I am not a big fan of zombie flicks and horrors but I end up watching a lot of them because Nat is a huge horror buff. I Am Legend is a movie I wasn’t too interested to watch, first because it starred Will Smith who I don’t really like and second because I had just recently watched Fido and Resident Evil: Extinction, both zombie flicks and both turned out to be crap so I wasn’t too excited to watch anything else similar. Luckily, I Am Legend is nothing like them.
A plague takes over the world and the only person still left alive is Will Smith, a scientist living in whats left of New York. He spends everyday living the exact same routine, hunting for food, watching DVDs and trying to find a cure for the plague that has turned everyone into zombies. The movie isn’t fast passed, it’s also not the regular cliché story where a group of people are trying to run away from zombies. The movie is much deeper than that with a story to tell. It actually reminded me a lot of Waterworld (which I loved) where Kevin Costner explores the vast underwater cities alone, except here its Will Smith exploring a completely abandoned New York City thats being overrun by wilderness. I completely wasn’t expecting the movie to turn out this way.
The zombies in this movie have to be the freakiest ones I have seen so far. Usually they are either slow or clumsy but the ones in this movie are extremely fast and agile. For me this is also the best Will Smith movie I have seen and his acting really is on display here since the majority of time its just him we’re watcing. Overall the movie was very captivating and there wasn’t a moment where I got bored. My biggest problem with the movie is the fact I would have wanted to see Will Smith explore the city more, I kept wishing the movie was longer and we would get to see more of the beautifully created abandoned New York. I guess once this movie started I wanted it to turn into an adventure. Final score a 4 out of 5.
Note: Movie gets released on January 10th here in Kuwait
58 replies on “Movie Review: I Am Legend”
so u think Resident Evil is a bad movie and it doesn’t worth watching coz I have it on dvd and I still didn’t watched it yet. I just didn’t felt like I have the mood to watch it.
i am legend is one of will’s best movies..
Which Resident Evil do you have?
wow…different bloggers have extremely different reviews about this movie. I’ve never heard someone say “it’s OK”. it’s either bad or good. I guess i have to watch it myself 😛
Sweet Gonna Check out this movie! I know I’m looking forward to it!
i have Resident Evil Apocalipse 2 and Resident Evil 3 : Extinction
If you have nothing else I guess they are worth watching.
The ending was disappointing, other than which this movie is a good one.
so did Nat liked the movie
Its still listed under “Coming Soon” on cinescape website. And the movie is very recent so I guess no DVD rip torrents are available yet. Where did you watch it?
Loved it but like Mark said wish it was longer, i thought it ended too soon.
Musa’ad Haider yeah I just updated the post, it comes out here in Kuwait on the 10th.
I didnt enjoy it much, was disappointed actually. As for Resident Evil : Extinction was a pretty good movie… full of action. For a vampire/zombie movie, i think it was better that I am Legend. I reviewed it:
https://fonzation.com/blog/2007/12/30/resident-evil-extinction-review/
Its a good movie although it looks a little bit like “28 days later”. the story is a regular zombie story it has been made hundreds of times before but what really separates this movie from the others are the great visual and sound effects and the very good performance of will smith although its only will smith whose acting around 1 hr of the movie time i never felt bored.u know there is a 5 million dollar scene in that movie! one of the most expensive scenes ever made in hollywood history
All the Resident evil movies suck ass. It really went over the top when in 2 Nemesis had feelings. Seriously.
I am a big Sci-Fi fan and usually love this type of movie, but I absolutly hated this movie. It seemed that the producers were more impressed with their special effects then the story, and the blatent commercial for the Ford Mustang GT 500. The “Zombies” did not fit the story properly either, although created with good special effects.
The movie is based on a novel from the 50’s. It has already been made into a movie several times before. Check out “The Omega Man” from the early seventies. Same character, much better movie. More of a seventies rant against technology and culture.
I AM LEGEND is the third remake of the Richard Matheson novel by the same name. The first film was LAST MAN ON EARTH with Vincent Price, and the second remake was the well-known 1971 Charlton Heston cult classic THE OMEGA MAN (which featured mutants).
Now haven’t seen I AM LEGEND yet, and I don’t mind Will Smith (he was excellent in PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS), but he’s no Charlton Heston.
everyone has a taste in movies, but if u ask me, the only two good things in I am Legend were Will Smith’s acting and the special effects. The story was very cliche and it definitely needed more action to make up for the story.
