blackmeadow on 15/12/2007 at 06:06
just wanted to know what you guys thought about it. i thought it was decent but critics are panning it for throwing in a lot of material seen in other horror flicks. but as a guy who doesn't watch horror movies (more specifically 28 weeks later) i thought it was good.
reactions?
Shadow Creepr on 15/12/2007 at 07:47
I'm actually looking forward to seeing this movie but it doesn't come out in the UK until January. This movie and Clover Field are on my must see list.
I'm a Will Smith fan (well, let's forget about Wild, Wild West shall we? *shudder*) and I got a chance to see the trailer for this in the cinema the other day. I originally saw a write-up for the movie in SciFi Now magazine, which said it was based on Richard Matheson's novella and was a remake of The Omega Man.
No matter what critics have to say about it, I'll go see it anyway.
SubJeff on 15/12/2007 at 08:23
I'll see this and not care what the critics say. 28 Weeks Later is the worst film I've seen this year and both it and it's prequel steal heavily from the I Am Legend novella anyway so those ignoramuses can shove it.
The previews I've read of I Am Legend suggest it's core theme is close to that of the book - isolation - so despite initial reservations because the original Arnold/Ridley team was my A choice I'm looking forward to this.
demagogue on 15/12/2007 at 09:06
I watched the filming of this movie at Wash Sq Park (next to the NYU campus) go on for about 2 weeks, maybe a year and 1/2 ago(?). I knew it was a Will Smith movie, but I wasn't sure which one. It was when I was watching the "making of..." HBO special that I recognized a scene that clearly happened right in front of me ... an entire street-length of cars on Wash Sq Park North exploded into tall, bright flames, covering a whole few-block radius in thick black smoke and the light of flames and flood-lamps, impossible not to notice on your walk back from school!
Anyway, given my connection to Manhattan, there's no debate whether I'm going to watch this movie. I want to see how the handle a deserted City, and the whole premise of someone live it up as the one person left in the City is sort of intriguing.
One thing I noticed on that note, though, was the way they spoke in the HBO special as if this were the first movie to really explore this idea. Hardly ... Charleton Heston's Omega Man (itself a remake of The Last Man on Earth) and Night of the Comet come to mind, and I'm interested in how this movie compares to those.
Edit: Aha, a little wiki research later and Omega Man itself was based on the book I Am Legend, so this is the 3rd remake of the book. I should have caught that earlier.
My expectation is that it's a Jurassic Park situation; I'm going to enjoy pondering the first 1/3 of the movie as it explores whatever topic it's raising (in this case, isolation and self-sufficiency), and then take the last-half's gore-fest for what it is, easy thrills, which will be just as good as it's executed, which I can't predict, but not much deeper than that.
The_Raven on 15/12/2007 at 14:53
I personally can't get past the fact that Will Smith wasn't content on pissing on I, Robot and went to probably fuck up other classic genre books. No doubt I'm being really superficial here, but there's no way Smith can even approach Vincent Price or Charlton Heston in terms of acting. I'll probably have to see the movie to find out if my initial impressions are actually justified, or are simply uninformed bullshit.
N'Al on 15/12/2007 at 15:00
Ali did prove that the man can act better than his Fresh Prince persona would imply.
And I, Robot wasn't that bad, was it?!?
The_Raven on 15/12/2007 at 15:10
No, but it could/should have been so much more.
N'Al on 15/12/2007 at 15:18
Fair enough.
catbarf on 15/12/2007 at 15:46
From what I've seen, it's just a Hollywood-ized version of The Omega Man (i.e., simplified, etc.). Anyone care to differ?
jimjack on 15/12/2007 at 17:50
I don't make a point of reading the critics' take on movies.. As far as the film goes as long as they cut down on the Will Smith "Hell Naw" factor he seems to bring into most of his other films it will be worth my time to check it out. Just that the "Let me save you part" is pure frommage..just shoot them already.
