Topic: I am Legend

[PyroMenace]

Is anybody interested in seeing it? I'm pretty curious, in fact I picked up the book today and started reading it. So far its pretty badass and its already better than what Ive seen in the trailer. Its about vampires, but it feels more like a zombie story. It actually feels very much like that MMO we've always dreamed of making, surviving zombies during the night, and during the day setting up defenses and running various errands like getting more food, gasoline for the car, and disposing of corpses. Good shit.

[Quemaqua]

A lot of fans of the book are pissed about the movie, particularly about Will Smith playing the lead.  I don't know much about either, so not really sure.  Movie looked cool, but I suspect the book is a lot cooler.

[angrykeebler]

i heard he got into one little fight with those vampires and his mom got scared and said
you're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air

I whistled for a cab and when it came near
The license plate said "Fresh", and it had dice in the mirror
If anything I could say that this cab was rare
But I thought man forget it yo homes to Bel-Air

I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8
And I yelled to the cabbie 'yo homes smell ya later'
Looked at my kingdom I was finally there
To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel-Air

[Pugnate]

[scottws]

I never read the book, and I have no problem with Will Smith.  That said, I am pretty damn pumped up about seeing the movie.

[iPPi]

I'll be seeing it tomorrow.

[Antares]

I may go see it tonight.

[iPPi]

Just got home from it.  I really liked it.  Really tense and well done.  The ending is a little disappointing, but not unexpected.  Definitely worth watching.

[angrykeebler]

Saw it. Thought it was excellent!! Will Smith really is an under-rated actor.


however, the movie was kinda upstaged by the Dark Knight trailer. HOLY SHIT.

[Quemaqua]

MUST SEE TRAILER.  Is it on the internet yet?

I agree that Will Smith is a bit underrated, though.  The problem is people like him and he's used just to make money, but I think he's actually a pretty damned good actor.  He just gets typecast too much and seems to get used too often for roles that are just there to sell tickets.

[angrykeebler]

MUST SEE TRAILER.  Is it on the internet yet?

I agree that Will Smith is a bit underrated, though.  The problem is people like him and he's used just to make money, but I think he's actually a pretty damned good actor.  He just gets typecast too much and seems to get used too often for roles that are just there to sell tickets.

Theres a leaked trailer but its ghetto...some guy with a camcorder in the theater.. i recommend you wait for the official release so you can view it in all its glory.. but if you must you can find it here
http://rated-m.blogspot.com/2007/12/dark-knight-full-trailer-leaked.html

looks like the official release will be here http://www.atasteforthetheatrical.com/ on sunday

i was really skeptical about heath ledger as the Joker. No more. i know its early and my opinion is based on the trailer but i think he's going to steal the show from both everyone in this cast AND Jack nicholson.

[Quemaqua]

Excellent.  I can wait for the trailer, so I shall, but I'm eager to know what's coming.  I really want that movie to be as good as Batman Begins.

[Pugnate]

however, the movie was kinda upstaged by the Dark Knight trailer. HOLY SHIT.

haha I've been wanting to see that trailer for so long.. thank you.

EDIT:

THE JOKER LOOKS AWESOME!

[PyroMenace]

Just got back from watching it, definitely pretty cool movie. I also agree with JB on the ending. As for how it compares to the book, the only similarity it has is the premise, hes the last guy alive and hes trying to survive but as for everything else, its completely different.

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Oh and the whole bit with the dog fucking depressed the hell out of me.

[scottws]

I too saw the movie.  I liked it a lot.  Honestly, I feel like it should have been longer though.  It was getting really interesting and then it things just started moving really fast.

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The dog bit. First off let me say this.  I absolutely love dogs.  My parents have a 14 y/o Brittany Spaniel and I adore him.  I miss him really badly since I moved.  Anyway, I totally had tears streaming down my face at the dog part.

[Quemaqua]

That could potentially keep me from seeing the movie. 

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I have trouble with animal deaths.  It just doesn't work well for me.

[PyroMenace]

That could potentially keep me from seeing the movie. 

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I have trouble with animal deaths.  It just doesn't work well for me.

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Yea... if you have weak spot for animals that might be a good thing to consider. I felt the same way as scott cause my mother has a dog, sheperd mixed, love her to death and that scene was almost too much for me to handle.

[sirean_syan]

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I remember one interview or comment by some director somewhere that went something like, "You can kill a million people, but the audience will never forgive you if you kill a dog."

[TheOtherBelmont]

I saw this a couple of days ago and it was pretty good but man did it move fast right towards the end.

[Xessive]

I wasn't impressed with it. It was so-so, but nothing special really. It was like throughout the movie I was waiting for the 'good part' to come and then it just ends.

I'm sure the book is much better. It's too bad I don't read much fiction.

[scottws]

I read the book's plot summary and it sounds vastly different from the movie.

[Antares]

I watched it this weekend.  I enjoyed everything, though I agree the end seemed rushed, although I think it was on purpose

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I can't remember the last time I cried watching a movie, but I lost it when the dog died.

[Xessive]

I watched it this weekend.  I enjoyed everything, though I agree the end seemed rushed, although I think it was on purpose

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I can't remember the last time I cried watching a movie, but I lost it when the dog died.

