personally i can't wait for this, looks visually stunning, people will probably say it's a rip off of 28 days later but it was adapted from a book written a good few decades ago.

Oh me and my bf really want to see itttt! It looks amazing.

 

And good old Will's looking as bufftingaling as ever (H)

This is more like a remake of the Omega Man with Charlton Heston, I think its a big rip off, I've seen a few trailers, I'm yet undecided on the concept of the film, its just been done before.

Looks good. I think Will Smith will suit the role really well.

 

Cannot wait to see it!

people will probably say it's a rip off of 28 days later but it was adapted from a book written a good few decades ago.

 

Exactly, it's more like "28 Days Later" rips off Richard Matheson's superb, highly allegorical classic 1950s sci-fi/horror novel.... :lol:

 

I've seen this now. I thought it was okay, but in truth I was very disappointed.

 

Will Smith was brilliant in it however. He gives a really good performance that makes the audience totally believe that he's "the last human alive on earth"

 

Apparently there's gonna be a sequel to this...:\

I've seen this now. I thought it was okay, but in truth I was very disappointed.

 

:blink: I thought its not released until Boxing Day

 

:blink: I thought its not released until Boxing Day

 

The powers of the internet. :heehee:

This looks great, and has broken US box office records. Will Smith has to be the most consistantly successful movie star on the planet. When was the last time he had a film out that did'nt do amazingly well :lol:

I D/Led a pretty good DVD screener of this a few days back, and erm, frankly I'm wondering just what the fukk the fuss is all about tbh.... :unsure: This has got to be one of THE most boring, uninspired pieces of sh"t masquerading as a "Hollywood Blockbuster" ever made.... I'm looking at this thing for over 90 minutes, it ends, and I'm just going, "Is that it...?" This is a totally mind-numbing, completely one-dimensional take on an extremely allegorical, multi-layered, fascinating and hugely complex work of literature... Here's the plot synopsis of the actual BOOK as taken from Wikipedia....

 

The story takes place between January 1976 and January 1979 in Southern California. The novel opens with the monotony and horror of the daily life of the protagonist, Robert Neville. Neville is apparently the only survivor of an apocalypse caused by a pandemic of bacteria, the symptoms of which are similar to vampirism. Every day he repairs his house, boarding up windows, stringing and hanging garlic, disposing of vampires' corpses on his lawn and, going out to gather any additional supplies needed for hunting and killing more vampires.

 

Neville's psychological disposition is a significant element in the novel, and his struggles with despair imbue the character with intensity and gravitas. The author emphasizes that he is an ordinary, flawed man trying to deal with an extraordinary catastrophe. It also explores the loneliness of being by himself, excitement and hope of finding others, and disappointment over still finding himself alone. During the evenings, Neville drinks whiskey and listens to records. The records referenced by name sometimes reflect what is happening in the story, while at other times they simply reflect Neville's mood.[citation needed]

 

Much of the story is devoted to Neville's struggles to understand the plague that has infected everyone around him, and the novel details the progress of his discoveries. Instead of asking the reader to accept a supernatural explanation for vampire phenomena, the author strives to offer scientific basis for such symptoms as aversion to garlic, craving of fresh blood, and resistance to bullets but vulnerability to stakes and sunlight. The aversion to mirrors and crosses is classified as psychological. This represents one of the first attempts in popular culture to explain vampirism scientifically, something that has become more common in modern vampire stories, such as Ultraviolet and Shadowrun. Neville hypothesizes that he is immune to the bacteria because he was bitten by a vampire bat when he was stationed in Panama.

 

One day, a dog appears in the neighborhood. Neville spends weeks trying to win its trust and domesticate it. He eventually traps the terrified dog and wins it over, but it dies from the vampire infection a week later.

 

As the story progresses, it is revealed that some infected people have discovered a means to hold the disease at bay. However, the "still living" people appear no different from the true vampire during the day while both are immobilized in sleep. Thus, along with the vampires, Neville kills the still living people. He becomes a source of terror to the still living, since he can go around in daylight (which they can only do for a short length of time) and kill them while they sleep.