What did you find cliche in the story? Just because a movie has zombies doesn’t make it cliche.
I saw it in london last week.. i totally recommend it. very good.
Hey Mark,
I guess since this movie is not in the theaters yet and there hasn’t been an official DVD release yet also…I take it you downloaded it.
What happened to the guy who was making a fuss about copyright Infringement?
Fonzy no one is asking you go back to your blog!!!!
D just because the movie is not out in Kuwait doesn’t mean its not out anywhere else in the world. The movie kingdom is not based around Kuwait.
Mark how nice of you to melted with Nat’s interests 🙂 i am really looking forward to watch that movie, yesterday night or i guess today (since it was 12:00am) i went to watch “National Treasure: book of secrets” for Nicolas Cage. It turns out to be one of the adventure movies, i haven’t seen the first one, but thanks GOD it was totally different story 🙂 have you watch it?
No I haven’t but going to watch Charlie Wilson’s War this weekend. Avenues theater is fucking amazing.
Mark, I am saying that the only way to see this movie in Kuwait is to get an illegal copy…thats copyright Infringement…what happened to the guy who made a fuss about the green rooster?
D yes and I updated the post to tell people when they can watch it here in Kuwait which is January 10th but if you can find in my post where I mentioned that I watched it here in Kuwait or that I downloaded the movie I would appreciate it.
how many movies do u know out there r about vampires and zombies infesting the planet killing anything alive?? there r tons, which makes it cliche. Movies like this do not depend on the story to be good or not, but on the action and special effects. The special effects in I am Legend were incredible but it could have used a lot of action. Most of the movie was about will smith and his dog, its like the cartoon “bill and sebastian”.
oh yeah, Jaggo……. shut up.
sorry mark, delete my last comment if u want, was just answering jaggo.
I am legend is a movie about zombies and the zombies aim in life is to eat other people and convert them to zombies. its what they do (for more info visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombies)
just because zombies are doing what they are supposed to do doesn’t make the story cliche. Thats like saying any movie with cops is cliche because they all are after bad guys or any military movie is cliche because there is always fighting.
ps: zombies does not equal vampires, they are different.
absolutely. u r right. but in all those movies, zombies do the same thing. walk in packs and feed on the living. we all know that is how they act. So it is the same thing in all movies. This is where the director shows his skills… by adding special effects and action to the movie to make it interesting. dont get me wrong, i LOVE horror movies, esp thriller movies and I am Legend got me freaked a few times. If u think of it as a thriller, then it did well at some points, but it lacked action, thats it.
i know vampires are not equal to zombies. but its the same principal. all vampire movies show vampires doing the same thing.
I don’t understand how you think that special effects and action is what differentiates all zombie movies from each other. Its the story thats important and people have been telling them for thousands of years and this is what differentiates movies from each other. If you think Resident Evil, Fido, 28 Days Later and I Am Legend are the same movie with just different special effects and action scenes then you are missing a lot.
I am guessing the lack of action is putting off a lot of people in this movie. Its not action packed like Die Hard or Resident Evil, I am legend doesn’t focus on the action, it focuses more on the emotions and solitude of one guy living alone all these years isolated from other humans. I didn’t see this movie as a thriller, its more of a drama mixed in with adventure and some action.
Again vampires, zombies, superheros, soldiers, police, doctors, racers etc.. they will always be doing the exact same thing in every movie because its there job. you will always see a racer racing, a solider shooting and a vampire drinking blood.
true. but u cant deny that from the preview u get the impression that it will be an action packed thriller. This is what am talking about. Everyone got the idea that it will be nonstop action cos the intro was kick ass… then it switches to being a drama movie.
How can it not be a thriller.. the part when smith chases after his dog sam into the dark building freaked me out… his acting was so real, u must have felt the suspense in that part. Or when he is lying in the tub and u hear all that screaming from outside…
One suspenseful scene doesn’t make a movie a thriller the same way one nude scene doesn’t make a movie a porn.
well there was definitely more than one scene. either way, warner bros categorized as a thriller.
Its officially categorized under these:
Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
so it is a thriller 🙂 u said it is NOT a thriller…..
Might contain spoilers!****
I watched the movie last week end, the movie has a deja vu plot, it’s one of these park your brain and watch movies, although they do try to keep you guessing. Personally the major flow in the movie was Will’s rescue that just did not make any sense, if you review the chain of events you will understand what I am talking about, but hey who can argue with Hollywood?