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Yeah, that was a really sad moment! I think that was my high point in the movie.

[MysterD]

I just finished watching this.
I must say, it was pretty good.

Man, I didn't even recognize Alice Braga (City of God, Lower City) until I actually saw her name in the credits....

[Ghandi]

Saw this the other day. Meh. It was decent, but the whole thing seemed a little silly to me. The plot was weak as hell.  All of the decisions that the characters in the movie made seemed dumb as shit and a lot of what happened just seemed abrupt.

Edit:

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And what the fuck was with the mannequins? That was stupid as hell.

[Antares]

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Which part, the zombies moving them around or the fact that will smith was talking to them?

[scottws]

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I think I understood it.  By the point in the movie we were watching, wasn't he basically alone for two years?  I mean I talk to my dog like a person too, but I have other people to talk to most of the time so I don't have to worry about him talking back.  He didn't have anyone at all to talk to.  The truth is people get fucked up when they don't have anyone else to have a conversation with over time.  I mean think about solitary confinement in prisons.  It's not exactly the same since Will Smith has a much larger and more interactive environment than prison solitary, but I'm sure over time it would have a negative mental effect regardless.

[Ghandi]

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Yeah Ant, the talking to them.

I got the reasoning behind it and everything Scott, I just thought that it was kind of dumb. If he's sane enough to be doing all of the other amazing stuff that he is doing, including finding a cure for the virus, I doubt that he would be talking to mannequins.

[Cobra951]

People are complicated.  They can be entirely together for one thing, and fall apart because of another.

I liked the movie.  I too thought it was short.  It ended rather abruptly, but really, it had said everything that needed to be said by then.

[Antares]

Hell, I talk to myself when I'm alone all the time. I would imagine doing what he did would seem like a damn good idea after two years with nobody to talk to.

I thought the ending was a bit abrupt as well, but I've definitely got a soft spot for any movie that doesn't have the traditional Hollywood ending.

[gpw11]

So, what's the deal with the alternate ending?  Is it all that different?

[JacksRag(e)]

Alternate ending was completely different.  It's right when Will Smith shuts the glass door behind him and the infected are pounding at the glass.  The main one pounds until the glass almost cracks then smears the shape of a butterfly on the glass.  Will Smith sees it then looks at the infected girl he's been working on and sees a tattoo of a butterfly on her, too.  He realizes that all they want is the girl, so he opens the door slowly and wheels her out.  The other infected try to jump him, but the leader tells them to back off.  He brings her to the leader while all the infected are all around him screaming and jawing at him.  Will Smith is tense and trying to stay calm.  There's a reunion between the leader and the girl, then he tells them to leave.  And they take off leaving Will Smith alone.

Something like that.  I rambled through a lot of it, so hpefully what I said makes sense.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/05/must-watch-i-am-legends-original-ending-this-is-amazing/

[scottws]

Wow.  Well I'm good they went with the ending they did.

[Cobra951]

I like the alternate better.  It makes more sense to tie up what was obviously happening--something the theatrical ending didn't do.

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When Will Smith's character fell into the trap which mimicked his own trap for the female, it became clear that he had fucked with the wrong mutant, stole his girl.  The scene earlier when the mutant leader allowed his skin to get burnt just to growl at Smith was an early, if unclear indication.  The alternate ending deals with the extra passion behind the charge into death by the hordes.  A little bit extra meat would not have motivated that.

The greatest difference in the theatrical ending exposes the current bloodlust in Hollywood.  You can't have a serious story where the protagonist survives.  That is, for whatever reason, no longer allowed.

[JacksRag(e)]

Yea, I'm actually finding I like the alternate ending better also.  It just fit better with the previous events in the movie as cobra said.  The traps the infected put up, the extent to which they looked for the female.  It just had to be this way, but Hollywood went and did the sacrificing hero bit..

[gpw11]

Is this really a big fad in movies?  I don't watch a lot of them and haven't really noticed it.  I don't think I mind it in theory, as long is it's necessary or something like that.  In this case however, it could have been totally avoidable if he only thought ahead long enough to lob something.

As for the endings, I don't know which I like better having not actually seen the second one.  I picked up that whole sub-plot when I saw it and did kind of wonder why they didn't do much with it or at least the implications of it...which are huge if you think about it in the grand scheme of things.

The book didn't feature either of those endings did it?

[JacksRag(e)]

The alternative ending is nearer to the book than the theatrical ending. 

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In the book, the main character believes he's fighting for humanity's survival and whatnot. By the end, however, he realizes that as the mutated become the norm, he's the one who's the monster now.  He's their Dracula and hence the title, he is legend to them.  Something like that.

[gpw11]

Yeah, I thought I read that it was something more along those lines but didn't make the connection to the alternate ending.  That does make sense.

[Xessive]

That is a much better ending.

[Antares]

That ending makes so much more sense in the context of everything the movie had been hinting at throughout.  My only complaint is that some dicknuts totally spoils the ending of the book without any warning about 5 comments down on that website.  I guess I won't bother reading it....