 

The still living send a woman named Ruth to spy on Neville, and they cleverly replicate Neville's relationship to the dog. Ruth pretends to be terrified of Neville at first sight, and rather than spend weeks trying to win her over, he attacks her and drags her back to his house. Though Neville is suspicious of her true nature and much of their interaction focuses on Neville's internal struggle between his deep seated paranoia and his hope, it is clear by his seizure of Ruth that the scales have tipped in favor of the irrational. Eventually Neville performs a blood test on her, revealing her true nature to him before she knocks him out. Ruth leaves a note telling him about the group of people like her, explaining that she was sent to spy and how monstrous he appears to them. Months later, the still living people attack, shooting Neville but taking him alive so that he can be executed in front of everyone in the new society.

 

Before he can be executed, Ruth provides him with an envelope of pills. Neville takes the pills so he will feel no pain when the still living execute him. He finally realizes why the new society of the living infected regards him as a monster. Just as vampires were regarded as legendary monsters that preyed on the vulnerable humans in their beds, Neville has become a mythical figure that kills both vampires and the infected living while they are sleeping. He becomes a legend as the vampires once were, hence the title.

 

Pretty much absolutely NONE of this (bar Neville and the dog, and the barest surface explorations of his psychological state of mind...) actually takes place in the film itself.. About the only thing this film has going for it is the screen presence and charisma of Will Smith who is admittedly convincing (when the crappy script allows him to be that is, but you still dont really buy him as the "everyman" of the novel because of the ludicrously convoluted and hackneyed backstory given to his character..)... Without him, this boring, uninspired excuse for a film would no doubt have died completely on its arse. With such rich, complex source material, there truly is no excuse for such a bland, uninspired film, 90 minutes never felt so long...

 

Another modern Hollywood insult to a great work of literature and yet again Richard Matheson's eerie, apocalyptic, genuinely disturbing vision of the future has not been given the respect it truly deserves in the film form.... Even ole Chuck Heston in "Omega Man" was more fun than this rubbish, and I can forgive "Omega Man" far more readily for its plot revisions because at least the makers of that film actually came up with a different title for the film, being "inspired by" Matheson's work as opposed to claiming association with it.... This film has no right to call itself "I Am Legend" or associate itself with Matheson's work IMO..

 

1/10 for being bloody cheeky. "Resident Evil - Extinction" is a LOT more fun than this c**p folks....

I went to see this on Wednesday...i was really looking forward to this film, but have to say i was so disappointed it just seemed to end so abruptly...thanks for the plot synopsis Grimly fiendish ...the book sounds much more interesting i will get the book next week

You are spot on Grimley, although I would've given it about 5/10 myself, as parts of it were very good. Overall though, it was VERY dissapointing, and left a bad taste in my mouth. It ended badly, and for a short film it dragged on for ages at the start with 20 minutes consisting of Will Smith getting food and working out :lol: The only really good thing about it was Will Smith's excellent performance.

I saw it. I thought it was ok but this sort of story has been done. It was sad to see what happened to Sam.

Pretty much absolutely NONE of this (bar Neville and the dog, and the barest surface explorations of his psychological state of mind...) actually takes place in the film itself.. About the only thing this film has going for it is the screen presence and charisma of Will Smith who is admittedly convincing (when the crappy script allows him to be that is, but you still dont really buy him as the "everyman" of the novel because of the ludicrously convoluted and hackneyed backstory given to his character..)... Without him, this boring, uninspired excuse for a film would no doubt have died completely on its arse. With such rich, complex source material, there truly is no excuse for such a bland, uninspired film, 90 minutes never felt so long...

 

Another modern Hollywood insult to a great work of literature and yet again Richard Matheson's eerie, apocalyptic, genuinely disturbing vision of the future has not been given the respect it truly deserves in the film form.... Even ole Chuck Heston in "Omega Man" was more fun than this rubbish, and I can forgive "Omega Man" far more readily for its plot revisions because at least the makers of that film actually came up with a different title for the film, being "inspired by" Matheson's work as opposed to claiming association with it.... This film has no right to call itself "I Am Legend" or associate itself with Matheson's work IMO..

 

1/10 for being bloody cheeky. "Resident Evil - Extinction" is a LOT more fun than this c**p folks....

:o A brutal write up, thanks for sharing. I have the idea that is was more show then substance.