Fonzy dude come on
lol ok ok 🙂
I hated the ending of this movie. The book’s ending was far better with Dr. Neville becoming a legend to the Night Seekers. I think if they would have stuck to the book a bit more, this movie would really be something. Oh, and the CGI was disgusting for it’s time.
i watched the movie last night, and have to agree with you that it was great! A lot of things that take place withing the plotline makes sure its not the ordinary happy-ending movie, but still does not spoil the ending. IMO, its set up for a prequel and a sequel. It would be interesting to see whether that’d happen.
as mentioned earlier… the opening scene is almost the same as from omega man… as a matter of a fact from what i remember both movies are almost the same…
i just watched the trailer and it does look the same, pretty cool got to watch it because Charlton Heston > Will Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-MosmUseSY
this was absolute rubbish, i don’t know why i even bothered with yet another will smith film but the premise sounded cool.
To whomever said there was a 5 million $ scene in the film, shit they wasted all that money bc the cgi was really crap and looked obviously fake the worst being the animals in the beginning.
Also technically they weren’t zombies bc they weren’t dead just infected and could be killed or saved with a cure. zombies are already dead (the living dead) and cannot be killed.
I love horror flicks but this wasn’t horror or adventure or anything, just another stupid hollywood action film
The ending was too short and too quick.
Its almost like the guy was writing this great script, then his friends kept bugging him to go bowling until he just rushed the last three pages.
the movie was good, the storyline was quite flowing, as mark said. the zombie’s were fast and i think smart too. it makes it more interesting than other movies.
The ending as K said, was too short or abrupt ! … there should have been a little more chase. maybe the going to the rescue colony in the night would have been more exciting.
the movie was bad. What the hell!!! mark ur taste in movies is the worst i’ve seen so far from your reviews. no offence, but you need a movie therapist. Seriously!! I agree with you, zombies were scary, effect are stiff but story is not special. So he just triggers the bomb at the end like its some kind of chocolate bar? now what? Bye bye, wait! I still didn’t finish my pop corn. I thought he was getting somewhere dude.
Dumb movie.
Movie was way too short, could have been better. You forgot to mention the reason the zombies rocked so much, mike patton ( singer of faith no more) made all the voices and sounds for the zombies , all him! he rocks!
well! the movie was nice i really liked the story but i think the ending wasn’t all that good and it was very short. and u know what the zombies leader at the end of the movie i think they could have made a whole story just for that guy.
yea whats with the zombie leader?? you know? its like WHAT DO U WANT!!!! ;p lool but the movie was top!!
Well the movie is great and with will smith it’s even better . but what i didn’t understood that’s why Smith Is the only one who didn’t become A Zombie ? ? ?
Funny thing though, I walked out of the movie feeling okay about it… and later being really pissed about it and feeling robbed once again by the lack of dedication to provide the best story possible. Instead, once again, they provide us with sensationalist bullisiht in the pursuit of the almighty dollar.
Omega Man (the movie) was more true to the original story than this movie was.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend
I’m just glad they had the Batman trailer in the movie, because I was nervous as hell about Heath Ledger as the Joker, but man, does it look RIPE for the plucking!
…There’s a .pdf file in rapidshare.de of the book.
You still haven’t mentioned how did you get to see the movie ?, please give a straight answer.
Leo you are a fucking idiot if you couldn’t figure it out
OC,
Yes the Omega Man was was more true to the story, since the movie was written by the original author. The only problem that I have with the Omega Man when I watch it now is that it is very ’70’s. Also the Omega man did not rely on on special effects as did I am Legend.
Don’t get me wrong the effects were top notch and Will Smith did a good job. Not to give a way the end but the “Zombies” seemed to all of a sudden be too super human in strength and the end seemed rather flat.
Also to answer someone elses point, not all “Zombie” movies are the same. One of the best examples is 28 days later. What made that a good movie was not the Zombies but the differences between the ‘Good People’ (the guy, the girl, the teen and her farther) and the “Bad People” (the Army guys that were going crazy). Sorry I forgot everybodies name. 28 days later was more about a good story and the characters. Throw in some well done Zombies and you have a good movie that was not carried by the effects.
I dont like zombie movies either but you better watch 28 days later.