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Alright, I just got back from "I am Legend," and I should let you know form the onset that I am a 40oz+ down right now.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and it was worth the money. A fun flick for the most part. Until the end.
But before I get to the ending, let me catalogue some things:
The Good:
1.) Will Smith. For once he left out the black jokes, repeated at nauseam in most his previous movies, and actually plays a character other than himself. He nailed the part.
2.) The sets/scenery. Done extremely well, seemed to be exactly what you would imagine NYC looking like after three years of neglect. They did go a little overboard with the deterioration in some aspects, but it wast outrageous and it worked.
3.) The dog. I like dogs, and I liked Sam. He was a helluva log better than a volleyball in any case, as were the manikins.
4.) They went with the virus thing instead of "magic" or "evil" zombies. You sort of have to these days.
5.) The first half was written very well. Unless you walked in in the know, you wouldn't know it was a zombie movie until 1/3 to 1/2 through (I don't remember exactly when the give away scene was). You know there is something "wrong" ten minutes in (something wrong other than everyone missing of course), but you don't know exactly what.
6.) From a survivors point of view, him farming crops in Central Park and what not was pretty cool. His daily routine of survival, which they show you, seemed logical and real.
7.) The way his family died. It lets you believe that Legend would have stayed behind, not because it was "ground zeo" like he says, but rather because he told his family that was what he was going to do. The tortured fulfilling his word thing was played well.
The Bad:
1.) Isn't it a rather fortunate that the world renowned expert and probable savior for the epidemic (we see old magazine clippings) just happens to be imune to both strains?
2.) Why did they use airstrikes to take down the bridges? They were in control still at that point, why use such a non precise and probably not even effective way to do so? Note they used level bombing to do it as well
3.) Another near instantaneous infection cycle. The dog goes from contact to full blown symptoms in what has to be a few hours. Not as fast as "28 Days," but still illogically fast.
4.) The CGI for the zombies was horrible. It actually looked like they just reused the CGI robots from "I robot" and just retextured them. Was there any reason not to use live makeuped zombies? The scenes of them jumping buildings and such looked horribly fake.
5.) Its three years later. Why are zombies still alive? "28 days" got the starve to death thing right. Take the hint Hollywood.
6.) Just like "28 days," if the zombies are all irrationally hostile, why do they not attack each other?
7.) I know they are zombies, but their bodies are still human. That means that when you bash your head against a pane of ballistic glass as hard as you can 30 times in a row you are dead. Your skull is in a million pieces and your brain is much. It didn't even look like the guy broke his nose. Apply to all the rest of the times in the movie where the zombies are unaffected by obvious blunt force trauma. Except when it is convenient for the plot of course. Inconsistency
8) That stupid snare. Now I said earlier the ending sucked, but this has the potential to move the suckitude to the middle movie. Obviously the manicin was moved, which is why Legend went off. That poses a problem, because like Legend says himself, normally the zombies show no human behavior and this means they were baiting him, thus intelligence. Not only that, they build a snare trap for him as well.
It is clear that one of the points of the movie was that the zombies were not completely stupid, given the zombie "general." However, if they can not only bait, but also build a very effective snare trap, why not just use guns? Or have tracked Legend's house down years ago? It is just selective writing, AKA lazy writing.
9.) The zombie "general." If he was smart enough to organize platoons of zombies to attack houses instead of cannibalizing them, why was he not smart enough to not eat his family and instead read his Wallstreet Journel and go to work like before?
10.) Legend is broadcasting on AM, continuously for three years. If someone heard him in Maryland, why not New Hampshire. Would not the people in NH be looking for things like radio signals?
11.) The whole lady and kid in a ship thing is absurd, there is no logical way they could have survived. Except of course, it would be no big deal to provision a ship to last three years if you really wanted to. Nor would it be a big deal for those ships to use isolated islands for refuge (since these zombies can't walk underwater).
12.) Will didn't bang the Portugese chick.
13.) Did you notice the walls of the NH town looked no different than the houses we saw zombies easily climb over. Interesting that the inside of the compound was not completely devoted to farming.
14.) Being a "fast burn" disease, how did it cross the oceans again?
15.) Its awesome you have a vile of the cure, too bad you don't have any of the data to go with it. Perhaps my amazement at the coincident of the #1 worldwide expert being immune was premature. Apparently #2, 3, and 4 were to and survived in NH! Or maybe not, and they can't do **** with that vile.
16.) They have a cure? So what. These people have been ravaged by a debilitating desease that obviously effects the brain, what good is curing them going to do?
Thats all I can muster for now. Such a good movie, ruined again by lazy writing. Is it hard for writers to see these obvious flaws prior to shooting the movie?