This looks great, and has broken US box office records. Will Smith has to be the most consistantly successful movie star on the planet. When was the last time he had a film out that did'nt do amazingly well :lol:

Yes but he's been in alot of shit films. :lol: The only thing I've ever like from Will was the Fresh Prince, which I loved. :wub:

You are spot on Grimley, although I would've given it about 5/10 myself, as parts of it were very good. Overall though, it was VERY dissapointing, and left a bad taste in my mouth. It ended badly, and for a short film it dragged on for ages at the start with 20 minutes consisting of Will Smith getting food and working out :lol: The only really good thing about it was Will Smith's excellent performance.

 

I'm really objecting more to the fact that it just totally pisses on the original story in every possible way.... In the book, Neville has a nemesis, a dark mirror-image in one of the "still living" who taunts him and plays mind games.. And there is a lot of ambiguity about Neville's actions as well, he is not portrayed as being particularly heroic, some of his actions are downright unreasonable and morally suspect.. The plot of the book has him piece the facts together in classic "detective" story fashion as well, he doesn't know everything from the get-go, he's an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation... The amount of ideas in Matheson's novel is staggering, especially when you consider the book itself is barely 150 pages in length.... This film is just so bloody one-note it's unreal.... I thought "The Omega Man" put the ideas of Matheson's book over a fair bit better tbh, even though that takes liberties....

I enjoyed the film quite alot and although some pf the story was a bit c**p some was really good, and Will Smith gave a brilliant performance although they are sort of taking the p*** changing the origional story so much they have adapted into a more realistic way cos think about it if it was about vampires it would be lame

I enjoyed the film quite alot and although some pf the story was a bit c**p some was really good, and Will Smith gave a brilliant performance although they are sort of taking the p*** changing the origional story so much they have adapted into a more realistic way cos think about it if it was about vampires it would be lame

 

Sorry to disagree, but I reckon making the "vampires" (and it was never really clearly defined that this was what the "still living" actually were in Matheson's original text..) into completely stupid, ignorant, random animals-in-barely-human-form with no personality or soul was completely lame as fukk...., a hundred times lamer than Vampires (and there are interesting ways to make contemporary films about vampires - just look at what Abel Ferrara did with "The Addiction" or the excellent mid-90s Channel 4 series "Ultraviolet"..).. By not having Neville have a clearly defined opposite number with a personality, or a history, you completely take away the profound ultimate meaning of the story...

 

The makers of this piece of sh!t film have NO understanding either of the text itself or of the Apocalyptic Horror genre itself... Someone with the talent of George Romero, John Carpenter or Danny Boyle making this film would have done real justice to the story...

Sorry to disagree, but I reckon making the "vampires" (and it was never really clearly defined that this was what the "still living" actually were in Matheson's original text..) into completely stupid, ignorant, random animals-in-barely-human-form with no personality or soul was completely lame as fukk...., a hundred times lamer than Vampires (and there are interesting ways to make contemporary films about vampires - just look at what Abel Ferrara did with "The Addiction" or the excellent mid-90s Channel 4 series "Ultraviolet"..).. By not having Neville have a clearly defined opposite number with a personality, or a history, you completely take away the profound ultimate meaning of the story...

 

The makers of this piece of sh!t film have NO understanding either of the text itself or of the Apocalyptic Horror genre itself... Someone with the talent of George Romero, John Carpenter or Danny Boyle making this film would have done real justice to the story...

 

 

well the still living creatures in the film were wuite lame but i think it they done vampires it be lamer. and BTW i dont see the film as a Horror movie at all more just a Thriller but what can you expect for a certificate 15

well the still living creatures in the film were wuite lame but i think it they done vampires it be lamer. and BTW i dont see the film as a Horror movie at all more just a Thriller but what can you expect for a certificate 15

 

I Am Legend IS very much the novel which defines the whole idea of the Apocalyptic Horror sub-genre... Where do you think that the likes of Romero got his ideas for his "Living Dead" films..? Or indeed where Danny Boyle got the idea for "28 Days Later"...?

 

As I said, much more interesting things can be done with Vampires... They dont have to be such stereotypical, one-dimensional characters, a bit of imagination and ability can breathe life into old standards, as the examples I gave of recent films and TV shows prove (also check out rather excellent new US show "Moonlight", and, heck, Joss Whedon's "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" too busted apart a hell of a lot of vampire stereotypes...).. There was NO such imagination on show in the whole of this film... I dont believe that Matheson himself ever even uttered the "V" word in his novel (of course, it's been years since I read it....)