OzBuzz

My friends and I just watched I Am Legend. I am now going to review it. I think we’ve established the dynamic pretty well. So here we go…

After thinking for so long that this would be awesome, it really wasn’t. So many loose ends, so many unexplained anachronisms… It just wasn’t a very good movie. We have always expected Will Smith movies to provide, at the very least, a laugh and some action. My friends and my tastes are very different; One of us is pretty easygoing when it comes to movies, one is more a sci-fi action fan, and I am a bit of a film junkie. I wouldn’t say my taste is very refined or anything that arrogant, but I just do tend to see a LOT of movies. Anyway, all of us were left feeling slightly… well, unfulfilled.

The first 1/3 of the movie was good. Slow, solid buildup with flashbacks detailing the lead-up to the current story. We got to see a deserted New York City. We got to see Will Smith and a dog (Turner & Hooch: Requiem… Hooch is crazy). But then you expect the film to pick up, to deliver some scares, some action, some blowin’-shit-up-ness. And you really don’t get any of that. I was left feeling like maybe they cut out a whole lot of stuff, which is possible seeing as it only clocks in at 1 hour 40 minutes (including credits).

I had a big problem with the CGI. It was unconvincing and it stopped the creatures from being scary at all. Even the animals filling the city looked fake (And really, why were there deer and lions but nothing else? If they came from the zoo, well sure, but how did they break out of their cages? Did they pick the lock?).

After writing that original review ^ I have read that, after test screenings, the filmmakers decided to (or were forced by the studio/distributor) change the ending. This explains a lot. Throughout the movie there are hints at something, and these hints originally coalesced into a passable ending. Now we are treated to a Hollywood-ised mush-fest. Blurg.

I don’t want to spoil too much, as some people may like it, so I’ll just say this; You really don’t end up feeling like he was legend. Not at all.

2/5