Bah, another loss.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie and it was worth the money. A fun flick for the most part. Until the end.
But before I get to the ending, let me catalogue some things:
The Good:
1.) Will Smith. For once he left out the black jokes, repeated at nauseam in most his previous movies, and actually plays a character other than himself. He nailed the part.
2.) The sets/scenery. Done extremely well, seemed to be exactly what you would imagine NYC looking like after three years of neglect. They did go a little overboard with the deterioration in some aspects, but it wast outrageous and it worked.
3.) The dog. I like dogs, and I liked Sam. He was a helluva log better than a volleyball in any case, as were the manikins.
4.) They went with the virus thing instead of "magic" or "evil" zombies. You sort of have to these days.
5.) The first half was written very well. Unless you walked in in the know, you wouldn't know it was a zombie movie until 1/3 to 1/2 through (I don't remember exactly when the give away scene was). You know there is something "wrong" ten minutes in (something wrong other than everyone missing of course), but you don't know exactly what.
6.) From a survivors point of view, him farming crops in Central Park and what not was pretty cool. His daily routine of survival, which they show you, seemed logical and real.
7.) The way his family died. It lets you believe that Legend would have stayed behind, not because it was "ground zeo" like he says, but rather because he told his family that was what he was going to do. The tortured fulfilling his word thing was played well.
The Bad:
1.) Isn't it a rather fortunate that the world renowned expert and probable savior for the epidemic (we see old magazine clippings) just happens to be imune to both strains?
2.) Why did they use airstrikes to take down the bridges? They were in control still at that point, why use such a non precise and probably not even effective way to do so? Note they used level bombing to do it as well
3.) Another near instantaneous infection cycle. The dog goes from contact to full blown symptoms in what has to be a few hours. Not as fast as "28 Days," but still illogically fast.
4.) The CGI for the zombies was horrible. It actually looked like they just reused the CGI robots from "I robot" and just retextured them. Was there any reason not to use live makeuped zombies? The scenes of them jumping buildings and such looked horribly fake.
5.) Its three years later. Why are zombies still alive? "28 days" got the starve to death thing right. Take the hint Hollywood.
6.) Just like "28 days," if the zombies are all irrationally hostile, why do they not attack each other?
7.) I know they are zombies, but their bodies are still human. That means that when you bash your head against a pane of ballistic glass as hard as you can 30 times in a row you are dead. Your skull is in a million pieces and your brain is much. It didn't even look like the guy broke his nose. Apply to all the rest of the times in the movie where the zombies are unaffected by obvious blunt force trauma. Except when it is convenient for the plot of course. Inconsistency
8) That stupid snare. Now I said earlier the ending sucked, but this has the potential to move the suckitude to the middle movie. Obviously the manicin was moved, which is why Legend went off. That poses a problem, because like Legend says himself, normally the zombies show no human behavior and this means they were baiting him, thus intelligence. Not only that, they build a snare trap for him as well.
It is clear that one of the points of the movie was that the zombies were not completely stupid, given the zombie "general." However, if they can not only bait, but also build a very effective snare trap, why not just use guns? Or have tracked Legend's house down years ago? It is just selective writing, AKA lazy writing.
9.) The zombie "general." If he was smart enough to organize platoons of zombies to attack houses instead of cannibalizing them, why was he not smart enough to not eat his family and instead read his Wallstreet Journel and go to work like before?
10.) Legend is broadcasting on AM, continuously for three years. If someone heard him in Maryland, why not New Hampshire. Would not the people in NH be looking for things like radio signals?
11.) The whole lady and kid in a ship thing is absurd, there is no logical way they could have survived. Except of course, it would be no big deal to provision a ship to last three years if you really wanted to. Nor would it be a big deal for those ships to use isolated islands for refuge (since these zombies can't walk underwater).
12.) Will didn't bang the Portugese chick.
13.) Did you notice the walls of the NH town looked no different than the houses we saw zombies easily climb over. Interesting that the inside of the compound was not completely devoted to farming.
14.) Being a "fast burn" disease, how did it cross the oceans again?
15.) Its awesome you have a vile of the cure, too bad you don't have any of the data to go with it. Perhaps my amazement at the coincident of the #1 worldwide expert being immune was premature. Apparently #2, 3, and 4 were to and survived in NH! Or maybe not, and they can't do **** with that vile.
16.) They have a cure? So what. These people have been ravaged by a debilitating desease that obviously effects the brain, what good is curing them going to do?
Thats all I can muster for now. Such a good movie, ruined again by lazy writing. Is it hard for writers to see these obvious flaws prior to shooting the movie?
Bah, another loss.
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