Thirith on 20/8/2008 at 07:50
Has there ever been a film prequel that's been worthwhile (unless you count half of The Godfather Part II as a prequel, that is)?
Anyway... There's a father-son team at the centre of The Road, but it's far from Spielbergian. We've got little to worry there... I think.
Rogue Keeper on 20/8/2008 at 08:58
Quote Posted by Thirith
Has there ever been a film prequel that's been worthwhile ?
Right, ITT we talk about Clear Sky now. :cheeky:
Muzman on 12/9/2008 at 23:36
Just finished The Road, so I thought I'd chime in.
But first; I dunno bout the kid making things Spielbergian in I Am Legend apart from the haircut but that bit at the table kinda wrecked the movie. He makes one loud noise and both of them are up, she'd got a pistol trained on Wil and the kid's readied a steak knife. Right then I'm saying "Ok forget Neville, I want to hear more about those two!" (yet they can't be too bright; travelling at night and waiting on or near a pier in the open as they apparently did, knowing nothing of those scent disguising tricks either it seems). Shame it went all Signs at the end, but I don't think it really earned the proper ending either.
Anyway, The Road; Pretty cool in a miserable kind of way. You really do know how its going to end, more or less, but that's kind of the point.
At one spot it makes it sound like nuclear war and the subsequent winter, but actually it could be a really big volcano eruption or something too. The end reminds me of Children of Men, not that there's huge similarities. The pics from the movie suggest the kid is a lot older; He looks about 11 or 12 there, but in the book he couldn't be much over five. That would have some effect on the timeline and probably dialogue methinks. And if they're sticking to the book fairly close we know who mum is and can see most of the speaking parts in those shots. It would suit a sort of Assassination of Jesse James pace I'd think.
Shadowjak on 21/9/2008 at 11:47
Quote Posted by BR796164
I had problem with the kid, Ethan. He was completely useless there, it just seemed that having a surviving man, woman and a KID on the screen is there for sole purpose of fulfilling that spielbergish quota of lucky american family in thriller... That boy practically turned this hard-edge survivalist drama/thriller into family horror. Then also Neville could have had some psychological and philosophical/religious conflicts with Anna.
That almost heavenly colony of survivors at the end could have been portraied far less idilically.
I've heard they're going to make prequel... yawn...
Problem is, Hollywood took Matheson's classic Sci-Fi thriller, almost completely re-wrote it, and then insisted on keeping the same title. Bollocks. (Oddly enough, it's almost exactly the same thing they did with that other Will Smith gem,
I, Robot). If yr gonna buy the rights to a property, either film it as written, or write yr own damn movie and stick another title on it! Even more hilarious, is that this is the
third incarnation of "I Am Legend": It was also filmed in 1964 and 1971 --- and they still can't get it right! Pathetic!
Though, if you do watch it on DVD, they include an "alternate ending" that makes a helluva lot more sense than the theatrical release:
The head "zombie" pounds on the glass door until his hands bleed, and then makes a finger painting of his own blood that looks like a butterfly --- camera cuts to Smith looking down at the young female "zombie" strapped to the gurney: Suprise! She has a butterfly tattoo on her neck! Smith turns girl "zombie" over to her pals, they leave. Final shot is of Smith, the woman, and the kid in the SUV, all headed out of town, destination unknown. Roll credits.
Which, if you think about the foreshadowing present in most of the film (head "zombie" obviously wanted his girl back from the beginning), makes a helluva lot more sense than the shiny, happy, religo-friendly ending we did get.
