ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

I love "The Omega Man" version of this story, but I don't care for "The Last Man on Earth" starring Vincent Price.

However, I've liked all of Will Smith's other sci-fi films (Men in Black I and II, Inderpendence Day, I, Robot).

So, I'm hoping this one will be good.

Thoughts, anyone?

[Bongopete]

It sucked.

It really bares no resemblance to the book or to 'Last Man on Earth' or 'The Omega Man' other than in all versions the main character is involved somehow in trying to find a cure before finally all comes to not where then he is left alone and besieged (except in this version).

The closest movie to the book was the Vincent Price 'The Last Man on Earth'. Certainly has quite a few problems but you would certainly recognize the film if you had read the novel. 'Omega Man' has some goofy bits, but in its own way for the most part is a bit more logical than 'I Am Legend'-the movie.

[Bud Brewster]

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Okay, you didn't like it. But the only criticism you make is that it was different from the book. Was it really a bad story in it's own right?

As fond as I am of The Omega Man (mostly just nostalgia, I think), this version seemed to present a powerful concept, told in an effective way.

When a movie strays from the book, it seems difficult for some people to just judge it on it's own merits.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I'm still puzzled by Bongopete's negative reaction to this movie. I've seen The Last Man on Earth, which is supposed to be a faithful version of the book, but it didn't impress me very much. This version was, in it's own right, an imaginative and exciting story.

And Will Smith, as usual, rocks!
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__________ I Am Legend (2007) Official Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rick]

I am a huge fan of the book...and maybe that's the problem. I don't really like THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and I nearly despise THE OMEGA MAN.

The Will Smith version, though, I thought was going to be the one which finally got it right. Certainly they changed the story, but that's kind of okay if they get the feel and the mood right. And if they ultimately reach more or less the same point as the novella.

I thought it was just great for about, oh, 15 or 20 minutes. Then the critters appeared. Dreadful. I'm very much up and down about CGI in general, but I am dead cert positive that no major motion picture yet has been so totally ruined by unacceptable CG as this one.

I think I actually groaned when the first cartoon critter showed up. These are supposed to be former human beings, now become vampires, not goofy refugees from a five-year-old video game.

The movie went right out the window at that point and never recovered. Not even slightly.

What bugs me most about all three of these movies is the filmmakers inability to make a good movie when Matheson has done all the work for them. The book reads like a movie, fer cryin' out loud.

I've always felt that the filmmaker should just hand out copies of the paperback to the cast and crew and said, "here's our script, let's go."

But, no. Filmmakers feel the need to improve on the original material, even when the original material is a beautiful, complete, and instantly filmable blueprint.

This is an example in which folks should absolutely read the book, then avoid the movies at all costs.
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Man need not kneel before the angels,
Nor lie in death forever,
But for the weakness of his feeble will.

[Bud Brewster]

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Interesting comment, Rick. Now that you mention it, I too was bothered by the extreme alteration in appearance that the virus caused. If I'd read the book first, I'm sure I'd have been disappointing by what the movie did.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

I must agree with Rick on all points. I, too, had read the book long before the movie's release. As I've said before (probably all too often), that's the best way to spoil a movie if there's any indication a movie will be adapted from the book. For my 2 cents, Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth was closest to the mood of the book.

Smith's movie had to update the vampires to the currently trendy zombies (hyperactive variety). My reaction to the CGI characters was also, "Oh, no..."
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Krel.]

There is video out there of makeup tests for the mutants, that is just fantastic! But for some reason they went with CGI toon mutants.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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By gum, these DO look great!
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______________ I Am Legend Makeup Test


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_I AM LEGEND Restored Art Unseen Makeup Tests


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bogmeister]

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3rd version of the Richard Matheson novel; the previous ones were The Omega Man in 1971 starring Charlton Heston and The Last Man on Earth in 1964 with Vincent Price.

In this one, Will Smith takes on the role of the lone survivor of a worldwide plague, coming about from a mutated virus. Of course, he's not really the lone survivor; and I'm not talking about the cartoon-like monsters with which he shares the city — no, I'm skipping all the way to the end when we see that there are many survivors in other pockets outside the city, so Smith's role is undone at this point; he's simply a poor fool who wandered around an empty city, thinking he's alone.

There are plot points that don't add up very well to me. Smith as Neville has apparent natural immunity — this would mean there are plenty of other people who would have this immunity — on the order of at least 3% to 5% of the population. It can't be just him.

Yet during most of the film he behaves (and the audience is made to think) that he is the lone survivor other than those mutated into monsters.

He has a dog companion in this film, unlike the previous versions. Though losing such a friend would impress on us his now extreme loneliness, it's less effective for the first half of the film in comparison to the lonely plight of the last man in the previous film versions, or the version in the novel.

Having this great 'man's best friend' by his side for the first couple of acts takes away most of that feeling of solitude which the other versions are best known for and which make them singular film experiences.



Still, the empty streets of New York City, becoming already overgrown with intruding vegetation three years after the holocaust, the occasional wild animal — these lend a poignant if disquieting allure to the proceedings.

Unfortunately, modern film-making always seems to attach chaotic action scenes to even such quietly provocative fare — Neville is soon seen chasing after some potential dinner and it's an imitation of the standard car chase scenes in other standard films of this era.

It gets worse later — the mutated humans are little more than video game creations, bouncing off the architecture with no weight to their presence. They are even named "Dark Seekers" — typical monsters from the video game universes, strictly for the teens and pre-teens.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[johnnybear]

First I heard they were going to re-release this film with the different ending, then I heard it was in aid of doing a second film and then I heard nuthin...
JB

[ralfy]

"Gas is now officially more expensive than the movie I Am Legend imagined it would be during the apocalypse."

https://twitter.com/ttrandahl/status/1500729277985144833

[Bud Brewster]

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Hey, let's really piss off Russia and the oil producing countries by going all electric with your vehicles!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Captain Starlight]

Even though I love The Omega Man, I enjoyed this movie much more because it presented a much more intelligent story than the original movie about zombie survivors, or the Heston version about religious fanatics ! I prefer a more pure science fiction story. This one gave us that. And the baseless complains about the look of the GCI creatures are trivial.

[Bud Brewster]

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Bogmeister's offers some of the same objections to the movie as Bongopete, Rick, and orzel-w. But Bogmeister is mistaken about one criticism he makes.