about this review...which I mostly agree with.

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  5. Heh. No, I only watched about half of 'Wild Wild West' and I probably couldn't make it through an episode of 'Fresh Prince' either. I think I was trying to be funny there.

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  6. I read the book with great rapidity trying to get it under my belt before this movie came out. I'd seen "Omega Man" (but not "Last Man On Earth"). I absolutely loved the "I AM LEGEND" book! The science behind the vampires was cool, the vampyric-stalkerish neighbor was well fleshed out, and the ending stayed with me for days.

    This movie takes the "I AM LEGEND" moniker and not only completely changes the meaning, but impales it with a stake of shit. 2/20

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  7. I had to kind of read between the lines, but I'm guessing you didn't like this movie very much, Josh.

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