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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
 Posted - 12/14/2007 : 8:21:15 PM
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I've always considered a faithful treatment of a book to be one that keeps the general plot, ideas, and feel. So, "Starship Troopers" failed miserably while keeping the general plot. "The Hunt for Red October" did a good job of clearing out a lot of the extraneous items, spicing up the action, and retaining the general ideas and feel. "Lord of the Rings" also did a good job.
- Si desea pulse 2 para español, encontrar un país diferente. - |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2007 : 9:32:10 PM
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| I think Smith is a terrific actor. Happyness showed what he was truly capable after too many years of playing wise-*ss muthas. (I understand he was also very good in Six Degrees of Separation but I never saw it.) |
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Bobby-G
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
904 Posts |
Posted - 12/15/2007 : 02:50:35 AM
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I think this could be an entertaining bubblegum movie. If I go into this thing (I'll see it eventually)thinking "This better be a faithfull adaptation of the book!" or compare it to LAST MAN ON EARTH and THE OMEGA MAN (one of my favorite movies!!), I'm sure I'd absolutely hate it; but if I just think of it as a movie loosely based on I AM LEGEND, I think there could be enough entertainment value there that I can enjoy it.
Will Smith can be quite effective in the right vehicles, but he is definitely not someone who can step into the shoes of Vincent Price or Charleton Heston (who could?), so I'll just TRY to judge this thing on it's own terms wihout thinking about the previous flicks.
Rob |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 12/15/2007 : 6:42:51 PM
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Posted this review over on Stomptokyo.com as well under Eric 45
I Am Legend.
Richard Matheson's I am Legend is just one of those ageless stories that inspired multiple generations of writers, and is also a near perfect example of writing a gripping Horror/Sci Fi story that also had a deeper lesson, making it stick with readers for a long time.
Needless to say, the grim depressing nature of the work has frustrated movie adaptations, with Vincent Price's Last Man on Earth probably being the best, but none have really captured the essence of the novel. Would Will Smith and a $100+ million dollar budget finally do it? Read on. Spoilers get worse as you go.
Will Smith is Robert Neville, eminent virologist in the United States Army, who happened to be living in Manhattan when the outbreak of what is called KV hit. KV was originally a man made (Actually developed by a woman, unfortunately not named Liz) retro virus derived from measles that somehow (presumably via gene therapy) cured cancer. Damn those Mad Scientists always trying to cure cancer, when will they learn? Anyway, Robert decides to evacuate his family while staying behind to try to find a cure when Manhattan is quarantined.
Fast forward 3 years and traffic is no longer a major problem in NY, or anywhere else for that matter.
Viewed from a stand alone perspective, the first 2/3rds of Legend are top notch. Largely filmed on location in NY, CGI effects removed all the people and unlike CGI additions, the deletions are seamless. New York looks like I would expect it to look, overgrown with weeds, infrastructure falling apart, everything is a statement to decay and entropy. Seeing historic landmarks was cool, I loved the shot of Will shooting golf balls off the SR71(A12) on the USS Intrepid. The early scenes of Robert wandering NY are effective and depressing.
Breaking from the Novel, here Robert has his dog (Named Max) from the beginning, giving Robert someone to talk to and provide exposition to. (Robert has also set up some helpful mannikin's to talk to, giving a illusion of humanity to help his sanity). While its clear that something pretty weird is going on at night, its not until Max chases a deer into a warehouse and Robert has to chase after him that we really see whats going on.
At this point the movie begins to verge off more from the novel, first modestly and then drastically. This start off well, with Robert calling for Max in the dark, knowing that something else is there as well. Will Smith plays this well, he is not nervous, not scared, he is TERRIFIED, not only of dying, but of losing Max, practically the only thing he has. This is the best scene of the movie, no doubt about it, and had me hopeful that it could sustain this level of tension...
Heavier Spoilers ahead...
Past this point how you view the movie will likely depend on how you like the ending. Robert is actively trying to develop a cure, and captures a vampire (Referred to as Dark Seekers in the movie, they consume blood, have superhuman strength and are killed by sunlight, lets call them anything but vampires) to test out his latest treatments. This apparently leads the partner of this Vampire, who I will just call Big Daddy, to declare war on Robert.
Well OK, I guess this is a possible new direction to take the story. Instead of having the remaining human victims of the plague that haven't quite died of it yet manage to stabilize themselves and reorganize as a new race, having basically all of them gradually redevelop some cunning and thought could work. (Btw, there is no indication that the disease reanimates the dead, as in the original story.) Initially I thought this is how the story would go.
But gradually I noticed that the main day job that Robert had in the novel, hunting down the Vampires and killing them, has been dropped. Robert scavenges for supplies during the day, but never makes a serious effort to root out and kill the vampires, and this fundamentally changes the relationship between them.
By the end of the movie, it becomes clear why the writers did that, they basically dropped the moral of the original and replaced it with something more hum drum. I am Legend now means something completely different.
So as a adaptation of the novel, it deliberately fails. As a movie standing on its own, its OK. Not great. The Vampires, when they show themselves, are CGI creations that really don't quite seem scary. That wouldn't be a problem per se, indeed having the vampires not be scary could tie in very well to the original story. But they really don't even appear to be there, physically, which is a problem. The movie is fairly short, but the time is not spent very efficiently. Some early scenes drag on, while later scenes that should be dramatic go by too quickly, in particular a scene where he tries a desperate treatment.
Robert psychological decline, a major element in the book, is brought up sporadically, IMHO unevenly, you should look at Cast Away for a better examination of how complete isolation would effect someone.
All in all, I'd give I am Legend one thumb up, worth a matinee, but we are still waiting for the definitive adaptation, |
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Cannon Fodder
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Australia
176 Posts |
Posted - 12/16/2007 : 01:42:38 AM
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| I actually liked Omega Man best of the adaptations of I am Legend that I have seen. It wasn't as faithful as Last Man on Earth but I felt it worked better as a movie. Though the version of Last Man on Earth I watched was one of those dodgy public domain DVDs you see all over the place and it wasn't the best print of the movie. I think we safely assume the worst adaptation, if it can actually be called one, is Asylum's I am Omega. |
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Flangepart
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
2329 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2007 : 4:33:25 PM
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I AM OMEGA...an evil blight on Mathison's work...
I thought Vinnie did a fine job with the original. The scene where Price watches old movies, and his laughter turns to tears, works well.
When Nevill realises what his legacy will be, is a stunner with the book.
Marvin the Paranoid Android to Buzz Lightyear "Too infinity and beyond-i've been there, its rubbish!"
"Hoody Hoo, i waste 'em with my cross bow!" Bob Herzog- KODT
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2007 : 10:52:17 AM
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The big surprise this weekend is that Chipmunks appears to have overtaken Legend at the box office. Though both were released the same weekend with Legend grossing nearly twice as much in its opening take, the latter's drop-off has been much steeper.
At this rate, Chipmunks could outgross its competitor in the long run, assuming it maintains its current pace. |
Edited by - zombiewhacker on 12/30/2007 10:52:52 AM |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 12/30/2007 : 11:49:50 AM
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For some reason I am reminded of the South Park "giant douche vs. a turd sandwich" episode...
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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