I Am Legend at Room Temperature.
December 17th, 2007 by Ghostfreehood!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to see I Am Legend. I’m not really sure how to begin writing about my experience. I can’t stand Will Smith as an actor so already, it’s not looking good. He carries the film from start to finish. Being the last man on earth who’s “not alone,” according to this ridiculous movie poster (click to view) has lead me to believe that already this film is going to be providing something false. It’s kind of like a good friend who owes you money but never pays you. Being a good friend, you love them but in the end you realize you have basically paid them to be out of your life. This is based on the fact that people who owe you money, always end up avoiding you. OK. So they are unreliable. All is forgiven. Sure why not?
That is exactly how I feel about this movie. Weird to go about it from such an odd perspective but it’s hard. I really wanted to like this movie. Every once in a while Will Smith gets attached to a film that is unavoidable as far as seeing it. Take Independence Day for example. That movie was huge back in it’s time. How can you not go see a movie about aliens wanting to devour our world. Especially when it feature’s the delightful Bill Pullman as our President. There were many reasons to love that film. Not just Bill. It had amazing effects too. It’s a shame that it blends together with memories of Mars Attacks. Or is it? Ha ha.
Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah. I Am Legend, right. Having never read the book it’s hard to judge anything from that perspective. Although there is an undeniable amount of suspense that I’m sure originally gets credited to that and not the film. My main quarrels with this movie isn’t the story it’s the film it’s self. If you were to watch 28 Days / Weeks Later and Roger Rabbit at the same time it would be better and not much different visually. The “infected” in I Am Legend are at a CG quality worse than Brenden Fraiser’s Mummy films. Shit, it works there and I like those movies. I should say it’s more like Shrek, who coincidentally makes an appearance in the film. I Am Legend has very clever moments. There will be many things you’ll like about this movie, I’m sure. It just falls a few strokes short of being par for the course.
Would it have hurt to get a special effects team? Considering what must have been a pretty substantial budget to begin with, I don’t believe they wanted to save money. But then again, maybe they did. I could see why they blew all hope away on a few very big tricks instead of being clever or safe. You must rely on source material pretty heavily for that though. It seems like we all would have been better off reading the book anyway. In the end, I didn’t hate this movie. However, I can’t say I liked it very much either.
Oh well.
December 17th, 2007 at 8:44 am
[…] Ghostfreehood! wrote an interesting post today on I Am Legend at Room Temperature.Here’s a quick excerptI can’t stand Will Smith as an actor so already, it’s not looking good. He carries the film from start to finish. Being the last man on earth who’s “not alone,” according to this ridiculous movie poster (click to view) has lead me to … […]
December 17th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Writing a zombie flavored comic, and you haven’t read I Am Legend?!
The Man, Romero, sites the book as his biggest influence in creating the Zombie genre.
Bad Ghostfreehood!
December 17th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
To Anonymous, despite George Romero citing it as one of his biggest influences, the I Am Legend book is actually about vampires, not zombies.
To Ghostfreehood, I agree that the infected were looking a little fake and that detracted from the movie, but what actually happened was they originally had live actors in prosthetics playing the roles of the infected. But then the director felt it was not convincing enough, because the actors couldn’t act as reckless and without abandon as he envisioned when they are charging through the streets. Not to mention their hyperventilating, due to increased metabolism, would cause many of the actors to pass out in extended shots.
And the switch to CG actually made the whole project more expensive for them, rather than saving money. Not to mention it was a last minute decision, which explains the quality. But you gotta admit, the shots of New York, which were almost all shot on location, were pretty impressive considering they digitally removed all traces of pedestrians, cars, and the like while inserting the brush and overgrowth.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
To Charm City Shinobi,
I agree about the shots of New York. They were astounding, breath taking and I think it made up for a lot of issues I have with the film.
About the CG though, it’s agree to disagree. I feel like they could have come up with something to get the point across that the “infected” are reckless with that kind of intensity. With a topic as serious and as frightful as human extinction it is important to know that if you take the risks of using CG, it has to be good. To me the infected humans were the biggest upset about the flick. The CG animals were great. They were the best I’ve seen. The “vampires” were just a kick to the groin or a spit to the face. It was insulting. Not just to me but to the film itself.
In the industry there are many talented special effects and make up artists wanting to break through or it could be the best of the best just looking for work, they are out there. Also, for the cleverness of the film, (I’m referencing the Shrek synch up w/ the foreshadowing and the use of Bob Marley) those things could have single handedly ruined the movie. But, they were brilliant. Coming from a guy who is tired to death of Bob Marley, the use of his mention was beautiful. For moments that shined so bright and ringed loudly of intense thoughtfulness, I can’t buy that they would just want to insert cartoon vampires. It doesn’t make sense. Something just doesn’t click.
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Nokia N93i: Make your personal film…
Nokia has brought a new phone, the Nokia N93i — a digital camcorder and multimedia device that allows users to capture quality videos or can make short films on the move. Endowed with film making features, the Nokia N93i offers a wide range of adv…